Dr. Kumar M

Designation: Senior Scientist

Professional experience:

11 years, 11 months 12 days as on 12.12.2025

Research interest:

Bacterial diversity
Microbial bioformulations
Plant Microbiome

Google Scholar Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g0TeOGsAAAAJ&hl=en

Contact details:

Office Address: ICAR – NBAIM, Kushmaur, Mau - 275103

Tel: 91-8765107799

E-mail: kumarmic84@gmail.com

Significant recognition (Awards/Fellowships/Technologies transferred/Patents etc.):

Technologies

1. Bio Sulphur
2. Bio Phos
3. RhizoNBAIM-C
4. RhizoNBAIM-A

Fellowships:

1. DST – INSPIRE,
2. ICAR – JRF, ICAR - SRF

Patents/Copyrights:

1. A BIOFERTILIZER COMPOSITION AND A METHOD THEREOF

Membership of Societies:
1. Life Member in “Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI)”
2. Life Member in “Association for Conservation of Microbes and Applications (ACMA)”

Projects:

On-going Projects:

Sr. No.	Project Title	Funding Agency	PI/Co-PI	Year
1.	Contribution of Competitive and Efficient strains of Chickpea Rhizobia to Biological Nitrogen Fixation and Soil Health	ICAR – AMAAS	PI	2024-26
2.	Computational approaches to decipher the core microbiome of wheat rhizosphere associated with nutrient cycling and disease suppression from Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in India	ICAR	PI	2021-26
3.	Quantification of ecosystem services rendered by microorganisms in contrasting ecosystems	ICAR-NBAIM	PI	2022-26
4.	Utilization of soil and plant microbial resources for enhancing the productivity of cropping systems and soil health under jhum and terrace/valley agroecosystems of Eastern and North-Western Indian Himalayas	DBT	CC-PI	2022-26

Completed Projects:

Sr. No.	Project Title	Funding Agency	PI/Co-PI	Year
1.	Development of bacterial/archaeal indicators for soil health as influenced by management practices	ICAR – NBAIM	PI	2017-22
2.	Assessment of sulfur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) for plant growth promotion in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)	ICAR-NBAIM	PI	2014-18
3.	Bioprospecting for phosphorous solubilizing bacteria with high phosphatase activity and their application to enhance plant productivity	ICAR-NBAIM	Co-PI	2013-17
4.	Biofortification of wheat and maize with zinc and iron using endophytic microorganisms	ICAR-NASF	Co-PI	2017-20
5.	Biotech-KISAN Hub at Sikkim University	DBT	Co-PI	2022-24

Publications:

Research/Review Articles:	44
National: International:	4 40
Book Chapters:	10
Books:	-
Popular Articles:	4
Bulletin:	3
Training Manual:	8
Others:	-

List of publications (Best 10 publications) with NAAS Rating and Impact Factor:

1. Kumar, M., Ansari, WA., Zeyad, MT., Singh, A., Chakdar, H., Kumar, A., Farooqi, MA., Sharma, A., Srivastava, S., and Srivastava A.K. (2023) Core microbiota of wheat rhizosphere under upper Indo-Gangetic plains and their response to soil physicochemical properties. Front. Plant Sci. 14:1186162. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1186162. (NAAS: 10.1) (First and Corresponding Author).

2. Ansari, WA., Kumar, M., Krishna, R.,Singh, A., Zeyad, MT., Tiwari, P., Kumar, SC., Chakdar, H., and Srivastava, A.K. (2024) Influence of rice-wheat and sugarcane-wheat rotations on microbial diversity and plant growth promoting bacteria: insights from high-throughput sequencing and soil analysis. Microbiol. Res. 278: 127533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2023.127533. (NAAS: 12.10) (Corresponding Author).

3. Singh, A., Kumar M., Chakdar, H., Pandiyan, K., Kumar, SC., Zeyad, MT., Singh, BN., Ravikiran, K.T., Mahto, A., Srivastava, A.K., and Saxena, A.K., (2022) Influence of host genotype in establishing root associated microbiome of indica rice cultivars for plant growth promotion. Front. Microbiol. 13:1033158. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1033158. (NAAS:10.0) (Joint First Author).

4. Zeyad, MT., Tiwari, P., Ansari, WA., Kumar, SC., Kumar, M., Chakdar, H., Srivastava, AK., Singh, UB., and Saxena, A.K. (2022) Bio-priming with a consortium of Streptomyces araujoniae strains modulates defense response in chickpea against Fusarium wilt. Front. Microbiol. 13:998546. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.998546. (NAAS: 10.0) (Corresponding Author).

5. Kumar, M., Tiwari, P., Zeyad, MT., Ansari, WA., Kumar, SC., Chakdar, H., Srivastava, A.K., and Saxena, A.K. (2023) Genetic diversity and antifungal activities of the genera Streptomyces and Nocardiopsis inhabiting agricultural fields of Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of King Saud University-Science, 35(4), 102619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksus.2023.102619. (NAAS: 9.70) (First and Corresponding Author).

6. Tiwari, P., Ansari, WA., Kumar, SC., Tiwari, PK., Kumar, M., Chakdar, H., Srivastava, A.K., Shantikumar, L. (2024) Genetic Diversity and Functional Potential of Streptomyces spp. Isolated from Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve, India. Current Microbiol. 81: 397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-024-03927-y. (NAAS: 8.30) (Corresponding Author).

7. Kumar, M., Chakdar, H., Pandiyan, K., Thapa, S., Shahid, M., Singh, A., Srivastava, A.K., and Saxena, A.K. (2022) Bacterial chitinases: genetics, engineering and applications. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 38: 252. (NAAS: 10.0)

8. Saxena AK, Kumar M, Chakdar H, Anuroopa N and Bagyaraj DJ (2020). Bacillus species in soil as a natural resource for plant health and nutrition. Journal of Applied Microbiology 128: 1583-1594. (NAAS: 9.20).

9. Kumar, M., Yadav, AN., Tiwari, R., Prasanna, R., and Saxena, A.K (2014) Deciphering the diversity of culturable thermotolerant bacteria from Manikaran hot springs. Ann Microbiol 64, 741–751 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-013-0709-7. (NAAS: 9.0)

10. Kumar. M., Prasanna, R., Bidyarani, N., Babu, S., et al. (2013) Evaluating the plant growth promoting ability of thermotolerant bacteria and cyanobacteria and their interactions with seed spice crops. Scientia Horticulturae 164, 94-101 (NAAS: 9.90)

Dr. Kumar M

Important Links