PLANT DISEASES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

Deepa Srivastava, PhD, is currently working as Assistant Professor in Department of Botany, D. D. U. Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, where she was formerly a postdoctoral fellow. With excellent academic achievements and many awards, she possesses extensive knowledge in botany, especially in plant viruses and medicinal plants. Dr. Srivastava has published over 20 papers in national and international journals and has presented over 50 research papers at international and national conferences. She has written more than five books and six book chapters with publications of international repute. She is a fellow of the International Science Congress Association and Indian Botanical Society. She is also a member of the Botanical Society of America and a life member of eight other academic bodies. She did her PhD in Botany (Plant Virology) at the Department of Botany, DDU Gorakhpur University on the topic "Studies on viral diseases on some medicinal plants with special reference to Catharanthus roseus" under the supervision of Prof. (Mrs.) K. Shukla in plant virology.

Rajarshi Kumar Gaur, PhD, is currently working as Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is handling many national and international grants and collaborative projects on plant viruses and disease management. He received a MASHAV fellowship of the Israeli government for his postdoctoral studies and joined The Volcani Centre, Israel, and Ben-Gurion University, Negev, Israel. In 2007, he received a visiting scientist fellowship from the Swedish Institute Fellowship to work at Umeå University, Sweden. He also received a postdoctoral fellowship from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Italy, in 2008. He has made significant contributions on sugarcane viruses and published 130 national and international papers, authored 20 edited books, and presented about 50 papers in national and international conferences. He is a fellow of many associations, including Linnean Society, Royal Society of Biology, Society of Plant Research, Society of Applied Biology, and International Society of Biotechnology. He has received many other awards, including the Prof. B.M. Johri Memorial Award; Society of Plant Research (SPR); Excellent Teaching Award from Astha Foundation, Meerut; UGC-Research Teacher Award, Young Scientist Award-2012 in Biotechnology from the Society of Plant Research (SPR), Meerut; and a Scientific & Applied Research Centre Gold Medal Award-2011 for outstanding contribution in the field of biotechnology. He has visited several laboratories of USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK, Thailand, Sweden, and Italy. His PhD was on molecular characterization of sugarcane viruses, viz., mosaic, streak mosaic and yellow luteovirus.

Ajay K. Tiwari, PhD, is a Scientific Officer (Seed) at the Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur, India. He has published 95 research and review articles in national and international journals. He has also published 15 book chapters in edited books and has authored ten edited books. He has submitted more than 250 nucleotide sequences of plant pathogens to the The GenBank sequence database. He is Managing Editor of Sugar Tech Journal (Springer) and Chief Editor of Agrica Journal. Dr. Tiwari is a regular reviewer and member of the editorial boards for many international journals. He is a member of the British Society of Plant Pathology, Indian Phytopathological Society, Sugarcane Technologists Association of India, International Society of Sugarcane Technologists, Society of Sugarcane Research and Promotion, Prof H. S. Srivastava Foundation, and Society of Plant Research. He has been awarded a young researcher award in Italy 2011 and a young scientist award by DST-SERB and was nominated for the Narshiman Award by the Indian Phytopathological Society. He was also awarded a young scientist award by the Chief Minister of the State Government of UP for his outstanding contribution in plant pathology. Dr. Tiwari is also the recipient of many international travel awards given by DST, DBT, and CSIR from India; PATHOLUX from Luxembourg; and International Organization of Migration (IOM) from Brazil. He has visited many countries, including China, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, and Thailand for conferences and workshops. He has been involved in research on molecular characterization and management of agricultural plant pathogens for the last 13 years.