Dr. Sukhjeet Kaur joined Punjab Agricultural University in September 2006 as Assistant Nematologist and she is currently serving as Senior Nematologist under All Research India Coordinated Project Vegetable Crops (AICRP-VC). Her main areas of research are detection and characterization of plant parasitic nematodes associated with vegetable crops, screening of germplasm against Meloidogyne spp. prevalent in the region and their management. She is actively involved in development of protection technologies for nematode management and associated with development of varieties/ hybrids of tomato, chilli, bittergourd and other vegetables crops resistant to root knot nematodes.  She has guided 5 MSc. and 1 PhD. students and is involved in teaching different UG and PG courses. She has been associated with six competitive grants, published 3 book chapters and 62 research papers in journals of national and international repute. Besides this she is also acting as a resource person in various extension activities, Kisan Melas, training programmes etc. conducted by the university. 

Research Interests: 

1. Detection and characterization of plant parasitic nematodes 
2. Identification of resistant germplasm source(s) against root knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp. in different vegetable crops
3. Management of root knot nematodes in vegetable crops under open and protected cultivation systems

Projects accomplished: 

1. Joint project of Department of Vegetable Science and The World Vegetable Centre – AVRDC “Improving vegetable production and consumption for sustainable rural livelihood in India” – as an associated scientist (2008-2012) 
2. Pyramiding multiple resistance genes (Ty, Ph and Mi) in high yield varieties of tomato through MAS funded by DBT, India- as Co-PI (2012-2016)  
3. Marker assisted selection for combining resistance to late blight and root knot nematodes in indeterminate tomato suitable for poly/net house cultivation funded by DST – as associated scientist (2015-2018)
4. High-Resolution Mapping and Development of Root-knot nematode Resistant Rootstocks in Peach (DST) – as co PI (2021-2024) 

Ongoing Projects:

1. Molecular mapping of root-knot nematode resistance gene(s) introgressed from S. torvum in brinjal (S. melongena) (DBT)
2. Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (FIST) Program (DST)

Selected Research Publications :

Thakur Y, Pathak M, Kaur Sukhjeet, Pathak D, Chawla N (2025) Evaluation of root-knot nematode resistance in wild okra species (Abelmoschus moschatus) and their antioxidative profile analysis. Phytoparasitica (53) 18. (NAAS rating 7.5/ IF 1.5)

Dhami DS, Kaur Sukhjeet, Sharma A, Sharma SP, Dhillon NK, Jain S (2024) Characterization of multiple disease resistance in melons (Cucumis melo L.) against Meloidogyne incognita, Fusarium oxysporum and tomato leaf curl Palampur virus. Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization (22) 27–36. (NAAS rating 7.10/ IF 1.1)

Kaur Sukhjeet, Jindal SK, Sharma A and Gill R (2023) Marker-assisted identification of Meloidogyne incognita and Phytophthora infestans resistant elite indeterminate tomato lines for protected cultivation. Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding 83 (1) 103-113. (NAAS rating 7.34/ IF 1.34) 

Dhillon N K, Kaur Sukhjeet, Anupam, Buttar H S, Singh K, Khapte P S, Kumar P (2022) Management of root-knot nematode with non-chemical methods for sustainable production of cucumber under protected cultivation. Agronomy 13: 124. https:// doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13010124 (NAAS rating 9.95/ IF 3.95) 

Kaur Sukhjeet, Kang S S, Dhillon N K, and Sharma A (2016) Detection and characterization of Meloidogyne species associated with pepper in Indian Punjab. Nematropica 46 (2) 209-220. (NAAS Rating 6.22/ IF 0.22)

Awards and honors (Till date)

• University merit certificate in academics (2004)
• Dr RK Arora Best Paper Award by Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources, ICAR, New Delhi (2018)
• Awarded 10 best poster and 2 best oral presentation awards in national and international conferences