Laavanya Rayaprolu

Plant breeder and quantitative geneticist with expertise in soybean, sorghum, and finger millet improvement. Research integrates field, greenhouse, physiological, and genomic approaches to improve yield, stress tolerance, resource-use efficiency, and adaptation across environments. Experience in germplasm evaluation, breeding population development, quantitative genetics, genomic prediction, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and high-throughput phenotyping.

• Plant breeding
• Quantitative genetics
• Genomic prediction
• Genotype × environment interactions
• Abiotic stress tolerance
• Germplasm evaluation
• High-throughput phenotyping
• Crop physiology
• Crop improvement

• Plant breeding
• Quantitative genetics
• Crop physiology
• Genomics
• Molecular breeding
• Statistical genetics

• Bollam, S., Rayaprolu, L., et al., 2026, Genome-Wide Association Study and RNA Sequencing Identify Candidate Genes Regulating Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Associated Traits in Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)., Food & Energy Security.
• Wasudeo Narkhede, G., Rayaprolu, L., et al., 2026, Genetic mapping of fertility restoration (Rf) genes and development-validation of linked SNPs for A1 cytoplasm of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)., Journal of Applied Genetics.
• Rayaprolu, L., Jayasankar, K., Aarts, M.G.M., Harbinson, J., 2025, Photosynthetic variation for climate-resilient crops: photosynthetic responses to fluctuating light and chilling in tomato., Physiologia Plantarum.
• Vetriventhan, M., Upadhyaya, H.D., Deshpande, S., Johnson, M.S., Wallace, J.G., Victor, A., Naresh, D., Rayaprolu, L., Singh, K., Mayes, S., 2024, Genome-wide assessment of population structure and association mapping for agronomic and grain nutritional traits in proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.)., Scientific Reports.
• Ishwarya Lakshmi, V.G., Sreedhar, M., JhansiLakshmi, V., et al., including Rayaprolu, L., 2022, Development and validation of diagnostic KASP markers for brown planthopper resistance in rice., Frontiers in Genetics.
• Somegowda, V.K., Rayaprolu, L., Rathore, A., Deshpande, S.P., Gupta, R., 2021, Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for traits related to fodder quality and biofuel in sorghum: progress and prospects., Protein & Peptide Letters.
• Rayaprolu, L., Selvanayagam, S., Rao, D.M., Gupta, R., Das, R.R., Rathore, A., Gandham, P., Kiranmayee, K.N.S.U., Deshpande, S.P., Are, A.K., 2021, Genome-wide association study for major biofuel traits in sorghum using a minicore collection., Protein & Peptide Letters.
• Bollam, S., Romana, K.K., Rayaprolu, L., et al., 2021, Nitrogen use efficiency in sorghum: exploring native variability for traits under variable nitrogen regimes., Frontiers in Plant Science.
• Somegowda, V.K., Vemula, A., Naravula, J., Prasad, G., Rayaprolu, L., Rathore, A., Blümmel, M., Deshpande, S.P., 2021, Evaluation of fodder yield and fodder quality in sorghum and its interaction with grain yield under different water availability regimes., Current Plant Biology.
• Vinutha, K.S., Rayaprolu, L., Yadagiri, K., Umakanth, A.V., Patil, J.V., Srinivasa Rao, P., 2014, Sweet sorghum research and development in India: status and prospects., Sugar Tech, 16(2), 133–143.

• Identification of physiological determinants of biomass accumulation, harvest index, and yield in soybean.
• Integrating high-throughput phenotyping and omics approaches to improve photosynthetic efficiency in tomato.

• Mid-South Soybean Board (MSSB), 2025–2027, Salinity Stress Responses in Soybean, University of Arkansas, Co-Investigator, Development of soybean germplasm with improved salinity tolerance for Mid-South production systems.
• European Union Horizon 2020 Project – CAPITALISE, 2021–2024, Combining Approaches for Photosynthetic Improvement to Allow Increased Sustainability in European Agriculture, Wageningen University & Research, Postdoctoral Researcher, Investigated natural genetic variation for photosynthetic efficiency and stress resilience in tomato.
• UK–India Newton–Bhabha Programme / CINTRIN, 2018–2021, Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Genomics-Assisted Improvement of Cereal Crops, ICRISAT, India, Research Associate, Evaluated diverse sorghum germplasm for nitrogen use efficiency under contrasting nitrogen regimes.

• Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 05/01/25, Present, Conduct soybean breeding and genetics research focused on yield improvement, drought tolerance, salinity tolerance, and resource-use efficiency., Analyze multi-environment trial data using mixed models and genotype × environment interaction approaches., Develop genomic prediction pipelines to support parent selection and crossing decisions., Evaluate breeding populations in field, greenhouse, and controlled-environment experiments., Integrate physiological and genomic information to improve breeding efficiency., Mentor undergraduate and graduate students in quantitative genetics and breeding analytics.
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Wageningen, Netherlands, 07/01/21, 12/31/24, Investigated genetic and physiological factors controlling photosynthetic efficiency and stress resilience in tomato., Conducted field, greenhouse, and controlled-environment experiments., Performed QTL mapping, GWAS, and quantitative genetic analyses., Integrated high-throughput phenotyping and genomic data to identify traits associated with productivity and stress adaptation., Collaborated with breeders, physiologists, and geneticists to support crop improvement efforts.
• Research Associate, ICRISAT, India, 2019, 2021, Designed and conducted field and greenhouse experiments to evaluate nitrogen use efficiency and associated agronomic traits in diverse sorghum germplasm., Characterized sorghum collections for nitrogen use efficiency, productivity, and stress-adaptive traits to identify superior genotypes for breeding programs., Applied genome-wide association studies (GWAS), genomic selection (GS), and transcriptomic analyses to identify candidate genes and genomic regions associated with nitrogen use efficiency., Analyzed large-scale genotypic and phenotypic datasets using bioinformatics and statistical genetics approaches to support genomics-assisted breeding., Contributed to genomics-assisted breeding efforts for the development of improved finger millet varieties.
• Research Fellow, ICRISAT, India, 2018, 2018, Conducted trait-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic selection analyses in sorghum breeding populations., Performed population structure, genetic diversity, and linkage disequilibrium analyses using high-density genotyping datasets., Processed and analyzed genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data, including quality control, imputation, and downstream genetic analyses., Utilized R, TASSEL, and Linux/Unix-based bioinformatics tools for statistical genetics and genomic data analysis.
• Visiting Graduate Research Scholar, Kansas State University, USA, 2014, 2014, Evaluated biomass production and water-use efficiency in sorghum., Characterized brown midrib (bmr) sorghum germplasm for root traits and abiotic stress adaptation.