ornamental horticulture: latest cultivation practices and breeding technologies

Dr. Bhavya Bhargava is presently working as Sr. Scientist (Floriculture), at Department of Agrotechnology, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research - Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. He has a Ph.D. in Horticulture (Floriculture and Landscaping) from Dr. Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. He has qualified ICAR ASRB National Eligibility Test (NET). As a faculty of Agrotechnology, he is involved in teaching of different courses and guiding the PhD students. He has published numerous research/ review papers in journals of international repute, contributed 14 book chapter, several popular articles, and 8 institutional publications. He is leading various projects as Principal Investigator funded by National funding agencies like CSIR, DST, MSME, NMPB, MoEFCC etc. He has delivered lectures related to floriculture on TV and radio. Dr. Bhargava has received many awards from various societies and scientific organizations for his scientific contribution.

Dr. Pankaj Kumar currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. His academic journey includes post-doctoral studies at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research - Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. Dr. Kumar has 12 years of expertise in horticulture biotechnology, focusing on plant secondary metabolite enhancement through cell and tissue engineering approaches. His accolades include the DST INSPIRE JRF/SRF Fellowship, ICAR AICE-SRF (PGS), and ICAR ASRB National Eligibility Test (NET). Dr. Kumar has an extensive publication record and has filed three Indian patents, one patent published and registered four apple mutants with unique, early color and early maturity characteristics in the Indian National Germplasm Repository (INGR 20103, INGR 20104, INGR 20105 & INGR 20106). Recognized for his scientific contributions, Dr. Kumar has received numerous awards, including the Young Scientists Fellowship Award-2021 (ICMR, New Delhi), Scientist’s Pool Scheme Award-2020 (CSIR, New Delhi), and the SERB-ACS-NPDF Best Poster Award-2022.

Dr. Vipasha Verma is presently working as CSIR-SRA (Scientist’s Pool Scheme) at Department of Agrotechnology, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research - Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. She has also worked as Principal Project Associate (2012-2023) in the CSIR-Floriculture Mission, at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur. She did her post-doctoral studies with Prof. Jian Kang Zhu at Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology (PSC), Center of Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences (SIBS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China. Out of her postdoctoral work, one Patent (P.R. China) has been granted and one Patent (US) is published. Dr. Vipasha has been awarded DST INSPIRE-JRF Fellowship, sponsored by Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and qualified ICAR-ASRB National Eligibility Test (NET). She has published 16 research/review papers in journals of international repute, contributed 4 book chapters, 3 popular articles and attended various international and national conferences.