Breeding Climate Smart Vegetable Crops Challenges and Strategies

Dr. Jyoti Devi has over 12 years of research experience in legume breeding, particularly in peas and underutilized crops, and has contributed to the development of nine vegetable varieties and the registration of five unique germplasm lines with the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. Her research focuses on identifying 50 trait-specific vegetable genotypes for high yield, earliness, stress tolerance and nutritional quality. She is actively engaged in germplasm conservation and management, maintenance breeding of pea and French bean varieties, breeder seed production, and varietal promotion, resulting in the successful commercialization and licensing of multiple cultivars. Dr. Jyoti has published over 45 research papers, 20 book chapters, and numerous extension articles. She serves as Editor for Vegetable Science and is a recognized reviewer for many reputed journals. Her contributions have been recognized through several prestigious honors & fellowships, including NAAS Associate, UPAAS Fellow, the ISHRD Young Scientist Award, and the DST INSPIRE Fellowship.

Dr. Vidya Sagar has over nine years of research experience in vegetable breeding, focusing on okra, leafy vegetables, peas, and cucurbits. He has developed 10 varieties along with registration of a unique sponge gourd genotype. He has identified around 45 trait-specific genotypes, including disease-resistant cucumber and okra, delayed bolting in amaranth and mustard green, low betalain in Basella, and regular flowering in moringa. He is currently leading multiple projects funded by ICAR, NASF, ANRF, and PPVFRA. Dr. Sagar has augmented over 2500 genotypes and distributed around 500 germplasm. His contributions include 50 research papers, 17 book chapters and several popular articles. He has received several prestigious awards, including ICAR, CSIR-JRF, DST INSPIRE Fellowship, SHRD Young Scientist Award and ICAR Best Thesis Award.

Dr. Sudhakar Pandey currently serving as Assistant Director General (Flowers, Vegetables, Spices & Medicinal Plants) and is a renowned vegetable breeder with significant contributions to cucurbit improvement. He has developed 25 improved varieties across pumpkin, ash gourd, sponge gourd, muskmelon, bottle gourd, and cucumber. His key achievements include the development of processing varieties in ash gourd, carotene-rich varieties/genetic stocks in pumpkin and cucumber, and downy mildew-resistant snapmelon lines. He also identified SSR markers and QTLs for powdery mildew resistance and parthenocarpy in cucumber, and contributed to DUS guidelines for several vegetable crops. He has published over 100 research papers, books, manuals, and bulletins. A Fellow of NAAS, UPAAS, ISVS, and ISHRD, he serves as Convener of the NAAS Varanasi Chapter, Associate Editor of Progressive Horticulture, and has received several prestigious awards.

Dr. T. K. Behera has over 27 years of expertise in vegetable breeding, contributing significantly to crop improvement. He has developed more than 30 varieties and registered six trait-specific breeding lines. He pioneered the isolation of gynoecious lines in bitter gourd from feral sources and successfully introgressed the gy-1 gene into commercial cultivars, identifying a 1.31 Mb genomic region on chromosome 1 associated with gynoecy. He also developed the first chromosome-level genome assembly of Momordica balsamina using advanced sequencing technologies. His research identified CsCLV3 as a candidate gene for carpel number variation and SHORT HYPOCOTYL1 (SH1) regulating UV-B–mediated hypocotyl elongation in cucumber. Dr. Behera has guided 11 Ph.D. and 2 M.Sc. students and published over 130 research papers, along with books and reviews. He is a Fellow of reputed societies and recipient of several prestigious awards.