Dr. Sandeep Jain joined PAU as Assistant Professor of Plant Protection at KVK, Muktsar in the year 2009 after completing B.Sc. Agri (Hons.) in 1999, M.Sc. (Plant Pathology) in 2002 and Ph.D. (Plant Pathology) in 2005 from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. His field of specialization Vegetable Plant Pathology, Decision support and forecast modelling analytics, Artificial intelligence, proximal and remote sensing for disease monitoring, Electro-thermotherapy for soil borne pathogen management, Fungicide evaluation and resistance monitoring. He developed the innovative ‘electric soil disinfestor’ for in–situ management of soil-borne pathogens and nematodes, and has been granted a patent for this invention. He played a key role in developing PAU’s first late blight–resistant potato variety, PP104 and is currently leading the development of a multi-modal spatial decision support system for potato late blight using weather and remote sensing data.  He developed a weather-based forewarning model for yellow rust of wheat and has been issuing web-based forecasts for potato late blight. He elucidated the etiology and epidemiology of the newly emerging gummy stem disease in bottle gourd, a study that earned the prestigious Editors’ Choice Research Award—granted to only five papers globally. He has published more than 45 research papers, extended summaries, abstracts and authored more than 30 extension articles/bulletins, book chapters and teaching manuals. He has served on editorial boards of national and international journals including, American Phytopathological Society, Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology and Indian Society of Plant pathologists. He has suggested more than twenty disease management practices, which have been included in Package of Practices of the PAU. He served on the four-member Committee of Subject Experts for Agriculture and Forestry at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, guiding curriculum development for their degree programmes, and is also a member of the Research Degree Committee at Khalsa College, Amritsar, overseeing postgraduate research.Currently, he is heading PAU Placement and Counselling Cell and is serving as coordinator of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) team.

Professional Accomplishments

Research projects:

• Towards the development of monitoring and forewarning system for late blight disease of potato by integrating epidemiological, proximal and remotely sensed data’, funded under Core Research Grant (CRG) by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India (PI) – accomplished
• ‘Elucidation of inter-relationship among organ-specific infections in Pyriculariaoryzae-rice pathosystem and exploration for neck blast resistance donors’ funded by University Grant Commission (UGC), Govt. of India (Co-PI)- accomplished
• ‘National Information System on Pest Management on Cotton’ funded by National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM), ICAR(Co-PI)- accomplished
• Bio-efficacy and phytotoxicity studies on novel fungicidal molecules for potato, tomato, chilli, onion, pea diseases (PI) funded by agrochemical industry – ongoing

Research Publications:

1. Jain S, Rani R, Salaria P and Kaur S (2024) Development of Rhizoctonia Black Scurf of Potato in Relation to Tuber Borne Inoculum Density, Dehaulming Methods and Curing Time in Northwestern Alluvial Plains of India. American Journal of Potato Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-024-09958-2. (NAAS rating 7.50)
2. Kaur S, Chawla N, Jindal S K, Mohanpuria P, Jain S and Sharma U (2024) Biochemical and gene expression profiling of oxalate biosynthesis in cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. Food Bioscience https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbio.2024.104952  (NAAS Rating: 10.80)
3. Salaria P, Jain S, Bhardwaj R D, Rani R and Jhanji S (2023) Physiological and biochemical responses of chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) to sudden wilt syndrome. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology   126 : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmpp. 2023.102038 (NAAS rating: 8.74)
4. Salaria P, Jain S, Kalia A and Anjali (2023) Histological alterations in chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) roots associated with sudden wilt syndrome. Journal of Phytopathology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jph.13288  (NAAS rating: 7.83)
5. Jain S., Singh G., Jindal V. and Singh A. (2021) Resolving the etiological conundrum of the gummy stem, sudden death and leaf blight syndromes of bottle gourd in Indo-Gangetic plains of India. Journal of Plant Pathology https://doi.org/10.1007/s42161-021-00818-0 (NAAS Rating: 8.20)
6. Jain S, Anjali, Dhall R K and Rani R (2024) Identification and quantification of resistance against Ascochyta blight complex in garden pea (Pisum sativum L.)  Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding 84(4): 610-620.  (NAAS rating 7.00)
7. Rani R, Negi P, Sharma S and Jain S (2022) Occurrence of oosporic stage of Pseudoperonospora cubensis on cucumber, in Punjab, India: A first report. Crop Protection: 155:105939 (NAAS Rating 8.57)
8. Negi P, R Rani and Jain S (2025) Characterization of Pseudoperonospora Cubensis causing downy mildew disease of cucurbits under Indo-Gangetic plains of India. Indian Phytopathology. DOI: 10.1007/s42360-025-00862-1 (NAAS rating 5.97)
9. Kumar A., Jindal S.K., Dhaliwal M.S., Sharma A., Jain S. and Kaur S. (2019) Horticultural evaluation of advance breeding lines possessing different combinations of ty and ph genes in tomato (Solanumlycopersicum L.) Genetika 51(3): 771-788. (NAAS rating 6.46)
10. Jain S, Rani R and Salaria P (2024) Bio-efficacy of Newer Fungicides against Downy Mildew of Cucumber Incited by Pseudoperonospora cubensis.  Pesticide Research Journal 36 (2) 174-177. (NAAS rating 5.55)
11. Negi P, Rani R, Jain S (2022) Survival and infectivity of oospores of Pseudoperonospora cubensis causing downy mildew of cucurbits in the alluvial plains of North-western India. Indian Phytopathology: 10.1007/s42360-022-00583 (NAAS Rating 5.95)

Patent

• Granted patent for an invention entitled ‘Electric Soil Disinfestor’ for non-chemical management of soil-borne plant pathogens and nematodes in situ (Patent No. 358781)

Awards and Recognitions:

• Awarded fellowship under Netherlands Fellowships Program (NFP) in 2016
• Editor’s Choice Research Award, by Journal of Plant Pathology in 2021
• Farm Literature Popularization Award by PAU 2010
• Farm Literature Popularization Award by PAU 2011