Dr Vikal joined PAU as Assistant Geneticist on 08 September, 1998. Dr Vikal started her career in rice biotechnology and developed pyramided bacterial blight resistance lines in the background of PR106, Pusa44 and Basmati 370. Also, new bacterial blight resistant sources have been identified from wild rice species which have been exploited in rice breeding program. New initiatives have been taken to identify resistant sources for nematodes in rice and discovered the novel genomic regions associated with nematode resistance in O. glaberrima and O. longistaminata. Later on, maize biotechnology work was initiated by her and breakthroughs in gene/QTL discovery have been made. She is life member of five professional societies and expert member of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBSC) constituted by the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. She is on the reviewing panel of several National and International Journals.

Professional Accomplishments

Education: M.Sc., PAU, Ludhiana (1992 ); Ph.D., PAU, Ludhiana (1997)

Positions held: Principal Molecular Geneticist

Important Achievements

1. Twelve promising BC2F3 southern leaf blight resistant pyramided lines carrying two QTLs (qSLB3.1 and qSLB8.2) were identified for further use in maize breeding.
2. Promising water-logging tolerant lines with novel QTLs were identified and are being utilized for pyramiding QTLs into the elite maize backgrounds.
3. New inbreds have been identified for shoot fly and BLSB resistance in maize after evaluation of diverse panel at two locations.
4. Water use efficient lines in the background of LM23 and LM24 have been developed possessing drought tolerance QTL and has been shared with maize breeders for further utilization in breeding program.
5. The nutritionally enriched hybrids of PMH1 and Buland versions have been developed and evaluated for agronomic performance.
6. Molecular characterization for αT using VTE4 (ϒ-tocopherol methyl transferase) gene-based InDel marker grouped the 64 maize inbreds into four distinct haplotypes viz., 0/0 (23), 7/118 (19), 0/118 (14), and 0/7 (8). The identified inbreds with favorable αT haplotype could be deployed in maize biofortification programs for the enhancement of vitamin E and also along with other nutritional traits like QPM and β-carotene through marker-assisted backcross breeding.
7. Tissue-specific TFs SBP, NAM, Exo70 and YABBY have been identified from leaf, ovule and pollen involved in response to heat stress in maize. MYB, WRKY, AP2, and NAM TFs are contributing for heat stress resilience in maize.
8. Novel bacterial blight resistance gene xa49 (t) identified from Oryza rufipogon acc. CR100098A has been mapped on chromosome 11.
9. Novel nematode resistance genes, qNR6.1 and qNR4.1 have been identified and mapped from O. glabrimma and O. longistaminata, respectively.
10. DNA fingerprints have been generated for PAU released rice varieties.
11. Differential gene expression at different treatments showed that LOC_Os02g45380.1 MATE gene is one of the potential candidate gene involved in sheath blight susceptibility that may have role in citrate and metal transport. 
12. TalAO14 effector and LOC30 have been cloned to understand the interaction of Xa38-Xoo7. Allele mining of Xa38 locus among O. nivara accessions unveiled the breakdown of Xa38 against Xoo10. 
13. Gene editing of LOX3 in rice for increasing the rice bran oil shelf life by eliminating oxidative rancidity has been done using RNP and vector-based editing methods.
14. Involved in development of semi-dwarf BB resistant Punjab Basmati 3 variety through MAS.
15. Pyramided three bacterial blight resistance genes, xa5, xa13 and Xa21 in the background of PR106 and Pusa44. 
16. Near isogenic lines of PBW343 has been developed for leaf rust resistance genes Lr19, Lr24 and Lr28 and evaluated under field trials. The leaf rust resistance genes Lr24 and Lr28 have been pyramided in PBW343 through marker assisted selection.

Research Interests:

1. Gene/QTL mapping, Molecular Breeding 
2. Wide -hybridization,Genomics and transcriptomics 

Research Projects(Ongoing):

Research Publications :

1. Kaur R, Kaur G, Navpreet, Ashmita, Jindal J, Kumar R, Kumar P, Vikal Y and Sharma P (2025) Gaining insights into genomic regions associated with Chilo partellus resistance in teosinte-derived maize population. Front. Genet. 16:1577830. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1577830
2. Rasool S, Babbar A, Kumari S. et al. (2025) Molecular mapping and transfer of sheath blight resistance QTLs from PAU-shb8 to cultivated rice PR-121. Mol. Genet. Genomics 300: 21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-024-02220-8
3. Daduwal HS, Bhardwaj R, Lamba JS. et al. (2025) QTL mapping and candidate gene identification for fodder quality traits in Pearl millet. BMC Plant Biol. 25: 404. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-025-06381-5
4. Bhatia SK, Vikal Y, Kaur P, Dhillon GS, Kaur G, Neelam K, Malik P, Lore JS, Khanna R, and Singh K (2024) Introgression and mapping of a novel bacterial blight resistance gene xa49(t) from Oryza rufipogon acc. CR100098A into O. sativa. Phytopathology 114: 2412-2420. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-24-0061-R 
5. Beniwal1 D, Dhall  RK, Vikal Y, Bhatia D, Sharma P (2024) BSA-seq identifes a major locus on chromosome-6 for rust (Uromyces viciae fabae) resistance in garden pea (Pisum sativum L.). The Nucleus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13237-024-00527-w. 

Awards/Honours/Distinctions:

1. M.Sc and Ph.D University Merit Fellowship 
2. Best Poster award in the International Conference on Agricultural Sciences and Food Technologies for suistainable productivity and nutritional security held at University of Agric. Sciences, Bengaluru from 25-27 August 2016. 
3. Best poster prize in International conference on sustainable agriculture for food and livelihood security, held from 27-29 November, 2012 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. 
4. Two First Prizes and one second prize in Poster presentation under different themes in International Conference on Preparing Agriculture for Climate Change, February 6-8, 2011. PAU, Ludhiana, India 
5. Awarded Gold Medal for best poster presentation at International conf. on Plant Genomics and Biotechnology: challenges and opportunities. IGAU, Raipur, Chhatisgarh, India, October 26-28, 2005.(CheemaK., NS Bains, GS Mangat, A. Das, Y Vikal, DS Brar, GS Khush and Kuldeep Singh(2005)