Dr. Ambika Rautela joined PAU as Plant Pathologist on 01.11.2019 after completing her MSc (Ag) Plant Pathology in 2014 and PhD Plant Pathology in 2018 from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar. Her PhD research problem was the part of INDO-GERMAN PROJECT on Copper/Chitosan Nanoparticles and Biopesticides for knowledge-based plant protection. She is the recipient of APS Student Travel Award at Zonal level for her PhD research work. Her field of specialization is integrated plant disease management. She has won three best poster presentation awards from her PhD research work under the technical sessions related to biological control/ integrated plant disease management in various conferences/ symposiums. She has also published various research articles in the nationally reputed journals. Currently she is working in the field of wheat pathology and running a competitive project as principal investigator (PI) on Fusarium Head Blight of wheat funded by DST under SERB-SURE Scheme. She is having life membership of Indian Phytopathological Society (IPS) and Indian Society of Plant Pathologist (INSOPP). She has been holding the additional charge of Assistant Warden UG Girls Hostel, PAU since 21.03.2021. 

Professional Accomplishments

Research Projects

• ‘Determination of etiology and management of Fusarium head blight (FHB) an emerging wheat disease under climate change scenario in Punjab, India’ funded by DST (SERB-SURE) in 2023 as PI. 

Research Publications:

1. Rautela, A., Tak, P.S. and Singh, A. 2024. Assessment of biotic stressed seeds of wheat in Punjab and its invigoration using chitosan treatment. Indian Phytopathology. 77(3) (NAAS Rating: 5.97) 
2. Rautela, A., Kaur, A.and Bohra, Y. 2023. Efficacy of chitosan against Penicillium digitatum causing post-harvest green mould in kinnow. Plant Disease Research 38(1): 71-75.      (NAAS Rating : 4.30)
3. Tak P.S., Pannu P.P.S., Sabhikhi H.S. and Rautela A. 2023. Effect of fungicides and natural products on biochemical indices and yield of wheat. Plant Disease research 38(1): 81-93. (NAAS Rating 4.30).
4. Rautela, A., Dwivedi, M., Tewari, A.K and Kumar, J. 2019. Enzymatic activity and secondary metabolite profile of Trichoderma asperellum in presence of chitosan. Indian Phytopathology 72: 437-444. (NAAS rating: 5.97)
5. Rautela, A. 2017. Eco-friendly Management of Red Rot of Sugarcane caused by Colletotrichum falcatum Went. Environment & Ecology. 35(3D): 2453-2457. (NAAS rating 4.87)

Awards and Recognitions:

1. Qualified ICAR – ARS National Eligibility Test (NET)-2017.
2. Recipient of University Graduate Teaching Assistantship in M.Sc. degree programme during Year 2011-2014 and university merit fellowship in Ph.D degree programme during Year 2014-2018
3. ‘APS Student Travel Award’ at Zonal Level’ for paper entitled: Studying interaction between chitosan and copper for effective and eco-friendly management of plant diseases (Ambika Rautela and J Kumar) at National Symposium on “Sustainable Disease Management Approaches and Applications, IPS-MEZ Annual meeting, 21-23 December, 2017.
4. Best poster presentation award for poster entitled ‘Comparision of efficacy of different copper compounds in the triple combination of copper-chitosan-Trichoderma for the management of potato late blight’ (Ambika Rautela, A.K Tewari and J. Kumar) in the National Symposium on “Sustainable Disease Management Approaches and Applications, IPS-MEZ Annual meeting, 21-23 December, 2017.
5. Best poster presentation award for paper entitled ‘Effect of chitosan as seed treatment to invigorate blight infested shrivelled wheat seeds’ in National Symposium on Impact of Climate Change on Emerging Plant Diseases, Annual meeting of Indian Phytopathological Society (NZ) on 28th and 29th October 2022 at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir. 
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