- All India Coordinated Research Project on Sorghum, ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad bagged the prestigious "Chaudhary Devi Lal Outstanding All India Coordinated Research Project Award 2019" during ICARs 92nd Foundation Day celebrations held on 16 July, 2020 ::
- Call for applications for Cohort 7 under RKVY RAFTAAR scheme ::
- International Year of Millets (IYoM) 2023 - News
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses webinar on implementation of Budget in agriculture sector ::
- India is celebrating ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’. ICAR has taken up ’75 lecture series’. The scientists, students or other interested audience may click this link to follow URL for joining any lecture ::
- Advertisement no 01/2019 for filling up the post of Assistant may be treated as cancelled due to administrative reasons ::
- Kharif Agro Advisory ::
- ICAR-NAHEP in collaboration with the Crop Science Division of ICAR is organizing Hackathon Kritagya- a National Level Agtech Hackathon on “Speed breeding for Crop Improvement.::
Scientific Staff

Dr. Aruna C
Discipline: Plant Breeding | Designation: Principal Scientist | At IIMR Since: 1993
Email: aruna@millets.res.in
Profile video Click hereAcademic Qualifications
Degree | Institute / University | Year of completion | Subject(s) with major field |
---|---|---|---|
Ph D | Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi | 1994 | Genetics |
M.Sc. (Ag) | Agricultural College, Bapatla | 1989 | Genetics & Plant Breeding |
B.Sc. (Ag) | Agricultural College, Bapatla | 1982 | Agricultural Sciences |
Employment Record & Experience (Starting from the present position)
Designation | Organization | Institution & place of posting | Period (From-to) |
Duration (years, months) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Principal Scientist | ICAR | IIMR, Hyderabad | 2009- till date | |
Senior Scientist | ICAR | DSR, Hyderabad | 2001-2009 | 9 yrs |
Scientist | ICAR | DSR, Hyderabad | 1992-2001 | 9 yrs |
Current responsibilities:
- Developing improved parental lines for producing high yielding kharif grain sorghum hybrids
- Developing high yielding kharif hybrids and varieties with improved quality and grain mold resistance
- Developing sorghum genotypes with specific end uses
- Co-ordination of grain sorghum research under AICSIP
Recent major contributions:
- Developed high yielding kharif hybrids such as CSH16 (released for all India cultivation), CSH 27 for Zone I,CSH 30 for Zone II and CSH 41; and kharif varieties such as CSV 36 and CSV 39
- Developed improved genetic stocks / male sterile lines /restorers with resistance to various pests and diseases of kharif. Twenty one such lines with improved yield, stover quality and sweetness were registered with NBPGR.
- Registered three shoot fly resistant lines, NRCSFR 06-1 (INGR 09088), NRCSFR 07-5 (INGR15006) and NRCSFR 09-3 (INGR 17071)with NBPGR, and identified 25 QTLs for shoot fly resistance traits (five each for leaf glossiness and seedling vigor, 10 for deadhearts, two for adaxial trichome density and three for abaxial trichome density) in the RIL population, 27B x IS2122.
- Working on population breeding approach and colored line development to tackle grain mold problem
Recent awards and recognitions:
- Received outstanding scientist award in National Siridhanya awards 2019- Govt of Karnataka at International Trade Fair on Organics and Millets 2019
- Received Dr A.B. Joshi memorial award for outstanding research in genetics and plant breeding for the year 2019 by Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding
- Received certificate of recognition for the development of land mark sorghum variety, CSH 16 by Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2019
- International fellowship:NFP fellowship (Netherlands fellowship) by the Govt. of Netherlands in 2007
- Elected as Fellow of India Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2015
- Certificate of Excellence for “Kharif sorghum Improvement” at IIMR during 2019
- Invited as a sorghum expert for “Expert committee meeting on protocol standardization for the performance evaluation of farmers’ plant varieties" organized by National Innovation Foundation at IIM, Ahmedabad on 27th Jan 2019
- Invited as a sorghum expert for “Expert committee meeting on protocol standardization for the performance evaluation of farmers’ plant varieties" organized by National Innovation Foundation at IIM, Ahmedabad on 27th January 2019
- Received best oral presentation award for the presentation on “Genetic improvement of sorghum for grain mold resistance through population breeding approach” during National Symposium on potential crops for food and nutritional security, held during 14-15 December, 2019.
Current collaborative activities:
- Collaboration with AICSIP centres
Recent most significant publications:
- Aruna C., M Suguna, KBRS Visarada,C Deepika, CV Ratnavathi, VA Tonapi. 2020. Identification of sorghum genotypes suitable for specific end uses: Semolina recovery and popping. Journal of Cereal Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2020.102955
- Aruna C., CV Ratnavathi, M Suguna, B Ranga, P Praveen Kumar, A Annapurna, DM Bahadure, VA Tonapi. 2019. Genetic variability and GxE interactions for total polyphenol content and anti-oxidant activity in white and red sorghums (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). Plant Breeding.
- Aruna C., S. Audilakshmi and JV Patil. 2016. Improved sorghum restorers for diverse uses. Indian Journal of plant genetic resources. 29 (1): 1-7. DOI 10.5958/0976-1926.2016.00001.2
- Aruna C., S. K. Pahuja, P. K. Shrotria, S. K. Jain, S. Siva kumar and D. T. Deshmukh. 2017. Identification of stable forage sorghum genotypes using univariate and multivariate analyses. Forage Research. 43(3) : 181-186
Other professional activities
- Member, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, New Delhi
- Member, Society for Millet Research, Hyderabad