Macrophomina Phaseolina

Dr. Pankaj Kumar completed his master’s and doctorate degrees at the Gurukula Kangri Vishawavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand (India). He has more than ten years of teaching and research experience. His research interest and expertise include the areas of rhizosphere microbiology, bacterial characterization and biofertilizers. He has published several research papers in national and international journals. He is also a co-editor of the book Rhizosphere Engineering (Elsever, 2022) with Prof. R. C. Dubey. He is also coauthor of An Objective Compendium on Food Science (Brillion publishing, 2022). He is life members of Association of Microbiology of India (AMI), New Delhi and Indian Science Congress, Kolkata, West Bengal and serving as reviewers and editorial board members of national and international journals. Currently, Dr. Pankaj is affiliated with the Department of Microbiology at the Dolphin (PG) Institute of Biomedical and Natural Science, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. Dr. Ramesh Chandra Dubeyis a Professor, Dean- Research and Dean- Faculty of Medical Science and Health, and also has been the former Head of the Department of Botany and Microbiology at GurukulaKangriVishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the internationally renowned Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. He has more than 35 years of teaching and research experienceson teaching and research in the field of Agricultural Microbiology. He has published over 190 research papers in national and international scientific journals. His Google Citation Index is above 5068 till date. He has authored 7 books and co-edited 10 books o nvaried aspects, such as soil and agriculture, microbiology, Industrial microbiology,and biotechnology. In 2022, Dr.Dubey published a unique book entitled as Vedic Microbiology with ?Motilal Banarsidas International, New Delhi (India). Dr. Dubey is a Life Member and Fellow of the Indian Botanical Society, Indian Phytopathological Society and the International Society for Conservation of Natural Resources. He has also previously served as the Councilor of the Indian Botanical Society for 3 years (2011-2013) and Institutional Animal Ethical Committee (IAEC) for 6 years (2015-2021).

Section I: The Pathogen and Disease 1. Taxonomy of Macrophomina- traditional to molecular approaches 2.Morphological and physiological characterization of Macrophomina isolates from Senegal 3. Macrophomina phaseolina causing various diseases in different crops 4. Charcoal rot: A major root and stalk disease of sorghum. 5. Recent advancement of soybean charcoal rot caused by Macrophomina phaseolina 6. Management of nematode-charcoal rot disease complex in legumes 7. Epidemiology and management of charcoal rot of maize caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi.) Goid 8. Spatial distribution of Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid. in the Carpathian Basin and its damage on sunflowers

Section II: Resistance and Pathogenicity 9. Candidate genes involved in the pathogenicity of Macrphomina phaseolina 10. Mechanism of disease development in host plants by Macrophomina phaseolina 11. Molecular tools for detection and management of Macrophomina phaseolina 12. Genetics of plant resistance against Macrophomina phaseolina

Section III: Ecology and Epidemiology 13. Ecological Niche Modelling of Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid using Bio-climatic and Non-Bioclimatic Variables: A Machine Learning Assessment 14. Survival of Macrophomina phaseolina in plant tissues and soil 15. Development of tolerance in Macrophomina phaseolina against fungicides, insecticides, and drought 16. Management of Macrophomina phaseolina by cultural practices

Section IV: Biological Control 17. Biocontrol of Macrophomina phaseolina by soil microorganisms 18. Trichoderma spp: A bioagent for sustainable management of Macrophomina phaseolina 19. Integrated pest management of the disease caused by Macrophomina phaseolina Section V: Non-chemical Control 20. Management of charcoal rot by soil solarisation and biosolarisation 21. Biosurfactant producing plant growth-promoting bacteria: Eco-friendly approaches for charcoal rot management 22. Management of the Macrophomina phaseolina using nanoparticles

Section VI: Bio-management 23. Biomanagement of Macrophomina phaseolina causing charcoal rot in plants 24. Economic aspects for eco-friendly strategies to minimize disease incidences and yield loss due to Macrophomina phaseolina