Dr. Sherry Rachel Jacob

Dr. Sherry Rachel Jacob
Principal Scientist

Division/RS/Unit

Division of Germplasm Conservation

Contact

Off.- 011-25802788
Email- Sherry.Jacob-icar@nic.in, sherryrachel@yahoo.co.in

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?hl=en&user=twt QEHg AAAAJ

Qualification

DegreeDisciplineYear
M.Sc. Ag.Seed technology2002
Ph.D.Seed technology2007

SPECIALIZATION
Seed Science & Technology

Salient Achievements

  • Dr. Sherry Rachel Jacob serves as the Genebank Curator for cereal crops — including wheat, maize, barley, triticale, and rye — at the National Genebank, ICAR–NBPGR, New Delhi. With over 15 years of experience in the conservation and management of plant genetic resources, she has made significant contributions to agrobiodiversity initiatives.
  • She has played a key role in large-scale characterization and evaluation programmes for wheat, undertaken as part of the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). As the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Consortium Research Platform (CRP) on Agrobiodiversity for maize, Dr. Jacob successfully coordinated the comprehensive characterization of the entire maize germplasm collection conserved at NBPGR.
  • Dr. Jacob also serves as the Principal Investigator for the project on the management of the national repository under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA), ensuring the secure and systematic conservation of registered plant varieties in India.
  • Her research contributions include the co-development of over 25 cereal genetic stocks, supporting crop improvement and pre-breeding efforts. She has also represented India as a nominated Conservation Expert in the Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Conservation and Sustainable Use (ACSU) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Additionally, she serves as the Asia Regional Representative on the Global Compliance Committee of the ITPGRFA (2024- 2027).
  • Dr. Jacob is the nominated member of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Sectional Committee on Biodiversity and serves as the Convenor of the Technical Committee on Community Seed Banks. She has also served on the expert panel responsible for developing the roadmap for the BIS Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystems.

Awards/Honours

  • Nominated as the Fellow of Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources in 2022
  • Chief Editor of Seed Research Journal published by Indian Society of Seed Technology
  • Editor of Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources published by Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources
  • Elected as Joint Secretary of Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources for 2025-2028.
  • Best poster award– Mallikarjun Biradar, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Arun Kumar MB, Vignesh M, Jyoti Kumari, Ashvinkumar Katral, Sundeep Kumar and Veena Gupta (2022) Redundancy Assessment for Management of Genebank Collections- A Case Study in Maize. In. National maize Conference held at Udaipur, Rajasthan from 23- 25 Feb, 2022
  • Best Paper Award- TP Singh, J Kumari, RK Sharma, SK Shivani, SR Jacob ( Best paper award 2020) for the research paper  Morpho-Physiological Diversity in Indian Spring Wheat cultivars and Identification of Promising Donor under Terminal Heat Stress, published in  Journal of Cereal Research 11 (2), 140-146; by Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research.
  • Best poster award–Yousuf N, Dar SA, Lone AA, Dar ZA, Shikari AB, Sofi PA, Jacob SR, Nee;am S, Nagaratna TK and Gulzar S (2020) Elucidating the genetic diversity of maize landraces in Jammu and Kashmir using phenotypic and molecular approaches. Presented in National seminar on ‘Maize for crop diversification under changing climate scenario’, held at Ludhiana during 9-10 February, 2020.
  • Best oral presentation– Sherry Rachel Jacob, Pratibha Brahmi, Veena Gupta and Kuldeep Singh (2020) Green Heritage Rights- an analysis of biodiversity policies and its implications on management of Indian plant genetic resources, In: International Web Conference on “Global Research Initiatives for Sustainable Agriculture & Allied Sciences (GRISAAS-2020)” at Meerut, during 28–30 December, 2020.
  • Best oral presentation – Sherry Rachel Jacob, Pratibha Brahmi, Vandana Tyagi, Jyoti Kumari, Veena Gupta and Ashok Kumar (2021) Access to Maize Genetic Resources- the policy perspective.  In. National Maize Conference held at Udaipur, Rajasthan from 23- 25 Feb, 2022.

Recent Publications Research Papers

  • Bashir L, Pradhan AK, Sharma D, Jain A, Rehman SS, Kondal V, Jacob SR, Bhardwaj R, Singh R, Singh GP and Kumar S (2025). Identification of quantitative trait nucleotides for grain quality in bread wheat under heat stress. Scientific Reports, 15:6641. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-91199-2
  • Hooda K, Karjagi CG, Kaur H, Singh H, Ghosh A, Srivastava S, Joshi D, Gogoi R, Jhakhar P, Jacob SR, Kumari J, Pandey S, Singh I, Gautam RK and Kumar A (2025). Evaluation of maize (Zea mays L.) germplasm for resistance to maydis leaf blight disease. Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding, 84(4):652–658.
  • Biradar M, Tripathi K, Meena VS, Basavaraj PS, Kumari J, Reddappa SB, Wankhede D, Jacob SR and Archak S (2025). Morpho-physiological traits underpinning high-temperature stress tolerance in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-025-02328-9
  • Bashir L, Budhlakoti N, Pradhan AK, Mehmood A, Haque M, Jacob SR, Bhardwaj R, Gaikwad K, Mishra DC, Kaur S, Bhati PK, Singh GP and Kumar S (2025). Unraveling the genetic basis of heat tolerance and yield in bread wheat: QTN discovery and its KASP-assisted validation. BMC Plant Biology, 25:268. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-025-06285-4
  • Khera S, Kumar P, Tripathi SB, Jacob SR, Kumar D, Singh C, Bhardwaj R, Ahlawat S, Singh J and Riar A (2025). Biochemical and agro-morphological traits-based mining for malt barley germplasm. Frontiers in Nutrition, 12:1480708. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2025.1480708
  • Ragini R, Murukan N, Sekhon NK, Chugh C, Agarwal P, Yadav P, Mallick N, Jha SK, Iquebal MA, Tandon G, Verma A, Singh B, Jacob SR, Raghunandan K, Prabhu KV, Tomar SS and Vinod (2024). Breaking the association between gametocidal gene(s) and leaf rust resistance gene (LrS2427) in Triticum aestivum-Aegilops speltoides derivative by gamma irradiation. Molecular Breeding, 44:54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-024-01491-8
  • Tanwar J, Tyagi S, Sharma S, Jakhar P, Kumar G, Jacob SR, Singh AK, Jha SK and Kumari J (2024). Estimation of population structure in emmer wheat germplasm conserved in National Genebank of India using SSR markers. Academia Biology, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.20935/AcadBiol6249:contentReference[oaicite:23]{index=23}
  • Kumari J, Gupta RK, Gupta A, Honrao BK, Vaish SS, Sharma A, Ram S, Krishnappa G, Sharma S, Bhardwaj R, Jacob SR, Kumar S, Vikas VK, Pandey S, Rana JC, Kumar A, Singh GP, Singh K (2024). Multi-environment analysis to unravel bread wheat core collection to identify donors for grain quality, phenology, and yield traits. Crop and Pasture Science, 75(8). https://doi.org/10.1071/CP22340
  • Singh S, Yadav SK, Arya SS, Jacob SR, Gautam RK, Singh GP and Kaur V (2024). Unravelling morpho-physiological mechanism and candidate genes associated with salinity tolerance in superior haplotypes of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Journal of Agronomy & Crop Science, 210(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.12756
  • Bashir L, Budhlakoti N, Pradhan AK, Sharma D, Jacob SR, Bhardwaj R, Gaikwad K, Mishra DC, Pandey A, Kaur S, Bhati PK, Singh R and Singh GP (2024). Unlocking the grain quality enigma: A KASP-driven voyage through bread wheat’s quantitative trait nucleotides under heat adversity. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4367486/
  • Jyotsna Verma, Ramakrishnan M. Nair, Wankhede Dhammaprakash P., Gore Padmavati Ganpat, (Mrs.) Jyoti Kumari, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Arun Kumar T V, Kuldeep Tripathi (2024). Exploring Genetic Diversity in Black Gram (Vigna mungo (L.)Hepper) for Pre-Harvest Sprouting Tolerance. Agronomy-Basel, 14:1-17. [ NAAS rating : 9.7 ]
  • Ashvinkumar K, Firoz Hossain, Rajkumar Zunjare, Rashmi Chhabra, T Vinutha, Hriipulou Duo, Bhupender Kumar, Chikkappa Karjagi, Sherry Jacob, Sushil Pandey, Chirravuri Naga Neeraja, Sujata Vasudev, Vignesh Muthusamy (2023) Multilocus functional characterization of indigenous and exotic inbreds for dgat1-2, fatb, ge2 and wri1a genes affecting kernel oil and fatty acid profile in maize. Gene, 895: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2023.148001. NAAS rating- 9.5
  • Sonia, V Kaur, SK Yadav, SS Arya, J Aravind, SR Jacob and RK Gautam (2023) Development and evaluation of barley mini-core collection for salinity tolerance and identification of novel haplotypic variants for HvRAF. Plant Soil, November. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06397-6. NAAS rating- 10.9
  • Adhikari S, Kumari J, Bhardwaj R, Jacob S, Langyan S, Sharma S, Singh AM, Kumar A. 2023. Unlocking the potential of ancient hexaploid Indian dwarf wheat, Tritium sphaerococcum for grain quality improvement. PeerJ 11: e15334 DOI 10.7717/peerj.15334 NAAS rating- 8.7
  • Manju, Shashank Kumar Yadav, Dhammaprakash Pandhari Wankhede, Ankit Saroha, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Rakesh Pandey, Axma Dutt Sharma, Sheela, Manoj Kumar, Vikender Kaur (2023) Screening of barley germplasm for drought tolerance based on root architecture, agronomic traits and identification of novel allelic variants of Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science, May, https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.12650 NAAS rating- 9.5
  • Varalakshmi S, S Smrutishree, NK Singh, Navneet Pareek, Priyanka Garkoti, V Senthilkumar, Shruti Kashyap, JP Jaiswal, Sherry Rachel Jacob, AN Nankar (2023) Market-Trait Association for Protein Content among Maize Wild Accessions and Coix using SSR Markers. Agronomy 13(8):2138. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13082138. IF: 3.7 (Naas rating 9.7)
  • Sundeep Kumar, Sherry R Jacob, Reyazul Rouf Mir, V K Vikas, Pawan L. Kulwal, Tilak Chandra, Satinder Kaur, Uttam Kumar, Suneel Kumar, Shailendra Sharma, Ravinder Singh, Sai Prasad, Anju Mahendru Singh, Amit Kumar Singh, Jyoti Kumari, M.S. Saharan, Subhash Chander Bhardwaj, Manoj Prasad, Kuldeep Singh (2022) Indian Wheat Genomics Initiative for Harnessing the Potential of Wheat Germplasm for Breeding Disease Resistant, Nutrient Dense and Climate Resilient Cultivars, Frontiers in Genetics (13) DOI=10.3389/fgene.2022.834366   
  • Tanmaya Kumar Sahu, Amit Kumar Singh, Shikha Mittal, Shailendra Kumar Jha, Sundeep Kumar, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Kuldeep Singh (2022) G-DIRT: a web server for identification and removal of duplicate germplasms based on identity-by-state analysis using single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping data. Briefings in Bioinformatics, 23, 5,  https://doi.org/ 10.1093 /bib/bbac348
  • Raghunandan, Jatin Tanwar, Shivanagouda N. Patil, Ajay Kumar Chandra, Sandhya Tyagi ,Priyanka Agarwal, Niharika Mallick, Niranjana Murukan, Jyoti Kumari, Tanmaya Kumar Sahu ,Sherry R. Jacob, Atul Kumar, Suresh Yadav, Sneha Nyamgoud, Vinod, Amit Kumar Singh and Shailendra Kumar Jha (2022) Identification of Novel Broad-Spectrum Leaf Rust Resistance Sources from Khapli Wheat Landraces. Plants, 11, 1965.https://doi.org / 10.3390/Plants 111 51965
  • Sneha Adhikari, Jyoti Kumari, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Pramod Prasad, OP Gangwar, Charu Lata, Rajnikant Thakur, Amit Kumar Singh, Ruchi Bansal, Sundeep Kumar, SC Bhardwaj, Subodh Kumar (2022). Landraces-potential treasure for sustainable wheat improvement. Genetic Resource and Crop Evolution. DOI: 10.1007/s10722-021-01310-5.
  • Sapna Langyan, Rakesh Bhardwaj, Jyoti Kumari, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Ishwari Singh Bisht, Archana Singh, Someswar Rao Pandravada, Pratap Bhan Singh, Zahoor Ahmed Dar, Ashok Kumar, Jai Chand Rana (2022) Nutritional diversity in native germplasm of maize collected from three different fragile ecosystems of India, Frontiers in Nutrition https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.812599.
  • Vikender Kaur, Aravind J., Manju, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Jyoti Kumari, Bhopal Singh Panwar, Narendra Pal, Jai Chand Rana, Anjula Pandey, Ashok Kumar (2022) Phenotypic characterisation, genetic diversity assessment in6,778 accessions of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. vulgare) germplasm conserved in National Genebank of India and development of core set Frontiers in Plant Science, ttps://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.771920
  • Ruchi Bansal, Swati Priya, Harsh Dixit, Sherry Rachel Jacob……. Kadambot Siddiqui (2021) “Growth and Antioxidant Responses in Iron-Biofortified Lentil under Cadmium Stress”, Toxics,9(8), 182; https://doi.org/ 10.3390/toxics 9080182
  • BS Phogat, Sandeep Kumar, Jyoti Kumari, Naresh Kumar, Avinash Chandra Pandey, TP Singh, Sundeep Kumar, RK Tyagi, Sherry Rachel Jacob, Amit Kumar Singh, Kalyani Srinivasan,  Radhamani Jalli, IS Bisht, Sunil Archak, Moreshwar Karale, Pankaj Sharma, Mamta Yadav, Priyanka Mishra, Geeta Kumari, Uma Joshi, Tariq Aftab, Rajeev Gambhir, KK Gangopadhyay, YS Rathi, Narender Pal, R K Sharma, S.K Yadav, K.C Bhatt, Baleshwar Singh, TV Prasad, YPS Solanki, Dhiraj Singh, M Dutta, MC Yadav, JC Rana, KC Bansal.(2021). Characterization of wheat germplasm conserved in the Indian National Gene Bank and establishment of composite core collection. Crop Science. 2021:61:604–620.DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20285.
  • Kalyani Srinivasan, Reshma Shaheen, Aradhana Mishra, Arun Kumar MB, Eldho Varghese and Sherry Rachel Jacob (2021) Biochemical characterization of wheat polyphenol oxidase activity in genebank accessions. Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources 34(1): 75–78.
  • Sheel Yadav, Supreet Kaur, Sherry Rachel Jacob and Vikender Kaur (2020) Genetic Diversity in Cultivated Gene Pool of Indian Barley (Hordeum vulgare ): An Analysis Using SSR Marker. Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources.
  • Sunil Neelam, Jyoti Kaul, Chikkappa G. Karjagi, Vinod Kumar, Sivaraj Natarajan, Manoj K Debnath, Chanadra Sekhar Javaji, Sherry R Jacob, Sushil Pandey, Rishi K Tyagi and Santosh Kumar (2020) Comprehending the Diversity in the Regenerated Set of Maize (Zea mays L.) Landraces Conserved in the Indian National Genebank. Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources 33(3):329-333.
  • Sherry Rachel Jacob, Girish Jha, Gajab Singh and Arun Kumar MB (2019) A viable mathematical model for seed moisture prediction in multiple species. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 89 (9): 1518-1522.
  • Kumar S, Phogat BS, Vikas VK, Sharma AK, Saharan MS, Singh AK, Jyoti Kumari, Rakesh Singh, Sherry Rachel Jacob, GP Singh, M. Sivasamy, P Jayaprakash, M Meeta, [ … ],V. A. Solanki (2019) Mining of Indian wheat germplasm collection for adult plant resistance to leaf rust. PLoS ONE 14(3): e0213468. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213468
  • Gopalareddy Krishnappa, Kalyani Srinivasan, Anju Mahendru Singh, Aradhana Mishra, Arvind Kumar Ahlawat, Gyanendra Pratap Singh and Sherry Rachel Jacob (2019) Exploratory studies on components of variability for seed longevity and quality traits in bread (Triticum aestivum) and durum (Triticum durum) wheat. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 89 (3): 515–21

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The contents of this page are personal information/views of the staff. NBPGR is neither responsible for the contents or reliability nor endorses the views expressed within them.

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