Dr Manjit Singh Dhooria, Senior Entomologist (Retd.) from the Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, was felicitated for his life-time achievements in the field of Agricultural Acarology during the National Symposium in Acarology 2025, “Challenges and Sustainable Management of Mites in Agriculture, Horticulture and Sericulture,” held at GKVK, UAS, Bengaluru, from November 20-21. Being an expert in agricultural acarology, he has over 150 publications in journals of national and international repute, guided six postgraduate students and penned two books, ‘Dictionary of Entomology’ and ‘Fundamentals of Applied Acarology,’ both published by Springer Nature. He has attended more than 40 national and international conferences/symposia and is a life member of various professional societies.
Meanwhile, Mr Arshpreet Singh, M.Sc. Entomology student from the Department of Entomology, PAU, has brought laurels to the University by winning the “Best Poster Award” for his work on the “Distribution and Diversity of tetranychid mites infesting sugarcane in Punjab” during the National Symposium in Acarology 2025. He worked under the guidance of Dr Manmeet Brar Bhullar, Principal Acarologist-cum-Head, Department of Entomology, PAU. Dr MB Bhullar also delivered a lead lecture on ‘Eco-friendly management of mite pests of crops’ at the symposium and was felicitated on this occasion for her outstanding contributions to acarology.
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, PAU; Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Director of Research; Dr MIS Gill, Dean, Post Graduate Studies; and Dr CS Aulakh, Dean, College of Agriculture, appreciated the commendable work done by Dr Dhooria, Dr Bhullar and Mr Arshpreet in the field of acarology and wished them all success in life.