Ragavendran Abbai

About

I’m a crop plant geneticist passionate about translating fundamental plant science discoveries into real-world applications that create meaningful societal impact. I integrate trait genetics with genomics and data-driven approaches to support designing future-ready crop plants.

Employment

• International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Associate Scientist
  2025 - Present
• Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research Postdoctoral researcher
  2024 - Present
• Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Doctoral candidate
  2019 - 2024
• International Rice Research Institute Research Fellow
  2017 - 2019

Education

• Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research PhD (Agricultural Sciences)
  2019 - 2024
• Kyung Hee University - Global Campus MS (Biotechnology)
  2015 - 2017
• Tamil Nadu Agricultural University B. Tech (Biotechnology)
  2011 - 2015

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (28)

• Subspecies-specific haplotype signatures for customizing blanchability in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) via haplotype-based breeding
  Communications Biology 2026 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-026-09850-1
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• Future-Ready Crops: Biology-Driven Pangenetics Meet AI-Powered Predictions
  2025 DOI: 10.20944/preprints202511.0224.v1
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• Grain yield trade-offs in spike-branching wheat can be mitigated by elite alleles affecting sink capacity and post-anthesis source activity
  Journal of Experimental Botany 2024 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erad373
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• Exploring the trade‐off between individual fitness and community performance of wheat crops using simulated canopy shade
  Plant, Cell & Environment 2023 DOI: 10.1111/pce.14499
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• Balancing grain yield trade-offs in ‘Miracle-Wheat’
  2023 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.23.529729
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• Marker‐assisted forward breeding to develop a drought‐, bacterial‐leaf‐blight‐, and blast‐resistant rice cultivar
  The Plant Genome 2022 DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20170
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• Marker-assisted forward and backcross breeding for improvement of elite Indian rice variety Naveen for multiple biotic and abiotic stress tolerance
  PLoS ONE 2021 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256721
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• Superior haplotypes towards development of low glycemic index rice with preferred grain and cooking quality
  Scientific Reports 2021 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87964-8
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• Pyramiding QTLs controlling tolerance against drought, salinity, and submergence in rice through marker assisted breeding
  PLOS ONE 2020 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227421
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• Marker Assisted Forward Breeding to Combine Multiple Biotic-Abiotic Stress Resistance/Tolerance in Rice
  Rice 2020 DOI: 10.1186/s12284-020-00391-7
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