Indian Sandalwood

Dr. A. N. Arunkumar heads the Silviculture and Forest Management Division at the Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, India. His doctoral thesis was on evaluating the Indian Sandalwood accessions for the heartwood and oil content. Dr. Arunkumar has over two decades’ experience in Indian Sandalwood and has carried out several projects that entailed extensive surveys on sandalwood in the Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala and other sandalwood growing states. He has been involved in establishing clonal, seedling seed orchards, and progeny trials of sandalwood. He has delivered several lectures on tree improvement in sandalwood at various forums and has been providing scientific inputs in promoting sandalwood cultivation. Presently, Dr. Arunkumar is a member of Sandalwood Development Committee constituted by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), a premier policy think-tank of the Government of India.

Dr. Geeta Joshi is the Assistant Director General (Media and Extension) at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehra Dun, India. She has more than two decades experience on Santalum album on aspects related to seed collection, handling, germination, storage, standardization of protocol for mass production of quality planting material, and hardening of micropropagated plants in nursery. Dr. Joshi was associated in conducting trainings for farmers, State Forest Departments, plantation companies, and NGOs on sandalwood seed handling, nursery, and plantation technology. She had been involved in production of quality planting material of sandalwood for end users. Dr. Joshi has also worked on seed-related aspects of threatened and endangered tree species of Western Ghats, propagation and cultivation of bamboo, morphological and genetic diversity of Melia dubia, a fast-growing tree species. She has worked as principal investigator in 12 research projects and as co-principal investigator in 10 research projects. She has to her credit 45 research papers published in national and international journals of repute.

Dr. Rekha R. Warrier is Scientist-F at Plant Biotechnology and Cytogenetics Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India. She has put in 20 years in the field of forest biotechnology and is currently serving as Head of the group in Plant Tissue Culture. She has been working on different aspects of medicinal plants and their productivity, specifically, in the field of metabolite production. Some of her major activities include tissue culture facility for commercial production of plants and in vitro production of secondary metabolites through transformation, genetic improvement of medicinal trees, and participation in extension and training programs for foresters, research staff, students, and farmers. Dr. Warrier has been principal investigator in 20 research projects and co-principal investigator in 12 research projects. She has to her credit 70 research papers and 15 books/chapters. Currently, Dr. Warrier is the Assistant National Country Coordinator of the APFORGEN and Liaison to the Central Secretariat of the International Society of Tropical Foresters.

Dr. N. Nataraja Karaba is a Professor at the Department of Crop University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (UASB). He has worked as a Scientist in Rubber Research Institute of India, Kerala, Government of India, and Institute of Wood Science and Technology, (ICFRE) Bangalore. He was a DST-BOYSCAST Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, USA. He was Visiting Scientist at Plant Research International, Wageningen University (Netherlands), University of Groningen (Netherlands), and has active research collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. He is a recipient of the Sir CV Raman Young Scientists Award from theGovernment of Karnataka, and the Best Teacher Awards from the Indian National Science Academy. He serves as an Expert Member on the advisory panels of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and Government of Karnataka. He is Associate Chief Editor of the journal Plant Physiology Reports (Springer). Dr. Nataraja’s major research interest is to understand the molecular basis of plant responses to drought and other abiotic stresses. He has generated useful information on specific traits contributing to drought tolerance in the mulberry tree. Recently, as a continuation of his major focus on abiotic stress, he initiated research to explore endophytes for modulating crop responses to abiotic stresses. He has published more than 85 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 10 articles in books, and co-edited one book. He has over 20 years of teaching experience and offers courses for UG and PG students.