Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Office: 410 NCF
Phone: (504) 520-5709
hratnaya@xula.edu
website: http://webusers.xula.edu/hratnaya/

Research Interest

Investigations on stress tolerance mechanisms of vegetable crops
Objectives of the research are to
1. Understand how different components of photosynthesis are iffected by different abiotic stress
2. Which antioxidant systems are involved in stress tolerance/response
3. Which aspects of leaf ultrastructure are affected by the stress
Current work is on spinach and chili peppers. Students will learn how to measure photosynthesis and other leaf gas exchange variables, plant growth, pigment concentrations, cellular damage due to stress etc. among others.