Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
PAU appoints Dr. PS Sandhu as Head, Dept of Plant Pathology
Babushahi Bureau
Ludhiana, March 28, 2023: Dr. PS Sandhu has been appointed as Head, the Department of Plant Pathology, at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). Dr. Sandhu joined PAU in February 1996 as an Assistant Professor of Plant Protection at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kapurthala.
Holding vast research, extension and teaching experience in Plant Pathology, Dr Sandhu has been working as an Oilseeds Pathologist with Dr. SS Banga - a renowned Brassica Scientist of National and International fame since 2005.
Dr Sandhu has completed seven research projects funded by various national and international funding agencies including DST, DBT, ICAR, and BBSRC UK; and is currently handling four research projects.
Dr Sandhu has also been associated with the evaluation and release of 18 varieties of oilseed crops including rapeseed-mustard, groundnut and sesame.
He has developed 21 disease management technologies for various oilseed crops. Since 2005, Dr. Sandhu worked in a multidisciplinary team and had a strong collaboration with scientists in India and abroad.
The team was awarded ICAR-Best AICRP Centre Award for the year 2011-12 by ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed Mustard Research.
Apart from this, he has 61 research publications to his credit in journals of national and international repute and 76 other research publications including abstracts, book chapters and bulletins besides 68 extension articles. Also, he has delivered 41 TV/radio talks besides 115 lectures in various training progammes. He has guided 8 M.Sc. and 3 Ph.D. students.
Dr Sandhu has reported first source of resistance to devastating disease Sclerotinia rot of rapeseed-mustard and has been instrumental in phenotyping B. juncea introgression lines carrying genomic introgression from wild species.
Besides, he has been instrumental in the release of white rust resistant canola mustard variety RLC 3 and hybrid RCH 1. Two sources of white rust resistance have been registered with Plant Germplasm Registration Committee (PGRC) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
He has also identified Diplotaxis erucoides as a source of resistance to Alternaria blight – a pathogen to which no source of resistance was available so far.
Dr Sandhu is a recipient of Australian Government’s Prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship (Australia Awards) and worked at the University of Western Australia Perth in 2009.
He is a widely traveled scientist and has presented his research work in various conferences at Germany, Canada, China, Czech Republic and France. He is also a Fellow of two scientific societies - Indian Society of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and Society for Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur.
Besides research, teaching and extension, Dr Sandhu has served the University as Security Officer for about eight years. He is also the President, Sports Committee of College of Agriculture, PAU.