Dr. Mahender Anumalla is a Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), working under the OneRice Breeding Strategy where he leads late-maturity (long-duration) rice breeding pipelines for South Asia. His work focuses on developing climate-resilient rice varieties suited to stress-prone environments, particularly those affected by salinity, flooding, and submergence.

He uses quantitative genetics, advanced breeding tools, and data-driven approaches to improve IRRI’s pipeline-based breeding programs and speed up the development of resilient germplasm. He also works closely with National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) partners to strengthen regional breeding capacity, support trial advancement and breeding decisions, and improve the delivery of climate-resilient rice varieties for vulnerable ecosystems.

Earlier, from 2017 to 2019, Mahender completed on-the-job training at IRRI under the Green Super Rice project, where he worked on traits relevant to direct-seeded rice (DSR), including nutrient use efficiency, weed competitiveness, and early seedling vigor. He also gained experience in addressing stresses such as iron deficiency, low temperature, arsenic toxicity, and low phosphorus availability, along with improving grain nutritional quality and identifying major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes linked to stress tolerance.

From 2020 to 2024, he completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship in rainfed rice breeding, focusing on multiple abiotic stress tolerances. His research included QTL and gene mapping, development of core panels for direct-seeded rice, and the application of genomic selection to improve flood and salinity tolerance.