Dr. A.K. Sharma

Research Areas/ Areas of Interest

Professional Summary

• Teaching Experience: 22 Years
• Guidance of Students as Advisor: Ph.D. – 11, M.Sc. – 28
• Projects Completed: 24
• Patents: 02 Granted, 01 Filed
• Technology Transferred: 02

Research Projects

1. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, State Government, Mass multiplication of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
2. STRAASA, IRRI, Phillipines: Influence of microbes on rice varieties under abiotic stresses
3. Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi: Identification of oxalogenic tree and oxalotrophic bacteria for long-term carbon sequestration
4. Defense Research & Development Organization: Microbial diversity exploration in traditional and intensive maize based cropping system in Uttarakhand and their potential use in enhancing crop growth
5. Indo-German Collaborative Programme: An interspecies systems biology approach to trait discovery in mycorrhizal finger millet (Eleusine coracana)
6. ICAR sponsored project on Harnessing AMF for improvement of horticultural crops
7. Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi (North East Programme): Evaluation of role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and PGPRs from diverse ecosystem of North East and Uttarakhand state of India from organic production of citrus and chilli
8. University Sponsored on Organic farming
9. Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India on Management of Fusarium wilt of chilli and tomato using biointensive integrated crop management – Technology development for controlling Fusarium wilt of chilli and tomato. Technology is at transfer stage to industry
10. Indian Council of Agriculture Research on Mass multiplication of AMF for their potential use in horticultural crops: Multiplication of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in root organ culture and also at small farm level
11. Ministry of Environment & Forest on AMF diversity in disturbed, conserved and cultivated system in Kumaun region of Uttaranchal: Evaluation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in different ecosystems
12. Indo-Swiss collaboration in Biotechnology on Rhizobacterial inoculants for low input wheat based cropping system – Technology development for enhancing yield of rice and wheat using microbial consortium
13. Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India on Mass multiplication of AMF using aeroponic system
14. Department of Science & Technology on Management of fusarial wilt of tomato and chilli using antagonistic fusaria and/or Trichoderma sp. Under plain and hilly region of Uttaranchal.
15. Indo-Finland collaboration Programme on Microbiologically improved compost for control of biotic and abiotic stress in plant production: Acronym: Rhizocompost
16. Indo-Australia research funding on diversity of ACC deaminase producing bacteria
17. Indo-Finland research funding on microalgae
18. DST funding for the development of heat resistant Trichoderma harzianum using gene knock out technique
19. AMAAS funding for mycorrhizal mapping

Research Articles

1. Sharma, A., Pratap, T. and Dalal, K., 2026. Plants as silent teachers: bridging plant biology, human physiology, and eastern traditional practices through molecular insights. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 21(1), p.2654822.
2. Pandey, J., Sharma, I.P., Bind, S., Sharma, S. and Sharma, A.K., 2025. Impact of natural farming inputs and their microbes on the growth, yield and nutrients of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) under controlled and field conditions. Organic Agriculture, 15(2), pp.199-211.
3. Maurya, R., Zhu, X., Valverde-Pérez, B., Kiran, B.R., General, T., Sharma, S., Sharma, A.K., Thomsen, M., Mohan, S.V., Mohanty, K. and Angelidaki, I., 2022. Advances in microalgal research for valorization of industrial wastewater. Bioresource Technology, 343, p.126128.
4. Balkrishna, A., Sharma, I.P., Arya, V. and Sharma, A.K., 2022. Biologicals and their plant stress tolerance ability. Symbiosis, 86(3), pp.243-259.
5. Kumar, A., Chandra, D., Pallavi and Sharma, A.K., 2022. Impact of seed applied rhizobacterial inoculants on growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata] and their influence on rhizospheric microbial diversity. Agricultural Research, 11(1), pp.1-14.
6. Sharma, I.P. and Sharma, A.K., 2021. Above and below-ground involvement in cyclic energy transformation that helps in the establishment of rhizosphere microbial communities. Symbiosis, 85(1), pp.21-30.
7. Chandra, D., Srivastava, R., Glick, B.R. and Sharma, A.K., 2020. Rhizobacteria producing ACC deaminase mitigate water-stress response in finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.). 3 Biotech, 10(2), p.65.
8. Thiyam, G., Dufossé, L. and Sharma, A.K., 2020. Characterization of Talaromyces purpureogenus strain F extrolites and development of production medium for extracellular pigments enriched with antioxidant properties. Food and Bioproducts Processing, 124, pp.143-158.
9. Fokom, R., Adamou, S., Essono, D., Ngwasiri, D.P., Eke, P., Mofor, C.T., Tchoumbougnang, F., Fekam, B.F., Zollo, P.A., Nwaga, D. and Sharma, A.K., 2019. Growth, essential oil content, chemical composition and antioxidant properties of lemongrass as affected by harvest period and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in field conditions. Industrial Crops and Products, 138, p.111477.
10. Sharma, I.P. and Sharma, A.K., 2019. Mycorrhizal colonization and phosphorus uptake in presence of PGPRs along with nematode infection. Symbiosis, 77(2), pp.185-187.

Other Information

Patents (02 Granted, 01 Filed)

Technology Transferred (02)

• Series editor of ‘Rhizosphere Biology’ book series published by Springer-Verlag.