Dr. Nivethitha M

Dr. Nivethitha M. is an Assistant Professor specializing in Seed Science and Technology in the Division of Genetics and Plant Breeding at Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore. She holds a Ph.D. in Agriculture from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, completed in 2023, an M.Sc. in Agriculture from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, completed in 2020, and a B.Sc. in Agriculture from Adhiparasakthi Agricultural College, Kalavai, Vellore, affiliated with Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, completed in 2018. She has seven years of research experience in Agriculture and advanced sciences, with expertise in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Technology, seed production and quality control, seed testing, crop physiology, biotechnology, transcriptomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics.

Her research focuses on understanding physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms associated with abiotic stress tolerance, particularly the role of phytohormones and polyamines in improving drought resilience in crops such as maize, cereals, pulses and oilseeds. Her research interests also encompass climate change mitigation, plant science, seed technology and molecular approaches to crop improvement. She has experience in designing and executing laboratory, field and molecular experiments and has undertaken research on seed priming, seed germination and vigour, drought stress mitigation, nano-biostimulants and crop performance. She has also received hands-on training in CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing at ICRISAT and has practical expertise in transcriptomics and metabolomics for investigating molecular and biochemical responses to abiotic stress.

Dr. Nivethitha has qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by ICAR-ASRB/UGC/CSIR and has received several academic distinctions and awards, including the JEF/NTS National Talent Scholarship, Vice Chancellor’s Fellowship for Excellence in Research, a Gold Medal in the Doctoral Degree Programme at TNAU, and the BIRAC–DBT Post-Doctoral Fellowship under the E-Yuva Programme. Her recognitions also include Best Poster and Best Oral Presentation awards at national and international conferences and the Young Women Scientist Award for outstanding contribution to Seed Science and Technology. She has also conceptualized and presented research proposals to national research councils and contributed to research on innovative agricultural technologies.

She has published research articles in international and national journals, including Scopus-indexed and NAAS-rated publications, covering seed priming, drought stress, phytohormones, polyamines, seed germination, crop physiology, seed drying, heat stress and drought resilience. Her scholarly contributions also include popular articles and book chapters on seed production, seed-borne pathogen identification, machine vision in seed science and technology, climate-resilient farming systems, seed technology evolution and genetics. She is a life member of the Indian Science Congress Association and the Indian Society of Seed Technology and is associated with several professional and scientific organizations. She has also served as a reviewer for journals and publishers including Wiley and Springer (BMC Biology), contributing to the advancement of research in Seed Science and Technology and Plant Sciences.