Ludhiana, June 12, 2021 (Yes Punjab News)
Dr VS Sohu, Principal Wheat Breeder, has been appointed as Head, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), for a term of four years. During the meeting of the Board of Management held under the chairmanship of Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, the appointment was approved.
Dr Sohu joined PAU as Assistant Extension Specialist (Cotton) in March 1992 and was soon transferred to the post of Assistant Wheat Breeder, Department of Plant Breeding, PAU. He was promoted as Wheat Breeder in 2001 and Senior Wheat Breeder re-designated as Principal Wheat Breeder in 2009.
As team member, he has made significant contributions towards the release of 34 wheat varieties – 25 PAU wheat varieties (21 developed + 4 evaluated), of which 17 were released at national level and 9 from other institutes. Notable ones are PBW 343, PBW 373, PBW 502, PBW 550, PBW 725, Unnat PBW 343 and PBW 1 Zn.
Averaged over the last 25 years, the wheat varieties developed by him occupied more than 60 per cent of wheat area in Punjab annually. These varieties were also very popular at national level as evident from their continued inclusion in list of top 10 varieties in national breeder seed production programme.
Besides, he has developed two wheat genetic stocks KBRL 76-3 and PBW 703 registered with National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources. In addition, Dr Sohu has published 56 research papers, 45 popular articles and got adhoc research projects with more than Rs 10 crore funding from various agencies.
He has also handled 27 adhoc research projects (9 as PrincipaI Investigator and 18 as Co-PI) relating to biofortification, heat and drought tolerance, rust resistance, etc. Dr Sohu holds extensive international exposure and has developed linkages with CIMMYT, Mexico; University of Sydney, Australia and Sabanci University, Turkey.
He has taught plant breeding courses to undergraduate and postgraduate students; and guided 7 M.Sc, 5 Ph.D and 10 undergraduate students. Dr Sohu has popularized PAU wheat varieties/technologies through radio/TV talks (7), lectures at training camps (13), frontline demonstrations (44) and Kisan Melas.
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