Dr. Madhu Sharma, began her career at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, in May 2016. Her research focuses on genetic improvement of onion, garlic, brinjal, pumpkin, and minor vegetables, integrating conventional breeding with molecular and genomic approaches to address traits such as yield, male sterility, fertility restoration, hull-less seed, plant architecture, earliness, quality and disease resistance. She has released pumpkin varieties and the novel salad crop Punjab Tarwanga-1. She has also contributed to the release of F1 hybrids in onion (CMS based) and brinjal, begomovirus resistant pumpkin variety and standardized two production technologies in garlic. Dr. Madhu Sharma has secured competitive research funding from ICAR, DBT, DST, and CSIR, guided eight M.Sc. and two Ph.D. students, and actively teaches undergraduate and doctoral courses. With over 70 research and extension publications in reputed national and international journals, her work continues to contribute significantly to vegetable crop improvement and the development of sustainable agricultural practices.
Research Interest:
Trait-specific breeding to develop high-yielding, resilient, and disease-resistant varieties and hybrids with enhanced quality, suited to diverse agro-climatic conditions
Project Accomplished
- Mutation assisted breeding for clove size and disease resistance in Garlic (Allium sativum L.), funded by Department of Science and Technology (ECR) from 2018-2021 as PI
- Harnessing potential of home-grown harvest for healthy life, funded by Department of Science and Technology (PURSE) from 2017-2022as Associated Scientist
On Going Projects:
- All India Net-work research project on onion and garlic, funded by ICAR-Directorate of onion and garlicas PI
- Fine mapping of begomovirus resistance governing loci(qMI-sq/to17.1 and qMI-sq/to17.4)in Cucurbita moschata (Duch), funded by Department of Science and Technology(SERB-POWER) as PI
- Molecular Mapping of fertility restorer genes in brinjal (Solanum melongena L), funded by Department of Science and Technology (CRG) as Co-PI
- Metagenomic profiling of bioenzymes and their potential for composting to fulfil interlinked nutrient dependency in vegetable crops,funded by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (ASPIRE)as Co-PI
Selected Research Publication
- Anand P, Garcha K, Meena OP, Sharma M, Dhatt AS, Khosa J. 2025. Development of High Throughput KASP Assays for Identification of Cytotypes and Fertility Restoration in Onion (Allium cepa L.). Plant Breeding. DOI: 10.1111/pbr.13288(NAAS rating: 7.50/ IF 1.50)
- Gupta M, Sharma R, Sharma M, Sharma S, Sharma P. 2024. Influence of inorganic fertilizers with biofertilizers on biochemical components, growth and yield of garlic under subtropical irrigated condition. J. Plant Nutr. 47(6):837–49 (NAAS rating 8.10/IF 2.10)
- Verma N, Garcha KS, Sharma A, Sharma M, Bhatia D, Khosa JS, Kaur B, Chuuneja P andDhatt AS (2023) Identification of a major-effect QTL associated with begomoviruses resistance in Cucurbita moschata Duchesne. Phytopathologyhttps://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-07-22-0240-FI (NAAS rating 10.01/IF 4.01)
- Awards and honors
Kaur K, Dhatt AS, Sharma M. 2021. Inheritance of alloplasmic fertility restoration in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.). Genet Resour Crop Evol. 68(5):1949–60 (NAAS rating 8.0 /IF 2.0) - Kaur B, Garcha KS, Bhatia D, Khosa JS, Sharma M, Mittal A, Verma N, Dhatt AS.2022. Identification of single major QTL and candidate gene(s) governing hull-less seed trait in pumpkin. Front Plant Sci DOI: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.948106/full(NAAS rating 11.60/IF 5.60)
- University Gold Medal awarded by CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (CSKHPKV)
- Gold Medal and Cash Prize conferred by Kisan Trust, New Delhi
- Gold Medal and Certificate of Appreciation presented by Himutkarsh Society (NGO)
