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• Genetically Enhancing the Hard Winter Wheat productivity (both quantity and quality) and value addition.
• Develop and release new superior winter wheat varieties with high yield stability, durable disease resistance and improved end-use quality for South ��ֱ���� and Northern Great Plains.
• Identify and genetically characterize germplasm with yield potential and quality traits, resistance to diseases and insect pests, drought, heat and winter hardiness and utilize them to enhance the productivity and resistance levels in winter wheat germplasm, thus leading to the development of improved varieties.

• 2023, 'F.O. Butler ��ֱ���� Excellence in Research' at South ��ֱ���� State University, Brookings.
• 2023, ‘AHPS Excellence in Research award in the SDSU AHPS department, Brookings.
• 2023, 'Best of Show’ Millers award (2022) for best quality wheat varieties, Wheat Quality Council (WQC), Kansas City, Kansas.
• 2022, ‘AHPS Excellence in Research award in the SDSU AHPS department, Brookings.
• 2022, 'Best of Show’ Millers award (2021) for best quality wheat varieties, Wheat Quality Council (WQC), Kansas City, Missouri.
• 2010, "Early Career Speaker ��ֱ����", International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium.
• 2010, “K-State Make A Difference ��ֱ����” for undergraduate mentoring, Kansas State University, Manhattan Kansas.
• 2004, "University Randhawa Gold Medal" for the best essay on Second Green Revolution, Punjab Agricultural University, India.
• 2003, University Merit Scholarship (Ph.D. program), Punjab Agricultural University, India.

• Developing high yielding winter wheat varieties with excellent end-use quality for South ��ֱ����. South ��ֱ���� Wheat Commission, 2023 to 2024.
• Accelerated breeding for disease and insect pest resistance in winter wheat. South ��ֱ���� Wheat Commission, 2023 to 2024.
• Winter Wheat Breeding for Scab Resistance in South ��ֱ����. USDA-USWBSI, 2022-2025.
• WheatCAP: WheatCAP: Innovation in Genomic Technology to Accelerate Breeding: “Leveraging high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping technologies to accelerate wheat improvement. 2022-2026.
• Breeding for improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in South ��ֱ���� winter wheat under regenerative agriculture management. SD NREC, 2022-2024.

• Plant Variety Protection (PVP)
• 'Oahe' 2019
• 'Thompson' 2019
• 'Winner' 2021
• 'Draper' 2021
• 'SD Andes' 2022
• 'SD Midland' 2023
• SD Pheasant Pending

Winter Wheat Varieties Released:

1. Hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar ‘Oahe’ was released by SDAES (8/2016). Oahe offers a combination of high yield with good test weight and moderate resistance to stripe rust, leaf rust, wheat streak mosaic virus and Fusarium head blight.
2. Hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar ‘Thompson’ was released by SDAES (11/2017). Thompson is a high yielding taller semi-dwarf HRW variety adapted to central South ��ֱ���� with moderate resistance to leaf rust and stem rust and acceptable milling quality.
3. Hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar ‘Winner’ was released by SDAES (9/2019). Winner is semi-dwarf variety with unusually broad adaptation to the eastern half of the Northern Great Plains. Winner has medium height and medium maturity with higher yield potential, good baking quality and moderate resistance to stem rust.
4. Hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar ‘Draper’ was released by SDAES (12/2019). Draper is a semi-dwarf variety with good straw strength and a limited target region, specifically western South ��ֱ����. Draper has improved yield potential with average test weight, grain protein, and acceptable milling and baking quality. It is resistant to soilborne mosaic virus.
5. Hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar ‘SD Andes’ (12/2020). SD Andes is a semi-dwarf variety with late maturity. It has excellent straw strength, winter hardiness. SD Andes has good resistance to stripe rust and average tolerance to FHB. SD Andes has improved yield potential with average test weight, grain protein and acceptable milling and baking quality. It is best adapted to eastern South ��ֱ���� and the neighboring region.
6. Hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar ‘SD Midland’ (12/2021). SD Midland is a semi-dwarf variety with medium-tall in height and late in maturity. It is high-yielding with average protein and test weight and excellent milling and baking quality. SD Midland is moderately resistant to stripe rust and yields well in lower rainfall areas. It is a bronze chaff winter wheat and would be a good replacement for later maturing varieties like Redfield.
7. Hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar ‘SD Pheasant’ released in Fall 2023. SD Pheasant is a high-yielding line with good test weight and grain protein content. SD Pheasant is resistant to leaf rust and moderately resistant to stem rust, hessian fly and moderately tolerant to stripe rust, FHB and Bacterial Leaf Streak. Along with excellent grain yield potential, SD Pheasant has good milling characteristics and excellent baking characteristics. It was awarded millers choice ‘Best of Show’ award in 2023 for excellent milling and baking characteristics.

Refereed Journal Articles

1. Chao M., Tian X., Dong Z., Li H., Chen X., Liu W., Yin G., Ma S., Zhang L., Cao A., Liu C., Yan H., Sehgal S., Zhang Z., Liu B., Wang S., Liu Q., Zhao Y., (2024) An Aegilops longissima NLR protein with integrated CC-BED module mediates resistance to wheat powdery mildew. Nature Communications 15:8281
2. Saini, D.K.$, Rana, A., Halder, J., Gill, H.S., Maruf Billah, M., Zhang, J., Thapa, S., Ali, S., Turnipseed, B., Glover, K., Maimaitijiang, M., Sehgal, S.K.*, (2024)  Rapid estimation of DON content in wheat flour using close-range hyperspectral imaging and machine learning. The Plant Phenome Journal 7 (1), e70001
3. Singh, J., Gudi, S., Maughan, P. J., Liu, Z., Kolmer, J., Wang, M., Chen, X., Rouse, M., Lasserre-Zuber, P. and Rimbert, H. Sehgal, S., Fiedler, J., Choulet, F., Acevado, M., Gupta, R., Gill, U., (2024) . Plant Biotechnology, DOI: 10.1111/pbi.14470
4. Kumar, P.$, Gill, H.S., Singh, M., Koupal, D., Kaur, K., Bernardo, A., St. Amand, P., Bai, G., Talukder, S., Sehgal, S.K.* (2024)  Characterization of flag leaf morphology identifies a novel major genomic region for flag leaf angle in winter wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 137:205
5. Kaushal, S.$, Gill, H. S., Billah, M. M., Khan, S. N., Halder, J., Bernardo, A., Amand, P. S., Bai, G., Glover, K., Maimaitijiang, M. and Sehgal, S. K.* (2024) Enhancing the potential of phenomic and genomic prediction in winter wheat breeding using high-throughput phenotyping and deep learning. Frontiers in Plant Science, 15, 1410249.
6. Li, H., Men, W., Ma, C., Liu, Q., Dong, Z., Tian, X., Wang, C., Liu, C., Gill, H.S., Ma, P. Zhang, Z., Liu, B., Zhao, Y.*, Sehgal, S.K.*, Liu, W.* (2024) Wheat powdery mildew resistance gene Pm13 encodes a mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein. Nature Communications, 15(1), 2449.
7. Thapa, S.$, Gill, H.S., Halder, J., Rana, A., Ali, S., Maimaitijiang, M., Gill, U., Bernardo, A., St. Amand, P., & Bai, G.  Sehgal, S.K.* (2024) Integrating genomics, phenomics, and deep learning improves the predictive ability for Fusarium head blight–related traits in winter wheat. The Plant Genome, e20470.
8. Zhao, Y., Dong, Z., Miao, J., Liu, Q., Ma, C., Tian, X., He, J., Bi, H., Yao, W. and Li, T., Gill, H., Zhang, Z., Cao, A., Liu, B., Li, H.*, Sehgal, S.K.* and Liu, W.* (2024) Pm57 from Aegilops searsii encodes a tandem kinase protein and confers wheat powdery mildew resistance. Nature Communications, 15(1), 4796.
9. Gill, H.S., Brar, N., Halder, J., Hall, C., Seabourn, B.W., Chen, Y.R., St. Amand, P., Bernardo, A., Bai, G., Glover, K. and Turnipseed, B. and Sehgal, S.K.*(, 2023) . The Plant Genome, p.e20331. DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20331.
10. Kaur, S., Gill, H.S., Breiland, M., Kolmer, J.A., Gupta, R., Sehgal, S.K.* and Gill, U., (2023) Identification of leaf rust resistance loci in a geographically diverse panel of wheat using genome-wide association analysis. Frontiers in Plant Science, 14, p.1090163.
11. Ma, C., Qian, J., Feng, Y., Sehgal, S.K., Zhao, Y., Chen, Q., Li, H. and Liu, W., (2023) . Plant Disease, DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-04-23-0764-RE
12. Lopez, S.R., Wiersma, A.T., Strauss, N.M., Watkins, T., Baik, B.K., Zhang, G., Sehgal, S.K., Kolb, F.L., Poland, J.A., Mason, R.E. and Carter, A.H., (2023) Description of U6719‐004 wheat germplasm with YrAS2388R stripe rust resistance introgression from Aegilops tauschii. Journal of Plant Registrations, 17(1), pp.26-33
13. Liu, Z., Li, Y., Bernardo, A., Amand, P.S., Zhang, P., Sehgal, S. and Bai, G., 2023. Development of diagnostic SNP markers for identification of rye 1RS translocations in wheat. Crop Science, 63(1), pp.255-265
14. Halder, J., Gill, H.S., Zhang, J., Altameemi, R., Olson, E., Turnipseed, B. and Sehgal, S.K.* (20230 . The Plant Genome, 16(1), p.e20300. DOI: 10.1002/tpg2.20300
15. Gill, H.S., Halder, J., Zhang, J., Rana, A., Kleinjan, J., Amand, P.S., Bernardo, A., Bai, G. and Sehgal, S.K.,* (2022) . Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 135(9), pp.2953-2967.
16. Zhang, J., Gill, H.S., Halder, J., Brar, N.K., Ali, S., Bernardo, A., Amand, P.S., Bai, G., Turnipseed, B. and Sehgal, S.K.,* (2022) Multi-locus genome-wide association studies to characterize Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance in hard winter wheat. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13: 946700.
17. Lin, G., Chen, H., Tian, B., Sehgal, S.K., Singh, L., Xie, J., Rawat, N., Juliana, P., Singh, N., Shrestha, S. and Wilson, D.L. (2022) Cloning of the broadly effective wheat leaf rust resistance gene Lr42 transferred from Aegilops tauschii. Nature Communications, 13(1), pp.1-12.
18. He F., Wang W., Rutter W.B., Jordan K.W., Ren J., Taagen E., DeWitt N., Sehgal D., Sukumaran S., Dreisigacker S., Reynolds M., Halder J., Sehgal S.K., Liu S., Akhunov E. (2022). Genomic variants affecting homoeologous gene expression dosage contribute to agronomic trait variation in allopolyploid wheat. Nature Communications 13, 826
19. Zhang, J., Gill, H.S., Brar, N.K., Halder, J., Ali, S., Liu, X., Bernardo, A., Amand, P.S., Bai, G., Gill, U.S. and Turnipseed, B. Sehgal, S.K.*, 2022. Genomic prediction of Fusarium head blight resistance in early stages using advanced breeding lines in hard winter wheat. The Crop Journal 10:1675-104
20. Liu, Z., Li, Y., Bernardo, A., Amand, P.S., Zhang, P., Sehgal, S., Bai, G., (2022). . Crop Science (Early view). DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20841
21. Men, W., Fan, Z., Ma, C., Zhao, Y., Wang, C., Tian, X., Chen, Q., Miao, J., He, J., Qian, J. and Sehgal, S.K. Li, H, Liu .W.  (2022) Mapping of the novel powdery mildew resistance gene Pm2Mb from Aegilops biuncialis based on ph1b-induced homoeologous recombination. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 135:2993-3003.
22. Tian, X., Chen, Q., Ma, C., Men, W., Liu, Q., Zhao, Y., Qian, J., Fan, Z., Miao, J., He, J., Sehgal, S.K., Li, H, Liu .W. (2022) Development and characterization of Triticum aestivum-Aegilops longissima 6Sl recombinants harboring a novel powdery mildew resistance gene Pm6Sl. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13:918508.
23. Lopez S., Wiersma A., Strauss N., Watkins T., Baik B., Zhang G., Sehgal S., Kolb F.L., Poland J., Mason E., Carter A.H., Olson E. (2022) Description of U6719-004 wheat germplasm with YrAS2388R stripe rust resistance introgression from Aegilops tauschii. Journal of Plant Registrations 2022; 1–8
24. Gill, H.S., Halder, J., Zhang., J, Brar, N., Rai, T.S., Hall, C., Bernardo, A., St Amand, P., Bai, G., Olson, E., Ali, S., Turnipseed, B., Sehgal, S.K.,* (2021) Frontiers in Plant Science, 18 August 2021 | DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.709545
25. Altameemi, R., Gill, H.S., Ali, S., Sehgal S.K. (2021) . Scientific Reports 11, 12570 (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91515-6
26. Li H., X. Tian, S. Pei, W. Men, C. Ma, S.K. Sehgal, Y. Zhao, Q. Chen, B. Wang, et al (2021) Development of Novel Wheat-Aegilops longissima 3Sl Translocations Conferring Powdery Mildew Resistance and Specific Molecular Markers for Chromosome 3Sl Plant Disease
27. Liu S., Wang D., Lin M., Sehgal S.K., Dong L., Wu Y., Bai G. (2020) Artificial selection in breeding extensively enriched a functional allelic variation in TaPHS1 for pre-harvest sprouting resistance in wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics (in press)
28. Sidhu J.S., Singh D., Gill H.S., Brar N.K., Qiu Y., Halder J., Al Tameemi R., Turnipseed B., Sehgal S.K.* (2020) Genome-wide association study uncovers novel genomic regions associated with coleoptile length in hard winter wheat. Frontiers in Genetics 10:1345
29. Latif S.,Wang L., Khan J., Ali Z., Sehgal S.K., Babar M.A., Wang J., Quraishi U.M. (2020) Deciphering the role of Stay-Green Trait to mitigate terminal heat stress in Bread Wheat. Agronomy 10(7): 1001
30. Kaur N., Sehgal S.K., Glover D., Byamukama E., Ali S. (2020) Impact of Fusarium graminearum on seed germination and seedling blight in hard red spring cultivars in South ��ֱ����. Journal of Plant Pathology and Microbiology 11:495
31. Liu W., Li H., Dong Z., Ma C., Xia Q., Tian X., Sehgal S., Friebe B., Ma P. (2020) A spontaneous wheat-Aegilops longissima translocation carrying Pm66 confers resistance to powdery mildew. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 133(4):1149-1159
32. Dong Z., X., Ma C., Xia Q., Wang B., Chen Q., Sehgal S.K., Friebe B., Li H. and Liu W. (2020) . International Journal of Molecular Sciences 21(1), 322; DOI: 10.3390/ijms21010322.
33. Halder J., Zhang J., Ali S., Sidhu J.S., Gill H.S., Talukdar S., Kleinjan J., Turnipseed B., Sehgal S.K.* (2019) Mining and genomic characterization of resistance to tan spot, Stagonospora nodorum blotch (SNB), and Fusarium head blight in Watkins core collection of wheat landraces. BMC Plant Biology 19:480
34. Ramakrishnan S.M., Sidhu J.S., Ali S., Kaur N., Wu J., Sehgal S.K.* (2019) Molecular characterization of bacterial leaf streak resistance in hard winter wheat. PeerJ 7:e7276
35. Gill H.S., Li C., Sidhu J.S., Liu W., Wilson D., Bai G., Gill B.S., Sehgal S.K.* (2019) .  International Journal of Molecular Sciences 20:2445; DOI: 10.3390/ijms20102445.
36. Sidhu J.S., Ramakrishnan S.M., Ali S., Bernardo A., Bai G., Abdullah S., Ayana G., Sehgal S.K.*. (2019) Assessing the genetic diversity and characterizing genomic regions conferring tan spot resistance in cultivated rye. PLOS One 14: e0214519.
37. Djanaguiraman M., Prasad P.V.V., Kumari J., Sehgal S.K., Friebe B., Djalovic I., Chen Y., Siddique K.H.M., Gill B.S. (2019) Alien chromosome segment from Aegilops speltoides and Dasypyrum villosum increases drought tolerance in wheat via profuse and deep root system. BMC Plant Biology 19:242.
38. Singh N., Wu S., Raupp J., Sehgal S., Arora S., Tiwari V., Vikram P., Singh S., Chhuneja P., Gill B.S., Poland J. (2019) Efficient curation of genebanks using next generation sequencing reveals substantial duplication of germplasm accessions. Scientific Reports 9: 650.
39. Singh N., Wu S., Tiwari V., Sehgal S., Raupp J., Wilson D., Abbasov M., Gill B.S., Poland J. (2019) Genomic analysis confirms population structure and identifies inter-lineage hybrids in Aegilops tauschii. Frontiers in Plant Science 10:9.
40. Kumar S., Sieverding H., Lai L., Thandiwe N., Wienhold B., Redfearn D., Archer D., Ussiri D., Faust D., Landblom D., Grings E., Stone J.J., Jacquet J., Pokharel K., Liebig M., Schmer M., Sexton P., Mitchell R., Smalley S., Osborne S., Ali S., Şentürklü S., Sehgal S., Owens V., Jin V. (2019) Facilitating crop-livestock reintegration in the Northern Great Plains. Agronomy Journal 111:1–16 (Peer-reviewed review article)
41. Appels R., Eversole K., Feuille, C., Keller B., Rogers J., Stein N., Pozniak C.J., Choulet F., Distelfeld A., Poland J., Ronen G., Sharpe A.G., Pozniak C., Barad O., Baruch K., Keeble-Gagnère G., Mascher M., Ben-Zvi G., Josselin A-A, Himmelbach A., Balfourier F., Gutierrez-Gonzalez J., Hayden M., Koh C., Muehlbauer G., Pasam R.K., Paux E., Rigault P., Tibbits J., Tiwari V., Spannagl M., Lang D., Gundlach H., Haberer G., Mayer KFX, Ormanbekova D., Prade V., Šimková H., Wicker T., Swarbreck D., Rimbert H., Felder M., Guilhot N., Kaithakottil G., Keilwagen J., Leroy P., Lux T., Twardziok S., Venturini L., Juhász A., Abrouk M., Fischer I., Uauy C., Borrill P., Ramirez-Gonzalez R.H., Arnaud D., Chalabi S., Chalhoub B., Cory A., Datla R., Davey M.W., Jacobs J., Robinson S.J., Steuernagel B., van Ex F., Wulff BBH, Benhamed M., Bendahmane A., Concia L., Latrasse D., Alaux M., Bartoš J., Bellec A., Berges H., Doležel J., Frenkel Z., Gill B., Korol A., Letellier T., Olsen O-A, Singh K., Valárik M., van der Vossen E., Vautrin S., Weining S., Fahima T., Glikson V., Raats D., Číhalíková J., Toegelová H., Vrána J., Sourdille P., Darrier B., Barabaschi D., Cattivelli L., Hernandez P., Galvez S., Budak H., Jones JDG, Witek K., Yu G., Small I., Melonek J., Zhou R., Belova T., Kanyuka K., King R., Nilsen K., Walkowiak S., Cuthbert R., Knox R., Wiebe K., Xiang D., Rohde A., Golds T., Čížková J., Akpinar B.A., Biyiklioglu S., Gao L., N’Daiye A., Kubaláková M., Šafář J., Alfama F., Adam-Blondon A-F, Flores R., Guerche C., Loaec M., Quesneville H., Condie J., Ens J., Maclachlan R., Tan Y., Alberti A., Aury J-M, Barbe V., Couloux A., Cruaud C., Labadie K., Mangenot S., Wincker P., Kaur G., Luo M., Sehgal S., Chhuneja P., Gupta O.P., Jindal S., Kaur P., Malik P., Sharma P., Yadav B., Singh N.K., Khurana J., Chaudhary C., Khurana P., Kumar V., Mahato A., Mathur S., Sevanthi A., Sharma N., Tomar R.S., Holušová K., Plíhal O., Clark M.D., Heavens D., Kettleborough G., Wright J., Balcárková B., Hu Y., Salina E., Ravin N., Skryabin K., Beletsky A., Kadnikov V., Mardanov A., Nesterov M., Rakitin A., Sergeeva E., Handa H., Kanamori H., Katagiri S., Kobayashi F., Nasuda S., Tanaka T., Wu J., Cattonaro F., Jiumeng M., Kugler K., Pfeifer M., Sandve S., Xun X., Zhan B., Batley J., Bayer P.E., Edwards D., Hayashi S., Tulpová Z., Visendi P., Cui L., Du X., Feng K., Nie X., Tong W., Wang L. (2018) Shifting the limits in wheat research and breeding using a fully annotated reference genome. Science. 361:eaar7191.
42. Ayana G.T., Ali S., Sidhu J.S., Gonzalez Hernandez J.L., Turnipseed B., Sehgal S.K.* (2018) Genome-wide association study for spot blotch resistance in hard winter wheat. Frontiers in Plant Science 9:926.
43. Wiersma A.T., Whetten R.B., Zhang G., Sehgal S.K., Kolb F.L., Poland J.A., Mason R.E., Carter A.H., Cowger C., Olson E.L. (2018) Registration of two wheat germplasm lines fixed for Pm58. Journal of Plant Registrations 12: 270-273.
44. Abdullah S., Sehgal S.K., Glover K., Ali S. (2017) Reaction of global collection of rye (Secale cereale L.) to tan spot and Pyrenophora tritici-repentis races in South ��ֱ����. The Plant Pathology Journal 33: 229-237.
45. Abdullah S., Sehgal S.K., Ali S. (2017) Race diversity of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis in South ��ֱ���� and response of predominant wheat cultivars to tan spot. Journal of Plant Pathology and Microbiology 8: 409.
46. Abdullah S., Sehgal S.K.*, Yu J., Turnipseed B., Ali S.* (2017) Insight into tan spot and stem rust resistance and susceptibility by studying the pre-green revolution global collection of wheat. The Plant Pathology Journal 33:125-132.
47. Abdullah S., Sehgal S.K., Ali S., Liatukas Ž., Ittu M., Kaur N. (2017) Characterization of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (tan spot of wheat) races in Baltic States and Romania. The Plant Pathology Journal: 33(2): 133–139.
48. Gong W., Gong W., Han R., Li G., Sehgal S.K., Li H., Liu H., Song J., Song G., Liu C., Liu J. (2016) Chromosome arm-specific markers from Aegilops searsii permits targeted introgression. Biologia 71:87-92.
49. Wiersma A.T., Brown L.K., Brisco E.I., Liu T.L., Childs K.L., Poland J.A., Sehgal S.K., Olson E.L. (2016) Fine mapping of the stem rust resistance gene SrTA10187. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 128: 2369-2378.
50. Davis M.A., Bockus W., Zhang G., Fritz A.K., Baenziger P.S., Marais G.F., Sehgal S.K. (2016) Reaction of Kansas, Nebraska, South ��ֱ���� and North ��ֱ���� winter wheat accessions to Fusarium head blight (FHB). Plant Disease Management Reports Volume 11:CF037.