Dr G.S. Mangat Additional Director of Research (Crop Improvement) - cum- Director, Dr Gurdev Singh Khush Institute of Genetics, Plant Breeding & Biotechnology

Born at village Rampur in district Ludhiana Gurjit Singh Mangat obtained his B Sc. (Honors), M Sc. and Ph D in Plant Breeding from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. He started his professional career as an Assistant Breeder (Rice) at PAU Regional Rice Research Station, Kapurthala in 1991 and was promoted as Rice Breeder in 2000 and as Senior Rice Breeder during August, 2008. Dr G S Mangat has more than 25 years of experience in Rice Breeding and played a vital role in the development/release of 29 varieties of rice. Short duration, low biomass cultivars developed by his team are being cultivated on 70 percent of the non-Basmati area in the Punjab state and are also popular in the adjoining states. These have contributed significantly to saving of ground water and facilitating paddy straw management, besides having better milling quality and durable resistance via gene pyramiding. As a result, Punjab and Haryana have set new records in rice production and productivity. He has successfully completed 10 adhoc projects and presently handling four multi institutional projects and guided four postgraduate students. He has published 44 research papers in the journals of international and national repute and 38 popular articles. Besides, attended six international and 36 national conferences/seminars/workshops. He has visited USA, Australia, Philippines, China, Indonesia and Thailand. He has been serving PAU at various positions as Head, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, (November, 2017 – March, 2021), Incharge, Rice Section, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics. He is recipient of Jawahar Lal Nehru Award for doctoral research and ICAR Team Award for development of rice variety 'Basmati 386'.