Dr. Manpreet Kaur Saini joined Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Faridkot as Assistant Professor (Plant Protection) on 23.12.2008 after completing B.Sc. (Agri Hons.) from Khalsa College, Amritsar in 2002; M.Sc. from CSK HPKV, Palampur in 2004 and Ph.D. from PAU, Ludhiana in 2008. Later, she worked as DES (Entomology) at FASC, Gurdaspur from 06.05.2010 to 21.07.2017 and as Assistant Plant Pathologist at RRS, Gurdaspur from 21.07.2017 to 08.08.2019. Presently, she is working as Entomologist in AlCRP on PHET in the Deptt. of Processing and Food Engineering since 09.08.2019. Her field of specialization is Eco-Friendly Integrated Pest Management Strategies for Stored Food Grains. She has published 30 research papers, 91 extension articles and presented 13 papers in national and international conferences. She has delivered 233 lectures in camps and 18 TV/ radio talks.  She has attended an “International training course at Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) Wageningen UR, The Netherlands.  

Professional Accomplishments

Research Projects

1. Integrated Quality Management of Moong against Pulse Beetle stored for Grain and Seed Purpose under All India Coordinated Research Project on Post harvest Engineering and Technology.
2. Development of management protocol for metallic drum/retail pack stored chickpea against Pulse beetle (Callosobruchus chinensis) using essential oils
3. Development of IoT based biogas flushed automated storage system to manage major insect-pests of mungbean and kabuli chana

 Research Publications:

1. Saini M K, Alam M S, Sidhu A and Bhatia S (2025) Effective and Biosafe application of AITC-infused on cellulose strips as a fumigant for managing quality and major insect pests in stored chickpea grains. Journal of Stored Products Research 111: 102545https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2025.102545
2. Kaur K, Kumar S, Kaur P, Saini M K, Singh A, Bala M and Singh D (2023) Optimization of process parameters for ozone disinfestation of C. maculatus: Effects on Germination, Invitro protein, Digestibility, Nutritional, Thermal and Pasting properties of mung bean grains. Ozone: Science and Technology. DOI: 10.1080/01919512.2023.2210615
3. Saini M K and Alam M S (2023) Optimization of treatment process parameters for management of Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius): Effect on quality parameters of mung bean grains. Indian Journal of Ecology. 51 (4): 860-866 DOI: https://doi.org/10.55362/IJE/2024/4321
4. Alam M S and Saini M K (2022) Optimal mechanical exclusion devices for management of Khapra beetle in stored wheat. Indian Journal of Entomology, DOI: 10.55446/IJE.2022.6611750,1-6
5. Saini M K, Alam M S and Bhatia S (2022) Integrated management of Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) in Mung bean stored as seed. Indian Journal of Ecology 49 (5): 1989-1995. doi.org/10.55362/IJE/2022/3772

Awards and Recognition:

• Awarded fellowship from Sir Ratan Tata Trust for attending Global Conference on Entomology at Chiang Mai, Thailand from 5-9^th March, 2011 organized by Century Foundation, India.
• Awarded prestigious International fellowship under Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for participating in the International Course on “Integrated Pest Management and Food Safety” at Wageningen UR, The Netherlands from June 9-27, 2014.
• Awarded Ist Position in the Long Term Training Course (LTTC) on Scientific Methods of Storage and Inspection of Food grains” at IGMRI, Ludhiana from 23.11.2020 to 18.12.2020 (4 weeks) organized by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India, New Delhi.