Rachid Serraj

Research and teaching
Crop Science, Abiotic stresses, Water management, Dryland Agriculture, Soil fertility, Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation

Leading the Diversification & Sustainable Intensification of Production Systems (DSIPS) Program. The ultimate goal of the research and development work is to help increase the income of rural communities and sustainable use of natural resources in the dry areas, particularly biodiversity and water resources, derived from intensified/diversified integrated crop/rangeland/livestock production systems across West Asia and North Africa. This is carried out through the development of methodologies… عرض المزيد

Leading the Diversification & Sustainable Intensification of Production Systems (DSIPS) Program. The ultimate goal of the research and development work is to help increase the income of rural communities and sustainable use of natural resources in the dry areas, particularly biodiversity and water resources, derived from intensified/diversified integrated crop/rangeland/livestock production systems across West Asia and North Africa. This is carried out through the development of methodologies that foster the sustainable intensification and diversification of production systems, and focus on the farm community with participatory and gender-sensitive approaches, and appropriate institutional and policy options.
Acting as ICARDA’s Focal Point for research on Dryland systems (CRP1.1) in West Asia and North Africa, Climate Change and Desertification (coordination with UNCCD and CCAFS). عرض أقل

Leading the drought physiology group, a team of 20+ postdoctoral scientists, scientific officers, research technicians, and graduate students, with focus on physiological dissection, phenotyping and trait-based selection for drought resistance improvement of rainfed rice.
Coordinator on the IRRI Drought Frontier Project and international consortium, with partners across Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and USA, Europe, Japan, Australia. The project aimed at integration of crop physiology, breeding… عرض المزيد

Leading the drought physiology group, a team of 20+ postdoctoral scientists, scientific officers, research technicians, and graduate students, with focus on physiological dissection, phenotyping and trait-based selection for drought resistance improvement of rainfed rice.
Coordinator on the IRRI Drought Frontier Project and international consortium, with partners across Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and USA, Europe, Japan, Australia. The project aimed at integration of crop physiology, breeding and molecular genetics tools towards more efficient crop improvement of drought adaptation in rice.

Leader, PI or co-PI of several projects on drought & rice, including a strategic project on development of GM rice for abiotic stresses, Generation Challenge Program on drought avoidance and reproductive-stage traits in rice, B&M Gates Foundation on Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia. عرض أقل

Coordinated research projects (CRP) on "Selection for greater water-use efficiency in wheat and rice using carbon isotope discrimination", with research contractors from Algeria, Bangladesh, China, India, Morocco, Pakistan and Yemen, in addition to agreement holders from CSIRO-Australia, UC-Riverside USA, CIMMYT and IRRI. CRP on "The use of nuclear techniques for developing integrated nutrient and water management practices for agroforestry systems", with research contractors from Benin, Chile,… عرض المزيد

Coordinated research projects (CRP) on "Selection for greater water-use efficiency in wheat and rice using carbon isotope discrimination", with research contractors from Algeria, Bangladesh, China, India, Morocco, Pakistan and Yemen, in addition to agreement holders from CSIRO-Australia, UC-Riverside USA, CIMMYT and IRRI. CRP on "The use of nuclear techniques for developing integrated nutrient and water management practices for agroforestry systems", with research contractors from Benin, Chile, Costa Rica, Kenya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia and five ARI agreement holders from Australia, Belgium, France UK and Kenya (TSBFI-CIAT).

Technical Cooperation Projects (TCP): provided technical leadership for project management and implementation, involving assessment of research and development needs, upstream work for the formulation and launching of TCPs on the use of nuclear techniques in agriculture, evaluation of project write-ups, fine-tuning of project work plans, evaluation of fellowships applications, procurement of equipment, and field expert missions. List of TCPs: Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ecuador, Eritrea, Ghana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mauritius, and regional project in Asia. عرض أقل

Head Crop Physiology Laboratory (a team of 20 including postdoctoral scientists, scientific officers, research technicians, and graduate students). Responsibilities included research, project development, management, coordination, resource mobilization.
Coordinator of Regional Research Program on Drought Tolerance within Global Theme on Biotechnology (multi-disciplinary team of ~8 international scientists). Implemented a strategy for crop genetic enhancement of drought tolerance, integrating… عرض المزيد

Head Crop Physiology Laboratory (a team of 20 including postdoctoral scientists, scientific officers, research technicians, and graduate students). Responsibilities included research, project development, management, coordination, resource mobilization.
Coordinator of Regional Research Program on Drought Tolerance within Global Theme on Biotechnology (multi-disciplinary team of ~8 international scientists). Implemented a strategy for crop genetic enhancement of drought tolerance, integrating physiology, molecular genetics, modeling, mapping and marker-assisted breeding.
Research projects managed: Water Use Efficiency traits in groundnut, Chickpea drought-avoidance root traits, Evaluation of drought tolerance QTLs and MAS products in pearl millet (UK-DFID), salinity tolerance of sorghum and millet (OPEC-funded), Low P uptake and P use efficiency in millet.
Coordinated an international research initiative for a Challenge Program on Biological Nitrogen fixation (2002), Pre-proposal selected by CGIAR-iSC, built a consortium including IARCs, FAO-IAEA, ARIs, Research Networks and NARES from South Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. عرض أقل

Research on drought tolerance physiology and symbiotic nitrogen fixation in soybean and other legumes.

Field and controlled environment studies on nitrogen nutrition and Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation (SNF) in soybean. Physiological dissection and screening of soybean for the tolerance of SNF to nitrate. Impact of salinity stress on SNF and growth in food and forage legumes. Regulation of the permeability to oxygen diffusion in root nodules. Anatomical studies of soybean nodules in relation to the mechanisms of oxygen permeability regulation.