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Brief Introduction: Dr Pushp Sharma, Principal Physiologist (oilseeds) joined as Head, Department of Botany on December 23, 2022. Dr Sharma did her B.Sc. from Punjabi University, Patiala in 1986, M.Sc. Botany from Punjab Agricultural University in 1989 and subsequently Ph.D. from PAU, Ludhiana in 1992. Qualified ICAR-NET in 1996 and joined the university as Assistant Plant Physiologist in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics in 1999.
Research focus has been on physiology of cotton, pulses and oilseeds crops but for the last sixteen years working on oilseeds (mustard, sesame, sunflower & groundnut) mainly screening and identifying elite germplam for abiotic stresses (low light, heat, drought and salinity), underlying the physiological and biochemical basis of abiotic stress management, enhanced NUE efficiency, PGRs in relieving stress particularly heat injury in cotton, heat/drought in mustard and hastening maturity in groundnut, source-sink relationship, microbes for alleviating stresses and enhancing productivity in groundnut and mustard. Her research contributions identified donors for cold tolerance in chickpea and standardised lysemetric technique for root studies in mustard. She is associated with the release of 6 varieties one each of mungbean, urdbean, sesame and 3 of mustard (PBR378, PC6 and Giriraj), 4 hybrids (2 of mustard PHR126 &RCH1), 2 of Gobhi sarson (PGSH1707 & PGSH1699), recommendation of foliar spray to mitigate drought and one production technology. She was awarded two certificates of appreciation, one by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for carbon assimilation in groundnut and second as a lead speaker on climate change mitigation strategies for abiotic stress management by SRMR Bharatpur, team award by ICAR-IIPR Kanpur (2007) and ICAR-DRMR, Bharatpur (2010-2011). Best oral presentations awards- 4 and best poster paper awards-many. Lead author of the Oral Presentations in Plant Physiology during 3 consecutive International Rapeseed Congress (IRC) held at Prague, Czech Republic (2011), Saskatoon, Canada (2015) and Berlin, Germany (2019). Associated with two international projects funded by AVRDC-DFID as collaborator, popularization of chickpea in rice-wheat cropping system by DST as associated scientist and Co (PI) in two projects of Centre of Excellence in Brassicas by DBT. Fellow of two Societies: Society for Rapeseed-Mustard Research Bharatpur & Indian Society of Oilseeds Research Hyderabad. Life member of 4 Societies and Editor, Journal of oilseed Brassica. Published 90 research papers, participated in 79 conferences (8 International), 2 international workshops, published 22 book chapters, 3 bulletins, 1 manual and edited 2 books, organized a webinar series and Principal Investigator (PI) plant physiology for AICRP- RM since 2013.
Dr Sharma is teaching for the last eleven years- involving 4 UG and 4 PG courses in Botany and 2 PG courses of Plant Breeding and Genetics. She has guided 11 M.Sc. and 1 Ph.D. student as major advisor, presently supervising 6 Ph.D. and 1 M.Sc. students and advisory committee member of many students. Delivered lectures in training programmes for JRF, UGC and CAFT at PAU. Paper setter for various courses, entrance and selection exams, external examiner and expert member under CAS outside the university. Member of monitoring team of AICRP-RM since 2016. Participated in various extension activities (Kisan melas, supporting person in Extension Specialist workshops, organized training programmes etc.) and published 61 extension articles.
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