Research Interests

• Environmental plant physiology including impact of anthropogenic climate change
• Remote sensing applications in agriculture
• Crop modeling and applications

Current Research Projects

• Understand mechanisms of plant responses to several environmental factors (temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, ultraviolet-B radiation, water deficits, nutrition etc.) at the biochemical, leaf and canopy level in the controlled environments to observations of whole systems in the field.
• Advance the development of mechanistic crop simulation models and remote sensing algorithms to understand crop physiology and to evaluate crop management strategies and physiological traits for genetic yield improvement.
• Apply Crop models and remote sensing tools for crop production management, and policy decision of the impact of climate perturbations on crop production.
• Characterize physiological limits of select bioenergy crops in Mississippi.

Most Current Publications:
Singh, S.K., V.G. Kakani, D. Brand, B. Baldwin and K.R. Reddy. 2008. Assessment of cold and heat-tolerance of winter-grown canola cultivars by pollen-based parameters. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 194: 225-236.

Kakani, V. G. and K R. Reddy. 2007. Temperature response of C4 species big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) is modified by growing carbon dioxide concentration. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 61: 281-290.

Reddy, K. R. and V. G. Kakani. 2007. Screening pepper genotypes for high temperatures by in vitro pollen germination and pollen tube length. Scientia Horticulrae 112: 130-135.

Koti, S., K. R. Reddy, G. W. Lawrence, V. R. Reddy, V. G. Kakani, D. Zhao and W. Gao. 2007. Effect of enhanced UV-B radiation on reniform nematode (Rotylenchus reniformis Linford and Oliveira) populations in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Plant Pathology Journal 6: 51-59.

Zhao, D., K. R. Reddy, V. G. Kakani, J. J. Read and S. Koti. 2007. Canopy reflectance in cotton for growth assessment and prediction of lint yield. European Journal of Agronomy 26: 335-344.

Koti, S., K. R. Reddy, V. G. Kakani, D. Zhao and W. Gao. 2007. Effects of carbon dioxide, temperature and ultraviolet-B radiation and their interactions on soybean (Glycine max L.) growth and development. Environmental and Experimental Botany 60: 1-10.

Salem, M. A., V. G. Kakani, S. Koti and K. R. Reddy. 2007. Screening soybean genotypes for high temperatures by in vitro pollen germination and pollen tube length. Crop Science 47: 219-231.