Advanced Crop Improvement, Volume 2: Case Studies of Economically Important Crops

Aamir Raina is currently working as Assistant Professor in Department of Botany, at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Dr. Raina obtained his Masters in Botany in 2013 with specialization in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Dr. Raina earned the Degree of Doctorate in 2018 for his research work on "Induced Mutagenesis in Cowpea" from the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. His current research interests are the selection for novel mutations induced by mutagens in pulses, medicinal and aromatic plants and elucidation of physiological and molecular mechanisms in response to mutagens and looking for suitable germplasm donors for breeding purpose. Working on the mutagenesis of plants, Dr. Raina has found a significant role of mutagens in the regulation of plant growth and development and have suggested that mutagens could play an important role in improving the yield and yield attributing traits of crops. Recognizing the contribution of Dr. Raina in the field of mutation breeding, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria appointed Dr. Raina as Technical Corporation Expert and Lecturer to conduct National level mutation breeding training in Sudan. The successful conduct of Dr. Raina in different IAEA proj¬ects as an expert supported his research in mutation breeding of crops and proved his ability to work in a multicultural environment. Considering all his achieve¬ments and outstanding contributions in the field of Plant Science, he has been conferred with various research fellowships including CSIR JRF, DBT-SRF, GATE, ICAR NET, JKSET and Nuffic OKP (recieved from Dutch Ministry of foreign Affairs, The Netherlands) and awards including National Environmental Science Academy (NESA) Young scientist and Bharat Vikas Award. He has been recognized as Young Scientist of the Year 2018, receiving theaward from President of NESA, India. Dr. Raina has published more than 40 journal articles and 25 book chapters. Dr. Raina has edited special issues on research topic entitled "Legume Breeding in Transition: Innovation and Outlook" in Frontiers in Genetics and "Emerging Talents in Horticulture Breeding and Genetics 2022" in Frontiers in Horticulture. He is among the editorial board mem¬bers of many scientific journals such as Frontiers in Plant Science, Frontiers in Genetics, Scientific Reports, PLOS One, and BMC Plant Biology. Dr. Raina has par¬ticipated and presented several research papers in dif¬ferent national and international conferences. Dr. Raina has also attended many workshops, trainings, and short courses under scholarships from national and interna¬tional funding agencies.
Mohammad Rafiq Wani is currently working as Assistant Professor (Selection Grade) in the Department of Botany at Abdul Ahad Azad Memorial Degree College Bemina, Cluster University Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Dr. Wani did his Masters' degree in Botany in 2003 with a specialization in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. After obtaining the Degree of Doctorate in 2008 for his research work on "Chemical Mutagenesis in Mungbean" from the same university, he joined the Department of Higher Education, Jammu and Kashmir Government in 2009. He teaches a range of bioscience-related subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr. Wani's research interests are primarily focused on induced mutagenesis and molecular biology in food crops more particularly in pulse crops. As a part of his research endeavor, Dr. Wani has extensively researched and writ¬ten on the issues of induced mutagenesis infood crops, with special reference to pulses. He has published more than 65 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and 20 book chapters in various research-oriented volumes. Dr. Wani, while constantly working for his academic and research interests, has so far edited six volumes of books on the subjects of Plant Stress Physiology, Induced Plant Mutagenesis, and Crop Improvement with reputed international publishers like Springer and Wageningen Academic Publishers, the Netherlands.
Rafiul Amin Laskar is Assistant Professor of Plant Sciences affiliated with the Department of Botany, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Adarsha Mahavidyalaya (PDUAM), Eraligool, Karimganj, Assam, India. He received his M.Sc. in Botany with specialization in Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2012 and DBT-PDTC in Plant Tissue Culture and Micropropagation in 2013 from the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Dr. Laskar has obtained his Ph.D. in 2018 from the Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, for his work on Induced Mutagenesis. After completing his Ph.D., he worked as a Guest Faculty at Nagaland University, Lumami for over 1 year and as an Assistant Professor at Bahona College, Jorhat for over 3 year. Dr. Laskar is actively engaged in research on mutation breeding in grain legumes for genetic improvement of qualitative and quantitative traits. He is a life member of the various educative societies and associations and had been active member of the interdisciplinary societies. To his credit are edited book, 10 book chapters published by reputed publishing companies like Springer and more than 50 other publications as research papers, editorials, popu¬lar science articles, review papers, and other reports. He has edited a special issue entitled "Legume Breeding in Transition: Innovation and Outlook" in Frontiers in Genetics and is serving as Editorial Board Member of many journals. He has presented a number of research papers in various national and international conferences and symposiums. He has attended many workshops and short courses under scholarship from national and international bodies. He has acted as the co-coordinator of the Institutional Biotech Hub, Bahona College funded by Department of Biotechnology, India. Dr. Laskar has served as the Co-Principal Investigator for the project titled "DBT-NER Institutional Biotech Hubs at Bahona College, Jorhat, Assam with a Focused Area of "Development of Infrastructure and Skilled Human Resources Through Science & Technology Intervention". Currently he is maintaining an active student research program on induced mutagenesis of food crops, cyto¬genetics, and in vitro tissue culture of economically important plants focusing on plant genetic resources of North East India.
Nasya Tomlekova is Professor and Head of Molecular Biology Laboratory in the Department of Breeding at the Maritsa Vegetable Crops Research Institute, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She graduated from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" in Biology and did her Masters with specialization in Genetics and Biochemistry. She has been employed in the Institute in 1990; trained in the area of her research interests by 12 international fellow¬ships; and she has a long postgraduate experience in research on the application of induced mutagenesis, molecular and in vitro techniques, and other relevant biotechnologies related to crop improvement. Mrs. Tomlekova obtained the Degree of Doctorate at the Commission on Plant-Growing and Biotechnologies and her Habilitation was at the Commission on Breeding and Seed Production. She has published 5 books, including a methodological recommendation, and 11 book chapters, 121 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals and 43 international conference proceedings. Prof. Tomlekova teaches on several topics related to biotechnology and she has trained many students and fellows from different countries at Ph.D. and post- and undergraduate levels. She conducted dozens expert mis¬sions as a lecturer in different countries from Asia and Africa. Dr. Tomlekova acted as lead editor of 2 books by Wageningen Publisher, and she is a member of 3 journal editorial boards, a reviewer of more than 30 international bioscience-related journals and projects, and a member of 5 professional scientific societies, like EUCARPIA, International Carotenoid Society, and International Pepper Network. The successful participa¬tion of Prof. Tomlekova in nine different IAEA and an EU projects as coordinator/scientific holder, and sup¬ported her research in mutation breeding of vegetable crops and potato and proved her ability for a work in a multicultural and multilanguage environment from and outside Europe. Also, she has managed projects and participated in many research teams of national and international projects. Her research focuses on the field of molecular biology with applications in agriculture, induced mutagenesis, genetics, biochemistry, and molecular marker selection.
Samiullah Khan is currently working as Professor and Head of Genetics and Plant Breeding, and Plant Biotechnology in the Department of Botany at the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Dr. Khan obtained his Ph.D. in 1990 from Aligarh Muslim University, specializing in Genetics and Plant Breeding. He has 29 years of teaching experience in Embryology of Angiosperms, Genetics and Plant Breeding and supervised a number of Ph.D., M. Phil., and M.Sc. proj¬ects. He has edited several books and published more than 100 research papers in journals of national and international repute. He has attended many conferences in India and abroad including XVIth International Congress of Genetics at Toronto, Canada. He is a mem¬ber of editorial board of many scientific journals. He is a fellow of the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding.

Aamir Raina 目前在印度阿里格爾穆斯林大學的植物學系擔任助理教授。Raina 博士於 2013 年在喀什米爾大學獲得植物學碩士學位，專攻遺傳學和植物育種。Raina 博士於 2018 年獲得阿里格爾穆斯林大學的博士學位，研究主題為「豇豆的誘導突變」。他目前的研究興趣包括選擇由突變劑誘導的脈衝作物、新型突變、藥用和芳香植物的突變，並闡明植物對突變劑的生理和分子機制反應，尋找適合育種的種質供應者。Raina 博士在植物的突變研究中發現，突變劑在植物生長和發展的調控中扮演著重要角色，並建議突變劑可能在提高作物產量及其相關性狀方面發揮重要作用。因應 Raina 博士在突變育種領域的貢獻，國際原子能機構（IAEA）在奧地利維也納任命他為技術合作專家和講師，負責在蘇丹進行國家級的突變育種培訓。Raina 博士在不同 IAEA 項目中作為專家的成功表現支持了他在作物突變育種方面的研究，並證明了他在多元文化環境中工作的能力。考慮到他在植物科學領域的所有成就和卓越貢獻，他獲得了多項研究獎學金，包括 CSIR JRF、DBT-SRF、GATE、ICAR NET、JKSET 和 Nuffic OKP（由荷蘭外交部提供）以及包括國家環境科學學院（NESA）青年科學家獎和 Bharat Vikas 獎在內的多項獎項。他被認定為 2018 年的青年科學家，並由印度 NESA 會長頒發獎項。Raina 博士已發表超過 40 篇期刊文章和 25 篇書章。他編輯了《Frontiers in Genetics》上題為「轉型中的豆類育種：創新與展望」的專刊，以及《Frontiers in Horticulture》上題為「2022 年園藝育種與遺傳學中的新興人才」的專刊。他是多本科學期刊的編輯委員會成員，如《Frontiers in Plant Science》、《Frontiers in Genetics》、《Scientific Reports》、《PLOS One》和《BMC Plant Biology》。Raina 博士參加並在多個國內外會議上發表了多篇研究論文。他還參加了許多由國內外資助機構提供獎學金的研討會、培訓和短期課程。

Mohammad Rafiq Wani 目前在印度查謨和克什米爾邦的阿卜杜勒·阿哈德·阿扎德紀念學院擔任助理教授（選拔級）。Wani 博士於 2003 年在阿里格爾穆斯林大學獲得植物學碩士學位，專攻遺傳學和植物育種。2008 年，他在同一所大學獲得博士學位，研究主題為「綠豆的化學突變」。隨後，他於 2009 年加入查謨和克什米爾邦政府的高等教育部，教授本科和研究生階段的多門生物科學相關科目。Wani 博士的研究興趣主要集中在食品作物的誘導突變和分子生物學，特別是脈衝作物。作為其研究的一部分，Wani 博士對食品作物的誘導突變問題進行了廣泛的研究和撰寫，特別是針對脈衝作物。他在同行評審的期刊上發表了超過 65 篇研究論文，並在各種研究導向的書籍中發表了 20 篇書章。Wani 博士在不斷追求學術和研究興趣的同時，至今已編輯了六卷有關植物育種的書籍。