Director Research

About the Directorate
Directorate of Research was established in November, 2013. The  territorial jurisdiction of this agricultural university encompasses  over three agroclimatic zones out of the ten zones recognized by the Dept of Agriculture, GOR,  and comprise  about  6.4 M ha   geographical area of  the state  covering   districts of  Ajmer,  Alwar, Bharatpur, Dausa, Dholpur,  Jaipur  Sikar, Tonk. There are seven research stations encompassing three agro-climatic zones under the administrative control of Directorate of Research, SKNAU, Jobner. These include Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute (RARI) at Durgapura, Jaipur, two Agricultural Research Stations located at Navgaon (Alwar) and Fatehpur-Shekhawati (Sikar) and four Agricultural Research Sub-Stations at Tabiji (Ajmer), Kumher (Bharatpur), Gonera - Kotputli (Jaipur) and Diggi (Tonk).

The major crops of the state, viz, Wheat, Barley, Pearl Millet, Chickpea, Mungbean, Moth bean, Cowpea, Groundnut, Cluster bean, Mustard, Taramira, Seed Spices and majority of vegetable crops are grown in the regions under jurisdiction of the university. Thus, the three agro climatic zones under the jurisdiction of the university have potential to address the needs of the state with respect to food crops, vegetables and seed spices.

At present  17  ICAR funded All India Coordinated Research  Projects (AICRPs ) and the State Government  funded long term projects  are  already  in  vogue  and  dedicated   to the  needs  of  the three zones along with several ad-hoc  projects sponsored  by  various prestigious funding agencies . Besides the basic mandates, the Directorate is on its way to finalize newer mandates in light of the State Agricultural Policy of the Dept of Agriculture, GOR and new frontier areas of R & D in agriculture covering various aspects of Precision Agriculture, Conservation Agriculture, Secondary Agriculture and Specialty Agriculture etc.

Dr. M.L. Jakhar is serving as an agricultural scientist and researcher in SKNAU, Jobner. He was born on 15th June, 1969 in Jobner. Dr. Jakhar obtained his B.Sc. (Ag) in 1990, M.Sc. in 1992 and Ph.D. in 2000 in Plant Breeding and Genetics from RAU, Bikaner. He was awarded with gold medal in M.Sc.
Dr. Jakhar started his service as Assistant Professor from 8th May, 1996 at SKRAU, Bikaner and worked at Mechanized Agriculture Farm, Khara, for 2 years where, he was actively engaged in seed production programme of various Kharif and Rabi crops. Dr. Jakhar was transferred to SKN College of Agriculture, Jobner on 20th July. 1998 and provided his services at this campus till date 22.08.2019. Afterwards Dr. Jakhar was assigned the responsibility of Director Education of SKN Agriculture University, Jobner and worked there 22.08.2019 to 04.07.2020. On 04.07.2020 joined as Director Research, SKNAU, Jobner.
 

He has been associated in teaching for last 23 years and taught almost all the courses at of Plant Breeding & Genetics at UG, PG and Ph.D. levels. He has specialization in Plant Biotechnology. He guided 30 M.Sc. and 5 Ph.D. students as Major Advisor and acted as a member in the Advisory Committee of four dozen students of M.Sc. and Ph.D. of other department including PBG.

During his service tenures, Dr. Jakhar worked as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator of ten research projects related to variability in cumin through in vitro techniques, medicinal and aromatic plants, Aloe vera, modernization and mechanization of ARSS farm, Diggi, infrastructure facilities for breeder seed production, establishment of herbal park. Establishment of tissue culture set up and laboratory under RKVY was a great task of his service career with a budget provision of Rs. 1.38 Crores. Now this laboratory is an integral part of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics. Under this project he developed regeneration protocol and micro propagation techniques of arid zone crops. He standardized and developed regeneration protocol of cumin, coriander, fenugreek, fennel, bael, guggal, pomegranate etc.

He was also the Officer Incharge of All India Coordinated Research Project on Oil Seeds (Taramira Unit). This project is being operated in SKN College of Agriculture, Jobner since 1987. Under this project Dr. Jakhar developed several varieties of Taramira viz. RTM -314, RTM-2002, RTM-1355 and RTM-1351. About 650 germplasm of Taramira is being maintained in the project.

He has published 83 research papers in international and national journals, wrote 5 books, several articles, and book chapters. He has participated in 38 national seminar/workshop/conference/symposium and 3 international conferences. He also organized one workshop, one seminar and two trainings of national level and attended five summer/ winter schools.

Dr. Jakhar is serving as secretary Sports Board, SKNAU, Jobner since 2013 and organized 7 inter collegiate tournaments. During his student life he participated four times in Inter University Kabaddi tournaments.

From administrative point of view, Dr. Jakhar served as University Head and Campus Head of the Departmentof Plant Breeding &Genetics. He also served as convener and member of various committees viz. tender enquiry, student election, spot purchase etc.

Dr. Jakhar got best teacher award (2002-2003). Best performer Award (2016) by ICAR for development of taramira varieties, Appreciation certificate by the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor for outstanding contribution in the development of college and university on the occasion of Republic Day in 2016, 2018 and 2019. He is also acting as Joint Secretary in the executive board Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Sewar Bharatpur. He is also awarded with SRMR Fellow Award, 2017. He also got best oral presentation award in International Conference on Food Security through Agriculture and Allied Science (FAAS-2019) held at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu (Nepal). He is the life member of farming system Research and Development Association, Society of Rapeseed-Mustard Research and the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding and also acting as scientific referee for several prestigious journals.

Details of former Directors 

AEIS URL:-

Major Research Projects completed with significant output and achievements

A total of 29 RKVY projects have been sanctioned and completed at various units of SKNAU, Jobner funded by state government under Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana. The salient achievements of these projects are given below:

1. Establishment/strengthening of seed processing and storage unit in different research stations of SKNAU, Jobner.

Eight seed processing units were established at ARS Fatehpur, ARS Navgaon, SKNCOA Jobner, RARI Durgapura (02), COA Lalsot, ARSS Kumher and ARSS Gonera. Five godowns were constructed at SKNCOA Jobner, ARS Navgaon, ARSS Diggi, ARSS Kumher, ARSS Gonera.

 
Processing Plant ARS, Fatehpur (Sikar)                 Processing Plant ARS, Fatehpur (Sikar)