In December 2019, Dr Meena joined the Department of Vegetable Science at PAU, Ludhiana, as a Vegetable Breeder.His research primarily focuses on breeding onion, eggplant, pumpkin, sweet-potato for resistance to both abiotic and biotic stresses. He has associated with testing of severalvarieties/ hybrids. Dr Meena attended various scientific group meeting, conferences and workshops in India and abroad. He has published 35 research articles and three review papers in reputed peer-reviewed journals.As part of his professional service, Dr Meenaserves as a reviewer forseveral peer-reviewed scientific journals,including those published byElsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, ACS Publications, CSIRO Publishing, Public Library of Science, SciELO, MDPI etc.Currently, he is supervising two mater’s students.

Research Interest:

1. Development of high-yielding varieties/ hybrids of onion, eggplant, pumpkin, sweet potato
2. Exploitation of male sterility system in onion and eggplant

Project Accomplished:NIL

On Going Projects:

1. Molecular mapping of fertility restorer gene in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.), funded by DST, India as Co-PI
2. Mitigating abiotic stresses in potato and onion through crop improvement approaches,funded byNDMF, India as Co-PI

Selected Research Publication:

1. Anand A, Garcha G, Meena OP, Sharma M, Dhatt A and Khosa J (2025)Development of high throughput KASP assays for identification of cytotypes andfertility restoration in onion (Allium cepa L.). Plant Breedinghttps://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.13288(IF: 1.8)
2. Verma G, Khosa JS, Sharma M, Meena OP and Dhatt AS (2025) Phenotypic and molecular characterization of vernalizationsensitivity and pre-mature bolting in onion (Allium cepa L.). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 72: 999-1011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-024-02021-3
3. Bishnoi R, Solanki R, Singla D, Mittal A, Chhuneja P, Meena OP and Dhatt AS (2024) Comparative mitochondrial genome analysis reveals a candidate ORF for cytoplasmic male sterility in tropical onion. 3 Biotech 14: 6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-023-03850-2(IF: 2.9)
4. Rani M, Jindal SK, Vikal Y and Meena OP (2021) Genetic male sterility breeding in heat tolerant bell pepper: Introgression of ms10 gene from hot pepper through marker assisted backcrossing. Scientia Horticulturae 285: 110172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2021.110172(IF: 4.2)
5. Meena OP, Dhaliwal MS, Jindal SK and Rani M (2020) Cytoplasmic male sterile lines with desirable combining ability enhance the concentration of biochemical attributes and total yield in Capsicum annuum under temperature stress conditions. Industrial Crops and Products 145: 112107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112107 (IF: 6.2)

Awards and honors

1. ITS by the SERB, New Delhi
2. Merit Certificate in M.Sc.