RESEARCH THEMES
Invasion ecology
The horticulture trade is one of the major pathways for the introduction of alien plants. However, records of alien ornamentals, the underlying causes of their naturalization success in the wild and response capacities are rare in developing nations like India. To address these gaps, we aim to prepare a database of alien ornamentals in India by curating information from existing databases and nursery catalogues and identify the relationship of socio-economic variables and plant traits influencing naturalization success.
Species distribution modelling
In recent years a burgeoning number of statistical and related methods have been used with mapped biological and environmental data to model, or, in some way, spatially interpolate species distributions over large spatial extents. Maps of actual or potential species distributions or habitat suitability are required for many aspects of environmental research, resource management, and conservation planning. In our research, we use MaxEnt and biomod (implemented in R) to generate projections of species distributions at current and future climatic scenarios.
Plant- nematode interaction
Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world. Among the biotic stressors that deplete rice production, the root knot nematode, Meloidogyne graminicola (Mg) is considered to be one of the most damaging causal agents in tropical aerobic rice system, contributing to 20-80% yield loss. The two of the most effective control measures, soil flooding and nematicide applications are of increasingly limited utility for controlling Mg. Given the paucity of control options, the development of novel strategies against Mg is crucial for sustaining rice productivity. By studying the interaction between Rice and Mg, the overarching goal of my research programme is to generate sustainable cost-effective management options for this important nematode. To this front, my research broadly involve the following two mechanistic routes: exploiting the host plant resistance and understanding the chemical ecology of the interaction.
Biorational management of pest and diseases
More than fifty years ago, Stern et al. (1959) introduced the concept of “Integrated Control” during a time when insect pest control was mostly based on broad-spectrum, conventional insecticides. However, along the way, IPM has become overdependent on these broad-spectrum insecticides. In recent years. scientists have evaluated a number of novel approaches to achieve effective management of agricultural pests and diseases with limited or lack of non-target effects. Among the latest line of technological innovations, nanotechnology occupies a prominent position in transforming agriculture and food production with novel tools for the management of diseases, rapid disease detection, enhancing the ability of plants to absorb nutrients, among others. Another novel approach that has received increased research attention in recent years is the plant-endophyte mediated control of agriculture pests. The primary, overarching goal of our research is to evaluate the efficiency of nanoparticle-based and endophyte-mediated biorational approaches as an alternative management tool for the major pests and diseases of rice,
Other projects
Besides the above mentioned major research areas, my lab, in collaboration with scientists from other institutes, is also involved with several other research projects on the application of nanotechnology for plant growth promotion, drought mitigation and applications of artificial intelligence agriculture.