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MULTAN, Jun 02 (APP): Eminent agriculture scientist Dr. Muhammad Idrees Khan took over the charge of his new responsibilities as secretary of the country’s ace cotton research body, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC), while Ms. Sabahat Hussain, another senior scientist, assumed the charge as Director Central Cotton Researh Institute (CCRI) Multan, on Monday.
The notifications appointing the two eminent scientists to their new assignments has already been issued by Ministry of National Food Security & Research (MNFS&R), says Sajid Mahmood, the PCCC media focal person and CCRI Multan head of transfer of technology department .
Both the agriculture scientists had joined CCRI Multan as scientific officer in 2001 and bring with them over two decades long experience of research and accomplishments in the cotton sector.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Idrees served as Deputy Director Research at PCCC and held the position of Director at the Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI), Sakrand. In 2016, he became the head of Plant Breeding and Genetics Department at CCRI, Multan.
Dr. Idrees completed his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, in 2014, with his research conducted at the University of Georgia, USA. He holds an M.Sc. (Hons.) in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Agriculture, Peshawar, awarded in 1995.
He is a widely published researcher, with over 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles in national and international journals. He is credited with developing more than ten high-yielding cotton varieties and has played a pivotal role as Incharge of the World Cotton Gene Pool at CCRI Multan. From 2012 to 2021, he also served as the focal person for the Pak-US ICARDA Cotton Project at CCRI Multan.
Dr. Idrees had actively supervised numerous M.Sc. and Ph.D. scholars, and has mentored students through various internship programs.
Senior scientist Ms. Sabahat Hussain, after induction in CCRI Multan in 2001, was promoted as senior scientific officer in 2014. She had been working on cotton diseases and their cure, disease-resistant varieties development and planning and implementation of cotton research projects since long.
She completed her M.Sc (Hons) in 1997 from University of Agriculture Faisalabad. She also worked as researcher at National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (Nibge). She has many research papers to her credit, published in national and international research journals. Her research work mainly focused on diagnosis of cotton diseases, genetic engineering, and tissue culture.
The PCCC and CCRI Multan and Sakrand staff have extended their heartfelt felicitations to both the agriculture scientists.