Emerging Trends of Plant Physiology for Sustainable Crop Production

Zafar Abbas, PhD, is a Senior Associate Professor and Chairman in the P. G. Department of Botany at G. F. College (M. J. P. Rohilkhand University) in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has 40 years of research experience in plant and crop physiology, with a specialization in plant nutrition. He has attended several national and international seminars and conferences. At present, eight PhD students have completed their doctorate degrees under his supervision. Dr. Abbas is life member and member of editorial boards of several Indian and foreign journals and societies, and he has authored a book and has published over 30 articles.

Ajay K. Tiwari, PhD, is a Scientific Officer at the UP Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahnapur, UP, India. He has published 70 research articles, nine review articles in national and international journals, several book chapters in edited books, has also authored of several edited books published by Springer, Taylor and Francis and others. He has submitted more than 150 nucleotide sequences of plant pathogens to GenBank. He is a regular reviewer of many international journals as well as an editorial board member. He is Managing Editor of the journal Sugar Tech and Chief Editor of the journal Agrica. He has received several young researcher awards and was nominated for the Narshiman Award by the Indian Phytopathological Society, India. Dr. Tiwari is also the recipient of many international travel awards given by governmental agencies in India and others. He has visited Belgium, Brazil, China, Italy, Germany, and Thailand for conferences and workshops and has delivered several invited talk at Oman University for PhD students on phytoplasma disease diagnosis and management. Dr. Tiwari has been involved in the research on molecular characterization and management of agricultural plant pathogens for the last nine years. Currently he is working on molecular characterization of sugarcane phytoplasma and their secondary spread in nature. He is a regular member of several professional organizations, including the British Society of Plant Pathology, Indian Phytopathological Society, Sugarcane Technologists Association of India, International Society of Sugarcane Technologists, Society of Sugarcane Research and Promotion, and others. Dr. Tiwari earned his PhD from CCS University, Meerut, UP, India.

Pradeep Kumar, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed University-MHRD), Nirjuli (Itanagar), Arunachal Pradesh, India. His area of research and expertise are wide, including plant pathology, bacterial genetics, insect-pest biocontrol, gene expression of cry genes, plant-microbe interaction, and molecular breeding. He has been honored with an international travel grant from Ben Gurion University of Negev, Israel, to attend an international conference. He is the recipient of a best paper presentation and the Narasimhan Award by the Indian Phytopathological Society, India. He presented several oral and poster presentations at the various national and international conferences. He has published one book published and has published more than 35 research articles, including original research papers in peer-reviewed journals and several book chapters with international publishers, including Springer, CABI, Bentham, and Apple Academic Press. He is provides his service to many journals as an editorial board member, technical editor, and peer reviewer.
Dr. Kumar earned his PhD in biotechnology from BBA University (Central University), Lucknow, India. He has qualified CSIR-NET-JRF, UGC-NET, ARS-NET (ICAR), UPSLET, and GATE. He has been awarded with the PBC Outstanding Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship by the Government of Israel (2012-2015) and worked as Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Biotechnology Engineering and the Department of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. He was also appointed as an International Research Professor/Assistant Professor in the School of Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, South Korea. He has visited several countries and exchanges his scientific ideas and research to reputed scientists of the world.