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Doctor Sachin Chavan

Sachin Chavan joined HIE as a postgraduate student in August 2014 and has been working as a research fellow since January 2018. His research focuses on plant physiology and biochemistry mainly in crop plants. He is currently working as post-doctoral research fellow in greenhouse horticulture on the project entitled ‘Research and operations to trial innovation glass and photovoltaic technologies in protected cropping’ with Prof David Tissue. The project aims to assess the impact of innovative glass technologies including smart glass (SG) and semi-transparent photovoltaic glass (STPVG) on plant growth, physiology, yield and metabolic quality in a controlled CO2, temperature, nutrient and irrigation environment. The project involves use of novel cover materials including light shifting Luminescent Light Emitting Agriculture Film (LLEAF) and radiation limiting Smart Glass (SG) film aimed at reducing energy and resource use in glasshouses while maintaining or improving the crop productivity.

Before starting this position, he studied wheat responses to climate change parameters including heat stress and elevated CO2. He completed his PhD project entitled “Responses of wheat photosynthesis and yield to elevated CO2 under heat and water stress” under the supervision of Assoc Prof Oula Ghannoum and Ass Prof Remko Duursma here in HIE. The PhD project aimed at combining FACE and glasshouse studies in order to develop mechanistic models that can incorporate crop leaf-to-canopy responses to stresses and their interactions with elevated CO2. The focus was to analyse the effects of elevated CO2 in combination with heat or water stresses on the photosynthesis and growth of field-grown (AGFACE, Horsham) and glasshouse-grown wheat cultivars.

His previous research projects included investigation of plant pathogen interactions using genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics tools and molecular characterisation of cotton using molecular markers.

Areas of Research

Plant physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics

Awards
  • Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry Postgraduate Research Scholarship, University of Western Sydney (2014) for PhD project.
  • INSPIRE Fellowship awarded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India
Publications

Maier CR, Chavan SG, Klause N, Liang W, Cazzonelli CI, Ghannoum O, Chen Z-H, Tissue DT, (2023) 'Light blocking film in a glasshouse impacts Capsicum annuum L. yield differentially across planting season', Frontiers in Plant Science, vol.14, Article no.1277037

Chavan SG, Duursma RA, Tausz M, Ghannoum O, (2022) 'Moderate heat stress prevented the observed biomass and yield stimulation caused by elevated CO2 in two well-watered wheat cultivars', Plant Molecular Biology, vol.110, no.s4-5, pp 365-384

He X, Chavan SG, Hamoui Z, Maier C, Ghannoum O, Chen ZH, Tissue DT, Cazzonelli CI, (2022) 'Smart Glass Film Reduced Ascorbic Acid in Red and Orange Capsicum Fruit Cultivars without Impacting Shelf Life', Plants-Basel, vol.11, no.7, Article no.985

Lin T, Goldsworthy M, Chavan S, Liang W, Maier C, Ghannoum O, Cazzonelli C, Tissue DT, Lan Y-C, Sethuvenkatraman S, Lin H, Jia B, Chen Z-H, (2022) 'A novel cover material improves cooling energy and fertigation efficiency for glasshouse eggplant production', Energy, vol.251, Article no.123871

He X, Maier C, Chavan S, Chenchen Z, Alagoz Y, Cazzonelli CI, Ghannoum O, Tissue DT, Chen ZH, (2021) 'Light-altering Cover Materials and Sustainable Greenhouse Production of Vegetables: A Review', Plant Growth Regulation, vol.95, pp 1-17

Samaranayake P, Maier C, Chavan S, Liang W, Chen Z-H, Tissue DT, Lan Y-C, (2021) 'Energy minimisation in a protected cropping facility using multi-temperature acquisition points and control of ventilation settings', Energies, vol.14, no.19, Article no.6014

Zhao C, Chavan S, He X, Zhou M, Cazzonelli CI, Chen Z-H, Tissue DT, Ghannoum O, (2021) 'Smart glass impacts stomatal sensitivity of greenhouse Capsicum through altered light', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol.72, no.8, pp 3235–3248

Chavan SG, Maier C, Alagoz Y, Filipe JC, Warren CR, Lin H, Jia BH, Loik ME, Cazzonelli CI, Chen ZHH, Ghannoum O, Tissue DT, (2020) 'Light-limited photosynthesis under energy-saving film decreases eggplant yield', Food and Energy Security, Article no.e245

Chavan SG, Duursma RA, Tausz M, Ghannoum O, (2019) 'Elevated CO2 alleviates the negative impact of heat stress on wheat physiology but not on grain yield', Journal of experimental botany, vol.70, no.21, pp 6447-6459

Kumar Y, Zhang L, Panigrahi P, Dholakia BB, Dewangan V, Chavan SG, Kunjir SM, Wu X, Li N, Rajmohanan PR, Kadoo NY, Giri AP, Tang H, Gupta VS, (2016) 'Fusarium oxysporum mediates systems metabolic reprogramming of chickpea roots as revealed by a combination of proteomics and metabolomics', Plant Biotechnology Journal, vol.14, no.7, pp 1589-1603

Ghodke AB, Chavan SG, Sonwane BV, Bharose AA, (2012) 'Isolation and in vitro identification of proteinase inhibitors from soybean seeds inhibiting helicoverpa gut proteases', Journal of Plant Interaction, vol.8, no.2, pp 170-178

Patil DP, Dhotre DP, Chavan SG, Sultan A, Jain DS, Lanjekar VB, Gangawani J, Shah PS, Todkar JS, Shah S, Ranade DR, Patole MS, Shouche YS, (2012) 'Molecular analysis of gut microbiota in obesity among Indian individuals',  Journal of Biosciences, vol.37, no.4, pp 647 – 657