Dr Hira Singh joined Punjab Agricultural University as Assistant Professor in the Department of Vegetable Science in 2010. In 2022, he completed his PhD degree from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. During his PhD, he worked on onion molecular breeding. Currently, he is engaged in breeding of garden pea, palak (Indian Spinach) and methi. His main area of research is to identify potential cultivars of garden pea, palak and methi to address sustainable development goals and nutritional security under rapidly changing climatic conditions. He is teaching various UG and PG courses. He is proactively involved in the guiding of students to pursue higher education in India and abroad particularly for JRF/SRF/ARS. He authored 50 research papers in peer reviewed national and international journals, 6 review papers, five international book chapters, presented 20 papers in international and national conferences. Currently, he is supervising four MSc students and 15 committee members. He attended various scientific group meeting, conferences and workshops in India and abroad. He acted as editor of Changi Kheti magazine from 2012 to 2016. He is member of six professional international and national societies. He has awarded various awards including Dr BR Sharma Gold Medal, DST National AWSAR Award-2022, Young Scientist Award-2021, Best PhD thesis Award-2023 and so on. 

Research Interests 

1. To develop high yielding and nutrient enriched cultivars of garden pea, palak and methi through conventional and omic tools. 

Project Accomplished- Nil

Ongoing Projects: Nil

Selected Publications 

• HIRA SINGH, Mauro Lombardo, AbhishekGoyal and Khar A (2023) Genotypic variation in Na, K and their ratio in 45 commercial cultivars of Indian tropical onion: A pressing need to reduce hypertension among the population. Frontiers in Nutrition,10:1098320.https://doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1098320 (NAAS rating 12.59, IF-6.6)

• HIRA SINGH, Khar A and Verma P (2021). Induced mutagenesis for genetic improvement of Allium genetic resources: A comprehensive review. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 68 (7): 2669–2690 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-021-01210-8 (NAAS rating 7.52, IF-1.52)

• HIRA SINGH, M Zimik, M Mangal, K Gaikwad, S Singh, A R Rao and Anil Khar (2024) Distribution pattern of cytoplasm and restoration of male fertility (Ms) locus in short-day tropical Indian onion populations. Euphytica, 220(70): https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-024-03334-1

• Yadav S, Dhall R K,Hira Singh, Kumar P, Sharma P, Kumar P, Kumari P, and Rana N. (2025) Comprehensive genetic analysis of edible-podded pea genotypes: variability, heritability, and multivariate approach across two agro-climatic zones in India. Horticulturae.; 11(1):22. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11010022(NAAS rating 9.1, IF-3.1)

• KharA, Zimik M, Verma P, HIRA SINGH, Mangal M, Singh M C and Gupta A J (2022) Molecular marker-based characterization of cytoplasm and restorer of male sterility (Ms) locus in commercially grown onions in India. Molecular Biology Reports49(6):5535-5545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-07451-9 (NAAS rating 8.32, IF-2.32)

Awards/Honours/Distinctions:

1. Dr B.R. Sharma Gold Medal, 2006, PAU, Ludhiana
2. DST AWSAR Award 2022
3. University academic excellence merit certificates for BSc and MSc degrees.
4. University Merit fellowship during B.Sc. and M.Sc.
5. University Appreciation Certification for Outstanding Teaching by Dean CoA: 2023
6. Awarded four best oral paper presentation awards.