Seasoned Plant Breeder and Geneticist specializing in pre-breeding for architectural restructuring, development of new sources of cytoplasmic male sterility, introgressing alien variation for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Actively engaged in both basic and applied research with focus on hybrid breeding, Brassica introgression breeding and polyploidy.Research thrust also involves. Developing genotypes with determinate growth habit and herbicide resistance in rapeseed-mustard crops offering new ideotypes for breeding programs.

Professional Accomplishments

1. Mobilizing genes for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses from wild and weedy species into mustard and Canola: Developed, phenotyped and genetically characterized introgression lines of Canola mustard carrying chromosome segment substitutions from wild Brassicaceous species B.fruticulosa and Erucastrumcardaminoides for field resistance to Sclerotinia stem rot. juncea – B. fruticulosa introgression lines exhibiting resistance to mustard aphid (LipaphiserysimiKalt) and Sclerotinia stem rot. Further established B.fruticulosa segment substitutions on individual chromosome of B. juncea by combining molecular-cytogenetic analysis with in silico genomic analysis. Introgression lines of Canola mustard, carrying chromosome segment substitutions from wild Brassicaceous species Erucastrumabyssinicum and Diplotaxistenuisiliquafor resistance to heat and drought stresses. Genome wide association studies have allowed identification of many productivity and stress related genes
2. Establishment of heterotic gene pools and development of cytoplasmic male sterile lines, Fertility restorers and hybrids in Rapeseed-Mustard: Co-developed and released India’s first rapeseed canola and mustard canola hybrids PGSH 1707 and RCH1 respectively. Also developed conventional mustard hybrids, PHR126 and PHR 127. All hybrids are under farmer cultivation in India. Experience in commercial scale production of Canola and mustard hybrids, including maintenance of parental lines and establishing hybridity through molecular tags or grow out tests.
3. Diversification of CMS sources: Developed a new source of cytoplasmic male sterility to create an alternate pollination control system for mustard. Physically mapped introgressed fertility restorer gene (Rfo) on the chromosome A9 of juncea.

Selected Research Publications:

1. Javed Akhatar, Anna Goyal, Meenakshi Mittal, HeenaVerma, Kaur Gurpreet, Beerpal Kaur, Surinder S. Banga and Chhaya Atri(2025) Genetic analysis of silique and seed traits in Brassica juncea(L.) Czern. under differential doses of nitrogen application. Sci Rep 15, 23977.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-07758-0
2. Sureshkumar S, Bandaranayake C, Lv J, Dent CI, Bhagat PK, Mukherjee S, Sarwade R, Atri C, York HM, Tamizhselvan P, Shamaya N, Folini G, Bergey BG, Yadav AS, Kumar S, Grummisch OS, Saini P, Yadav RK, Arumugam S, Rosonina E, Sadanandom A, Liu H, Balasubramanian S (2024) SUMO protease FUG1, histone reader AL3 and chromodomain protein LHP1 are integral to repeat expansion-induced gene silencing in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nature Plants.10 (5):749-759. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01672-5
3. Mundi HK, Sharma S, Kaur H, Devi J, Atri C, Gupta M (2025) Using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) and chemometrics for non-destructive estimation of the amount and composition of seed tocopherols in Brassica juncea (Indian mustard). Journal of Food Science and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-025-06204-3
4. Ansari AA, Akhatar J, Sharma S, Banga SS, Atri C (2024) Integrating multiple statistical indices to measure the stability in photosynthetic pigment content and composition in Brassica juncea () Czern. germplasm under varying environmental conditions. Photosynthesis Research162: 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-024-01116-3.
5. Sharma S, Goyal P, Devi J, Atri C, Kumar R and Banga SS (2024) Using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict the nitrogen levels in the stem and root tissues of Brassica juncea (Indian mustard). Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 322: 124755. https://doi.org/1016/j.saa.2024.124755.
6. Shekhawat PK, Goyal A, Akhatar J, Sharma S, Kaur N, Bharti B, Mittal M, Sardana VK, Chhuneja P, Banga SS, Atri C (2023) Genetic analysis of the variation for mineral accumulation in the leaves and seeds of natural germplasm of Brassica rapa (AA) and its derived forms extracted from an allotetraploid B.juncea L. (AABB). Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 203: 108084.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108084

Ongoing Projects:

1. Consortia for Research Platform (CRP) on hybrid technology for higher productivity in selected field and horticultural crops-Mustard ICAR, India (ICAR).
2. Consortia for Research Platform (CRP) on Molecular breeding for improvement of tolerance to biotech and abiotic stresses, yield and quality traits in crops- Mustard, ICAR, India (ICAR).
3. Mapping and transfer of Alternaria blight resistance from a wild crucifer- Diplotaxiserucoides in Oilseed Brassicas (DBT, Centre of Excellence)

Awards:

1. Endeavour Research Fellowship, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia (2008)
2. Best Scientist award, Society of Krishi Vigyan, India (2022)