World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Ajit Varma

Ajit Varma

Award Badge
Plant Science and Agronomy
India
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Plant Science and Agronomy

D-Index
83
Citations
22477
World Ranking
377
National Ranking
4

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Plant Science and Agronomy in India Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Plant Science and Agronomy in India Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Plant Science and Agronomy in India Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Plant Science and Agronomy in India Leader Award

Overview

What is he best known for?

The fields of study he is best known for:

  • Botany
  • Bacteria
  • Enzyme

Ajit Varma mainly focuses on Botany, Piriformospora, Fungus, Endophyte and Agronomy. His work deals with themes such as Microorganism, Symbiosis, Mycorrhiza, Cell biology and Plant development, which intersect with Botany. His Piriformospora study incorporates themes from Arabidopsis thaliana, Inoculation, Chlorophyll, Arabidopsis and Shoot.

His study on Sebacinales is often connected to Hordeum vulgare as part of broader study in Fungus. His work carried out in the field of Endophyte brings together such families of science as Woody plant, Pteridophyte, Micropropagation, Secondary metabolite and Inflorescence. His Agronomy research includes themes of Pollutant, Soil ecology, Soil organic matter, Saline water and Rhizosphere.

His most cited work include:

  • Piriformospora indica, a Cultivable Plant-Growth-Promoting Root Endophyte (470 citations)
  • Piriformospora indica, a Cultivable Plant-Growth-Promoting Root Endophyte (470 citations)
  • PIRIFORMOSPORA INDICA, GEN. ET SP. NOV., A NEW ROOT-COLONIZING FUNGUS (344 citations)

What are the main themes of his work throughout his whole career to date?

His main research concerns Botany, Piriformospora, Horticulture, Fungus and Agronomy. His Botany study combines topics from a wide range of disciplines, such as Mycorrhizal fungi, Arbuscular mycorrhiza, Symbiosis, Mycorrhiza and Rhizosphere. Ajit Varma interconnects Microorganism and Nutrient in the investigation of issues within Rhizosphere.

He is studying Sebacinales, which is a component of Piriformospora. The Fungus study combines topics in areas such as Biomass and Basidiomycota. His study in Agriculture extends to Agronomy with its themes.

He most often published in these fields:

  • Botany (35.75%)
  • Piriformospora (31.78%)
  • Horticulture (12.85%)

What were the highlights of his more recent work (between 2017-2021)?

  • Piriformospora (31.78%)
  • Horticulture (12.85%)
  • German (1.40%)

In recent papers he was focusing on the following fields of study:

Ajit Varma spends much of his time researching Piriformospora, Horticulture, German, Microbiology and Agriculture. Piriformospora is a subfield of Botany that Ajit Varma tackles. His Botany research includes elements of Arabidopsis, Vernalization response, Repressor, Locus and Siderophore.

Ajit Varma has included themes like Serendipita indica and Oryza sativa in his Horticulture study. His Microbiology study combines topics in areas such as Polyphenol oxidase, Trichoderma harzianum, Gene and Biofilm. His research in Agriculture intersects with topics in Biotechnology, Biofortification and Nutrient.

Between 2017 and 2021, his most popular works were:

  • Transcriptional responses of soybean roots to colonization with the root endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica reveals altered phenylpropanoid and secondary metabolism. (17 citations)
  • Climatic factors influencing dengue incidence in an epidemic area of Nepal. (16 citations)
  • Piriformospora indica promotes the growth of the in-vitro-raised Cymbidium aloifolium plantlet and their acclimatization. (11 citations)

In his most recent research, the most cited papers focused on:

  • Bacteria
  • Botany
  • Enzyme

Ajit Varma focuses on Piriformospora, Inoculation, Horticulture, Microbiology and Environmental chemistry. Piriformospora is a primary field of his research addressed under Botany. His Inoculation research integrates issues from Bacillus, Gene and Genetically modified rice.

His Horticulture study incorporates themes from Genetically modified crops, Symbiosis and Oryza sativa. In the subject of general Microbiology, his work in Antibiotics is often linked to Glycine, thereby combining diverse domains of study. His biological study spans a wide range of topics, including Soil contamination, Pollutant, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria.

Best Publications

  • Piriformospora indica, a Cultivable Plant-Growth-Promoting Root Endophyte

    Ajit Varma;Ajit Varma;Savita Verma;Sudha;Nirmal Sahay

  • PIRIFORMOSPORA INDICA, GEN. ET SP. NOV., A NEW ROOT-COLONIZING FUNGUS

    Savita Verma;Ajit Varma;Karl-Heinz Rexer;Annette Hassel

  • Mycorrhiza : structure, function, molecular biology, and biotechnology

    A. Varma;Bertold Hock

  • Association of Piriformospora indica with Arabidopsis thaliana roots represents a novel system to study beneficial plant–microbe interactions and involves early plant protein modifications in the endoplasmic reticulum and at the plasma membrane

    Tatjana Peškan‐Berghöfer;Bationa Shahollari;Pham Huong Giong;Solveig Hehl

  • The Endophytic Fungus Piriformospora indica Stimulates the Expression of Nitrate Reductase and the Starch-degrading Enzyme Glucan-water Dikinase in Tobacco and Arabidopsis Roots through a Homeodomain Transcription Factor That Binds to a Conserved Motif in Their Promoters

    Irena Sherameti;Bationa Shahollari;Yvonne Venus;Lothar Altschmied

  • Piriformospora indica, a cultivable root endophyte with multiple biotechnological applications.

    Ralf Oelmüller;Irena Sherameti;Swati Tripathi;Ajit Varma

  • Piriformospora indica: Potential and Significance in Plant Stress Tolerance.

    Sarvajeet S. Gill;Ritu Gill;Dipesh K. Trivedi;Naser A. Anjum

  • Role of Enzymes in Maintaining Soil Health

    Shonkor Kumar Das;Ajit Varma

  • The role of auxins and cytokinins in the mutualistic interaction between Arabidopsis and Piriformospora indica

    Jyothilakshmi Vadassery;Claudia Ritter;Yvonne Venus;Iris Camehl

  • Plant surface microbiology.

    Ajit Varma;Lynette Abbott;Dietrich Werner;Rüdiger Hampp

  • Revisiting Plant–Microbe Interactions and Microbial Consortia Application for Enhancing Sustainable Agriculture: A Review

    Kanchan Vishwakarma;Nitin Kumar;Chitrakshi Shandilya;Swati Mohapatra

  • Piriformospora indica: A Novel Plant Growth-Promoting Mycorrhizal Fungus

    Ajit Varma;Madhunita Bakshi;Binggan Lou;Anton Hartmann

  • Microorganisms in soils: roles in genesis and functions.

    [edited by] Francois Buscot;Ajit Varma

  • The root-colonizing endophyte Pirifomospora indica confers drought tolerance in Arabidopsis by stimulating the expression of drought stress-related genes in leaves.

    Irena Sherameti;Swati Tripathi;Ajit Varma;Ralf Oelmüller

  • Positive growth responses of the medicinal plants Spilanthes calva and Withania somnifera to inoculation by Piriformospora indica in a field trial.

    Mahendra Rai;Deepak Acharya;Archana Singh;Ajit Varma

  • Ethylene signalling and ethylene-targeted transcription factors are required to balance beneficial and nonbeneficial traits in the symbiosis between the endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica and Arabidopsis thaliana

    Iris Camehl;Irena Sherameti;Yvonne Venus;Gerit Bethke

  • Piriformospora indica: An Axenically Culturable Mycorrhiza-Like Endosymbiotic Fungus

    A. Varma;A. Singh;Sudha;N. S. Sahay

  • Effect of Piriformospora indica and Azospirillum strains from saline or non-saline soil on mitigation of the effects of NaCl

    M.J. Zarea;S. Hajinia;N. Karimi;E. Mohammadi Goltapeh

  • Role of PGPR in Soil Fertility and Plant Health

    Ram Prasad;Manoj Kumar;Ajit Varma

  • Bacterial-Mediated Tolerance and Resistance to Plants Under Abiotic and Biotic Stresses

    Devendra Kumar Choudhary;Amrita Kasotia;Shekhar Jain;Anukool Vaishnav

  • Expression of a receptor kinase in Arabidopsis roots is stimulated by the basidiomycete Piriformospora indica and the protein accumulates in Triton X-100 insoluble plasma membrane microdomains

    Bationa Shahollari;Ajit Varma;Ralf Oelmüller

  • The root endophyte fungus Piriformospora indica leads to early flowering, higher biomass and altered secondary metabolites of the medicinal plant, Coleus forskohlii

    Aparajita Das;Shwet Kamal;Najam Akhtar Shakil;Irena Sherameti

  • Techniques for the study of mycorrhiza

    J. R. Norris;D. J. Read;A. K. Varma

  • Piriformospora indica: Potential and Significance in Plant Stress

    S. Gill;Ritu Gill;Dipesh K. Trivedi;Naser A. Anjum

Frequent Co-Authors

Narendra Tuteja
Narendra Tuteja International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Ralf Oelmüller
Ralf Oelmüller Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Mahendra Rai
Mahendra Rai Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University
Malik Zainul Abdin
Malik Zainul Abdin Jamia Hamdard
Anil Kumar Saxena
Anil Kumar Saxena Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Helmut König
Helmut König Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
Mansour Ghorbanpour
Mansour Ghorbanpour Arak University
Paola Bonfante
Paola Bonfante University of Turin
Lynette Abbott
Lynette Abbott University of Western Australia
Ilse Kranner
Ilse Kranner University of Innsbruck

If you think any of the details on this page are incorrect, let us know.

Report an issue

We appreciate your kind effort to assist us to improve this page, it would be helpful providing us with as much detail as possible in the text box below:

Best Scientists Citing Ajit Varma

Trending Scientists

Recently Published Articles