Dr. Subhash Chander Bhardwaj, Principal Scientist (Plant Pathology) and In-Charge, ICAR-IIWBR Regional Station, Shimla, is awarded Dr S Nagarajan Memorial Award of the Society for Advancement of Wheat & Barley Research for the year 2017 for his outstanding contributions to wheat pathology. He is involved in wheat rust management for the last 31 years. Dr Bhardwaj sequenced the genomes of three wheat rust pathogens of India, DNA fingerprints and ITS sequence of wheat rust pathotypes. He developed 4 varieties, 41 diverse rust resistant genetic stocks of wheat, identified 55 new pathotypes of Puccinia species and 2050 rust resistant stocks of wheat and barley. He maintains national repository of 132 rust pathotypes.
Dr Bhardwaj is involved in the mapping of wheat rust pathotypes in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal and genetics of rust resistance of wheat and barley. He has identified a new gene in local wheat Hango on chromosome 2DS, two recessive genes in Agra Local and identified more than 200 lines with slow rusting and adult plant resistance (APR). Recently he has initiated research on molecular mechanism of wheat rust interaction and transcriptomics.
Dr Bhardwaj was a visiting scientist to CIMMYT, Mexico. He has visited 7 other countries. He has published 143 research papers, 40 book chapters/reviews/ bulletins and delivered more than 80 presentations. He is Life member of seven professional societies and Fellow of 4 professional societies. He is also recipient of DWR Best Research Team Award and S.N. Dasgupta Memorial Award.