Stress Tolerance in Horticultural Crops: Challenges and Mitigation Strategies

Dr. Ajay Kumar is currently working as an assistant professor at Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Noida, India. Dr. Kumar completed his tenure (2018-2022) as a visiting scientist from Agriculture Research Organization, Volcani Center, Israel and doctoral research from Department of Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India on the theme "Plant microbe interaction". In his research tenures, Dr. Kumar has published more than 235 scientific contributions in the form of research and review articles, books or book chapters with the leading International Journals or Publishers. He has wide area of research experience, especially in the field of Plant-Microbe Interactions, Microbial biocontrol, Postharvest management of fruits, Microbial endophytes related with the medicinal plants and cyanobacteria-pesticides interactions. Dr. Kumar actively engaged in editing book with the leading publisher like Elsevier, Springer, CRC Press, Willey and edited more than 48 books and currently serving as an Associate editor in Frontier in Microbiology, BMC Microbiology and special guest editor in Microorganisms or Plants MDPI, Journal.

Dr. Avinash Chandra Rai is currently working as a visiting scientist at Agriculture Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel. Dr. Rai has been completed his Ph.D. degree in Biotechnology from Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is currently serving as a visiting Scientist in Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization-The Volcani Centre, Israel. He has more than thirteen years of research experience, particularly in the area of plant molecular biology and plant physiology. His research interest is in deciphering the insights of plant abiotic stresses with the applications of molecular and physiological tools. He also has a keen interest in emerging environmental and physiological issues of crop plants. He is currently working to see the effect of auxin and ethylene in the process of abscission in mango and find out the role of essential gene involved in the pathways mechanism in abscission of fruit. Dr. Rai has more than seventeen research articles and book chapters in journals of national and international repute to his credit. He is a lifetime member of the Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI) and Society of vegetable Sciences, India. He is also the recipient of Young Scientist Associate award from Bioved Research Society, Allahabad, India in 2016. He has also actively participated in many national and international conferences, symposia and workshops related to his research field in India and abroad.

Dr. Ashutosh Rai, Ph.D. Applied Biochemistry from the Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has more than fourteen years of research experience, particularly in the area of plant molecular biology and biochemistry. He has specific interest in the field of transcriptional modulations for stress tolerance in plants. He is currently serving as DST/SERB-National Post Doctoral Fellow for identification of functional microsatellites markers linked to fungal resistance in chili at Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, India.

Dr. Krishna Kumar Rai is Senior Researcher in the Department of Botany, Centre of Advanced Study, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has obtained his Ph.D. degree in Biotechnology from Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He has served more than six years as Senior Research Fellow in DBT/ICAR funded projects at Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, where he has worked on deciphering physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms linked to biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in tomato and Indian bean plants. Dr. Rai is currently working on the identification of novel stress responsive genes/hypothetical proteins in cyanobacteria Anabaena PCC 7120.

Dr. Ved Prakash Rai Assistant Research Scientist at Agricultural Research Station, Navsari Agricultural University, Tanchha, Bharuch, Gujarat, India. He completed his doctoral research from the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. He has fourteen years of research experience in the area of molecular breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses in pepper, rice, wheat and pulse crops. Presently, he is working on abiotic stress tolerance in pulse and vegetable crops.