The book is aimed to describe the role of DNA fingerprinting for crop varietal identification. Application of various novel and innovative molecular tools for varietal identification and their advantage over the traditional methods that were based on morphological traits have been dealt in detail in this volume. This book provides an authoritative review account of different aspects and progress in the area of varietal identification in field and horticultural crops that has been made in the recent past. Book includes chapters prepared by specialists and subject experts on different aspects of crop varietal identification using state of the art molecular methodology.

First chapter describes the foundations of crop variety identification whereas chapter 2-4 discuss the various types of genotyping techniques and advances in molecular marker technology for efficient DNA fingerprinting. Fifth chapter throws light on DNA barcoding for crop variety identification. Sixth chapter deals with the role of DNA barcoding in identification of plant pathogens for disease diagnostics. Seventh chapter deals with the Multi-locus profiling for genetic diversity studies.  Eighth chapter highlights the CRISPR-based technologies for crop identification. Ninth and tenth chapters are unravelling the scope of bioinformatics and statistical tools for crop variety identification. Eleventh chapter focuses on the role of DNA Technology in seed purity testing. Chapter 12-18 discuss the application of DNA fingerprinting technology in varietal identification in cereals, pulses, oilseeds and horticultural crops. Further the chapter 19-21 discuss the challenges and future directions of DNA fingerprinting. 

The book provides state-of-the-art information on DNA fingerprinting using modern molecular marker technology and its advantage over the traditional techniques. The book will be highly useful for students, research scholars and scientists working in the in the area of crop improvement and allied subjects at Universities, Research institutes, R&Ds of Agricultural MNC's for conducting research and various Funding Agencies for planning future strategies.

Dr. Shabir Hussain Wani is Assistant Professor (Senior Scale), Genetics and Plant Breeding at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar J&K, India. As per Google scholar he has an H-index of 53 and i-10 index of 191. He has published more than 300 papers/chapters in journals and books of international and national repute. He served as guest editor and reviews editor for the Journal Frontier in Plant Science (2015-2018). Presently he is also serving as Associate Editor for PCTOC, Springer and reviews editor for Frontiers in Plant Science, section Abiotic Stress in Plants.  He has also edited several books on current topics in crop improvement for abiotic stress tolerance published by Springer Nature and CRC press USA. He was elected as Fellow of Linnean Society of London 2017. Recently he was felicitated with Award for Excellence in Research 2020 from Novel Research Academy, Puducherry, India. Recently Dr. Wani was selected as member of Expert Working Group (EWG) Wheat Initiative for Adaptation of Wheat to Abiotic Stress (AWAS), and Wheat Breeding Methods and Strategies (WBMS), Berlin, Germany during January 2021 and 2022 respectively. He has been judged as Fellow of International Society for development and Sustainability ISDS, Japan. He was also selected as member, The Royal Society of Biology, London, UK and Member NASI, India. Recently in the year 2024, he has been awarded the Fellow of the Society by Society of Wheat and Barley ICAR IIWBR Karnal. He is involved as Principal breeder for wheat variety Shalimar wheat 3 released in the year 2023 and associated as Co breeder for more than 10 crop varieties. He is Principal Investigator for JKDST funded research project on wheat molecular breeding for stripe rust resistance. He is also Co-PI for several research projects funded by DBT, DST and other funding agencies. Has been actively involved in teaching of important UG & PG courses on Genetics and Biotechnology since the year 2013. Recently he has been listed in the highly ranked scholars in the field of Genetics as per Scholar GPS ranking 2024. He has also been ranked as No. 1 researcher at SKUAST – Kashmir as per the Scopus Elsevier 2025. Currently, he is working as Scientist in the All India Coordinated Research Project on Seed (Crops) at SKUAST K, Shalimar.
Prof. Asif Bashir Shikari is Professor, Genetics and Plant Breeding at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar J&K, India. He has been awarded INSA-NASI Fellowship on “SNP marker genotyping and Proteomics” at ICAR-National Institute of Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, during the year 2015-16. He visited the IRRI, Philippines in the year 2015 and is presently involved as the working member of Temperate Rice Research Consortium (TRRC) under IRRI- SKUAST-K collaboration. He has been a visiting scientist to Deptt, of Plant Breeding, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey, during the year 2020 and worked on ICAR- NAHEP sponsored program on “Acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) gene in lentil for tolerance to herbicide imidazolinone”. Received Award of Honour by Indian Society of Plant Pathologists for work on genetic resistance for rice blast. He has been awarded the Young Achiever Award, SKUAST-K at four different occasions. He has been administrative head of Mountain Crop Research Station (2020), Division of Genetics & Plant Breeding (2022), and Nodal Officer Seeds (2022) of SKUAST-K. He was associated with development of first global set of Near-isogenic lines for blast resistance genes in Basmati rice; Worked on plant ideotype in Brassica rapa var yellow sarson for high oil content; Involved in the development of first set of CMS and MAS derived restorer lines in rice in Kashmir; Developed one of the first varieties through MABB for Kashmir region in the form of Improved rice landrace, Mushk Budji+Pi9+Pi54 & Mushk Budji+Pi54+Pi1+Pita that was released as SR-6 through SVRC; He was also involved in the flagship programme of University: “The Revival and Popularization of landraces Mushk Budji, Kamad and Zag’ in J&K” through FPO and PPP mode; Facilitated Plant Genome Saviour Community Award of PPV&FRA, GoI, New Delhi to rice farmers of Kashmir that helped to bring their products on commercial scale.  Handled 8 externally funded projects from DBT, DST, SERB, Govt. of J&K, Innovate U.K. (international network) worth ~15Cr; Published more than 120 scientific papers in peer reviewed Journals and dozens of papers in National and International Conferences; Has been actively involved in teaching of important UG & PG courses on Genetics and Biotechnology since the year 2005; Has guided five Ph.D. and seven M.Sc. students as major advisor. Recently, he has been awarded the prestigious Fellow Award by the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (ISGPB) New Delhi. Currently he is Head division of Vegetable Sciences and Nodal Officer (Seeds) SKUAST Kashmir. 

Dr. Gowhar Ali joined as Assistant Professor in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture & Technology of Kashmir in 2009. Since then involved in crop breeding research in Pulses and Maize, DNA fingerprinting and detection of Viral diseases and seed technology research. Involved in development of 16 crop varieties in Maize, Pulses and Saffron as Associate Breeder. Involved in mentoring 47 postgraduate students (PhD/Msc.) leading to their respective fulfilment of their professional degree programmes. Actively involved in participatory extension research and quality seed production programme of field crops of SKUAST K. across Kashmir valley. Published more than 150 papers in journals of national and international repute and also presented his research in different conferences. Also published 3 books and numerous research manuals, Book Chapters and drafted many university publications. Successfully executed various external funded research projects Operational presently 2 as PI and 8 as Co-PI with Funding Agencies like by HADP, NAIP, NMHS,DST, RKVY, DST, NABARD and PPV & FRA. He has been awarded the Young Achiever Award, SKUAST-K from last three years. Currently working as Associate Professor cum Sr. Scientist in the field of Genetics and Plant Breeding AICPR on Seed (Crops).

Dr. Aflaq Hamid Associate Professor, Plant Pathology Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar J&K, India. Dr. Hamid has expertise in plant virology which includes cutting edge research on virus detection and diagnostic techniques such as high throughput sequencing (HTS), development of cutting-edge diagnostic tools such as Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) and Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA). He was the first to report BCMV from Kashmir Valley in 2013 and he has identified many plant viruses using HTS, in which BCMNV and ClYVV were first report from India. He has also standardized multiplex PCR and RT-LAMP protocol for many plant viruses. These techniques have been found rapid, highly sensitive, specific and field deployable for detection of these viruses. He is also working on development RPA-coupled CRISPR-Cas 12a based lateral Flow assay for BCMV detection, in which he is trying to develop a Cas 12a based field deployable kit for rapid detection of BCMV.  He has published more than 100 papers/chapters in journals and books of international and national repute. He was awarded as Raman Post-doctoral Fellowship to carry out advanced training at Washington State University USA during the year 2016-17. He has been awarded the Young Achiever Award, SKUAST-K from last three years. Dr Hamid was also awarded with overseas fellowship under NAHEP fellowship programme of ICAR to carry out training on advanced techniques in Plant virology at WSU, USA. Currently, he is working as senior scientist in the All India Coordinated Research Project on Seed (Crops) at SKUAST K, Shalimar.

Dr. Zahoor Ahmed Dar is presently working as Associate Director Research, SKUAST-K, Srinagar. He did his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. (Ag) from SKUAST-K with specialization in Genetics and Plant Breeding. He has been a Gold Medalist throughout his career in SKUAST-K. He has contributed immensely to the Improvement of Maize, Oats and Oilseed brassica. He is involved in development of 23 varieties in these crops released at National and State Level. He and his team are credited with developing first QPM hybrid along with first drought tolerant and first forage maize for State of J and K. He has been associated with 13 externally funded projects from various funding agencies like DBT, DST, MoA, PPVFRA, UGC, NABARD, IFPRI etc. He has developed 500 inbred lines which are in various stages of selfing, 24 populations, 12 pools and 6 bi-parental populations in normal and QPM. He has deposited 90 maize accessions in the National Gene Bank at NBPGR and developed 20 Genetic Stocks for various traits, He has established heterotic groupings with contributing lines from Institute like VPKAS, Alomra, IIMR, Ludhiana and CIMMYT. He has been trained at CIMMYT, UAS Bangalore and NIASM Baramati in various aspects of Maize improvement. He and his group focus on development of biotic/abiotic and high-quality maize development. He has been instrumental in establishing collaborative maize improvement programmes with sixteen National and Two International Partners. The material developed by his group is in testing phase in various states like Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Recently Sikkim has identified one of their genotypes for its state release. NICRA Project has identified the drought entry developed by his group for its trials. He has published more than 200 papers in National and International Journals, 220 abstracts in various national and international conferences. He has published ten books with leading Publishers along with 22 Manuals in different breeding aspects. He is trained in IPR and Technology Licensing. He is teaching at UG and PG level and has guided 59 students in various capacities. As part of testing private hybrids, he has tested more than 350 hybrids. He has been instrumental in carrying out seed production of Maize Composites, parental lines and hybrids. He is a member of 14 crop improvement societies along with editorial board member of 12 journals including IJGPB, GRACE, SABRAO, JCR, ABR, IJAS, and Frontiers in Plant Science. 

1.Foundations of Crop Variety Identification: From DNA Basics to Molecular Markers Narkhede Gopal Wasudeo, M Arun Kumar, Hirakant V Kalpande K S Baig and Shabir H. Wani
2.PCR-Based Markers in Crop Variety Identification Andleeb Javaid, Insha Yaqoob, Shazia Farooq, Sumiah Wani  Dasari Meghanath, Aflaq Hamid, Shabir H. Wani, Ajaz A. Lone and Gowhar Ali
3.Harnessing Next Generation Sequencing for Precision DNA Fingerprinting in Varietal Screening: An Overview Kinjal Mondal, Ayush G Jain, Om Prakash Raigar, Mala Ram and Shabir Hussain Wani
4.Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and Their Applications in Fingerprinting of Crop Varieties  Kirti Rani and Mithlesh Kumar
5.DNA Barcoding for Crop Variety Identification Ammarah Hami, Mansoor Showkat, Majid Rashid, Anjali Verma Saika Bashir, Parvaze A. Sofi, N.R. Sofi, S.H. Wani, Hilal Ahmad Malik Mudasir Ahmad Magray and Sajad Majeed Zargar
6.DNA Barcoding of Phytopathogens Dasari Meghanath, Sumiah Wani, Shahjahan Rashid, Andleeb Wani  Rizwana Kauser Ali,InshaYaqoob, Gowhar Ali, Shabir H.Wani, Asif I Qureshi and Aflaq Hamid
7.Multi-locus Profiling and Estimation of Genetic Diversity Asif B. Shikari, Gowhar Ali, Aflaq Hamid, Zahoor A. Dar, N. R. Sofi  Gazala H. Khan, Shabir H., Wani and Raheel Shafiq Khan
8.CRISPR-Based Technology for Crop Identification D P Divya Vani, Narkhede Gopal Wasudeo and Shabir H. Wani
9.Bioinformatics Tools for Crop Variety Identification Narkhede Gopal Wasudeo, G Harish Kumar, Hirakant V Kalpande, K.S. Baig, Gowhar Ali, Aflaq, Hamid, Asif B. Shikari, G.H. Khan and Shabir H. Wani
10.Statistical Methods for Analyzing Genetic Data in Crop Variety Identification Narkhede Gopal Wasudeo, G Harish Kumar, Hirakant V Kalpande, K S Baig, Gowhar Ali, Aflaq, Hamid Asif B. Shikari, Rizwani Rashid N.R. Sofi, Zahoor A. Dar and Shabir H. Wani
11.Role of DNA Technology in Seed Purity Testing Andleeb Javaid, Gowhar Ali, Shazia Farooq, Insha Yaqoob Sumiah Wani, Dasari Meghanath,  Aflaq Hamid, Shabir H. Wani  and Asif B. Shikari
12.DNA Fingerprinting for Varietal Identification in Rice (Oryza sativa L.): National and Global      Perspective Mahandiya Iqbal, Nakeeb-Un-Nisa, Musharib Gull, Shabir H. Wani and Gazala Hassan Khan
13.Applications of DNA Fingerprinting for Crop Variety/Germplasm Identification in Maize       Santosh Kumar, Preeti Singh and Zahoor A. Dar
14.Varietal Identification in Pulse Crops Using Molecular Markers: Current Status and Prospects Ajaz. A. Lone, S A Dar, Munazah Rashid, Audil Gul, M. Habib, Gowhar Ali, Shabir H.Wani, Aflaq, Hamid and Z.A. Dar
15.DNA Fingerprinting in Rapeseed Mustard Varieties and Germplasm: Recent Status and         Future Prospects Gunjyot Singh, Rohit Kumar, Mukhtar A. Dar, MD Sofi, AB Shikari  Reema Rani, Gowhar Ali, Aflaq, Hamid, Shabir H. Wani and Asif M. Iqbal
16.DNA Fingerprinting of Wheat Varieties and Germplasm: Present Status and Future Prospects Narkhede Gopal Wasudeo, Hirakant V Kalpande, K S Baig,  N.R. Sofi, G.H.Khan, F.A. Sheikh, Gowhar Ali, Aflaq Hamid Asif I Qureshi, Rizwan Rashid and Shabir H. Wani
17.Recent Advances in Crop Variety Identification in Horticultural Crops Using DNA Technology Ikra manzoor, Usma Jan, Snober Aftab and Nindiya Bharti
18.Unlocking Vegetable Crop Potential: DNA Fingerprinting for  Varietal Identification and the    Expanding Role of Molecular Markers Ajaz. A. Malik, Bushra Naaz, Baseerah Ishtiyaq,  Augusty  Libang  and Geetika Malik
19.Challenges in DNA Based Crop Varietal Identification Raheel Shafeeq Khan, Noor-Ul-Ain, Asif B. Shikari and Shabir H. Wani
20.Integration of DNA Technology with Conventional Approaches for Crop Varietal Identification G Prasanna, Narkhede Gopal Wasudeo, Gowhar Ali, Aflaq Hamid and Shabir H. Wani
21.Future Prospects of DNA Technology in Crop Identification Noor-Ul-Ain, Raheel Shafeeq Khan, Asif B. Shikari and Shabir H. Wani