Dr. Rachna Arora is working as Assistant Professor (Fruit Science) in Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana. The salient findings include 1 crop recommendation, 2 fruit varieties and development of 3 production technologies for adoption at farmer’s level. She has published 24 research papers, 1 paper in proceedings, 3 book chapters, and 2 teaching manuals. She participated in 6 national and international symposia/conferences. She received 2 best paper presentation awards. She has guided 4 M.Sc and 1 Ph.D students as Major advisor in discipline of Fruit Science and has taught 222.5 credit hours of UG and PG courses. She is a member of Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences, New Delhi. She has delivered 11 Tv talks, 18 radio talks and 143 expert lectures. She has conducted 12 ARTs, 10 OFT, 20 surveys, 10 vocational trainings and 26 short-term trainings for farmers and farm women’s. She also has 25 extension articles and leaflets to her credit. 

Education: B.Sc. (Agriculture), Punjabi University, Patiala, (2001); M. Sc. (Pomology), PAU, Ludhiana (2003); Ph.D. (Pomology), PAU, Ludhiana (2010).

Positions Held: Assistant Horticulturist, School of agricultural Biotechnology (September 2011 to October 2011); Assistant Professor (Horticulture) KVK S B S Nagar (November 2011 to October 2015); Assistant Horticulturist Department of Fruit Science (November 2015 to November 2017); Assistant Horticulturist, School of Organic Farming (December 2017 to November 2018); Assistant Professor (Horticulture), Department of Fruit Science (November 2018 till date).

Research Interests:

1. Fruit quality improvement 
2. Post harvest management

Selected Research Publications:

1. Painda T, Arora R, Arora N K and Jawandha S K (2022) Influence of aloe vera and salicylic acid on storage life of grapes cv. Flame Seedless. Indian J Hort. 79 (3): 363-69 (NAAS rating: 6.16).
2. Kajal, Arora R, Gill PPS, Kaur N and Thakur A (2023) Biochemical changes in abscised and non-abscised aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) during fruit development. Erwerbs Obstbau 66: 239-246. (NAAS rating: 7.21)
3. Bajaj K, Kumar A, Gill PPS, Jawandha SK, Arora R and Singh A (2024) Guar gum and essential oil-based composite coatings preserve antioxidant enzymes activity and postharvest quality of Kinnow mandarin. Food Bioscience 61: 104906. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbio.2024.104906 (NAAS rating 11.20).
4. Gautam A, Gill PPS, Singh NP, Jawandha S K, Arora R, Singh A and Ajay (2024) Composite coating of xanthan gum with sodium nitroprusside alleviates the quality deterioration in strawberry fruit. Food Hydrocolloids 155: 110208 (NAAS rating: 16.70).
5. Kajol, Arora R, Jawandha S K and Thakur A (2025) Pre-storage exogenous application of anti-chilling agent modulates postharvest physiology and storability of aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.)”. Applied Fruit Science. 67: 48 (NAAS rating: 7.21)

Awards/ Honours/Distinctions:

 1st with distinction, University merit certificate and University Gold Medal during B.Sc. Agriculture