Dil Thavarajah

Professor of Pulse Quality and Nutritional Breeding
Jefferson Science Fellow; Clemson University School of Health Faculty Research Scholar
Agricultural and Environmental Science Department, Plant and Environmental Sciences Department

Office: 113 BRC
Phone: 864-656-2607
Fax: 864-656-4960

Email: dthavar@clemson.edu
Personal Website: https://www.clemson.edu/cafls/organic-breeding/index.html

Educational Background

Ph.D Plant Science
University of Saskatchewan, Canada 2006

MSc Soil Sciecne
University of Saskatchewan, Canada 2002

BSc Soil Science
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 1996

Courses Taught

1. HORT 4560: Vegetable Crops (Spring - odd years)
2. PES 4760: Global Food Security (Fall - odd years)

Profile

Dil Thavarajah is a Professor at Clemson University Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. Dil is leading Pulse Biofortification and Nutritional Breeding program. She also co-leads the Phenomics component of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement at Cornell University. Before her current position, Dil worked at the Canadian lentil breeding and biofortification program at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. She started the national Pulse Quality and Nutrition Laboratory at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, to support the US Pulse industry's nutritional marketing. Dil is internationally recognized as a leader in pulse biofortification, especially for iron, zinc, and selenium. Dil serves as an honorary visiting lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and a key research partner to the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) to release biofortified lentil cultivars for Africa and Asia.

Research Interests

My research focuses on developing whole-food-based strategies to address global “hidden hunger,” with an emphasis on mitigating micronutrient malnutrition, as well as obesity and overweight. A central component of this work involves the development of biofortified organic pulse crops tailored for small-scale farmers in South Carolina (SC). The primary research areas include:
1. Organic Pulse Breeding for Nutritional Traits (Biofortification): Breeding biofortified pulse crops adapted to SC winter production.
2. High-Throughput Phenomics: Employing advanced phenotyping techniques, including Fourier-transform mid-infrared spectroscopy (FT-MIR) and drone-based imaging, to assess agronomic and nutritional traits from plant to genome.
3. Food Systems Development: Designing sustainable food systems that meet daily dietary requirements through the integration of pulse crops, root vegetables, and Brassica species.
Current food system initiatives include Tiger Gardens and Lunch Box. Global food security collaborations involve partnerships with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), with research sites in Morocco and India.


Major Grants
1. AFRI-NIFA-OREI: Breeding organic chickpeas for SC
2. AFRI-NIFA-OREI: Breeding organic dry peas and lentils for SC
3. AFRI-Foundation: Breeding for flavor in pulse crops
4. USDA-ARS: Improving the nutritional value of chickpea
5. Foodshot Global - Precision Pulse Protein
6. SC Department of Agriculture - Pulse Breeding for SC

Lab Members

Tristan Lawrence – Field Operations/Project Manager
Emersion Shipe – Pulse Breeding and Genetics
Carolina Ballén-Taborda -Bioinformatics/Pulse Breeding
Adam Kay – Lab Manager
Sonia Salaria – Research Scientist/Pulse Breeding
Mark Dempsey – Doctoral Candidate (Organic lentil resistant breeding)
Nathan Windsor – Doctoral Student (Organic dry pea breeding)
Amod Madurapperumage – Doctoral Candidate
Adam Niemczura- Undergraduate Research Intern (Nutri-Phenomic Cloud Project)
Jackson Hilliard - Research Intern
Ellie Harman - UPIC intern

Extension and Outreach

Extension responsibilities include promoting conventional and organic pulse crops as winter cash crops/cover crops to SC and advocating healthy eating by introducing the “Tiger Garden” model to local elementary schools.

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=niVb7DcAAAAJ&hl=en

†Denotes graduate student co-author from my program.
× Post-doctoral or research personnel from my program.
‡Denotes corresponding senior author (Project PI).


1. Dil Thavarajah‡, Tristan Lawrence, Emerson Shipe, Shiv Kumar, 2026. Organic lentil (Lens culinaris Medik): an alternative plant-based protein for human health, Scientific Report; 54ce199e-c024-4d1f-a4da-fc15c30a6875.
2. Mark Dempsey†, William Bridges, Dil Thavarajah‡, 2026. Lentil genotypes potentially suitable for organic production with higher disease resistance. Crop Science, CROP-2025-04-0324-OA.
3. Carolina Ballén-Taborda×, Nathan Johnson×, Lucas Boatwright, Tristan Lawrence, Josua Kay, Nathan Windsor, Amod Madurapperumage, Pushparajah Thavarajah, Leong Tang, Emerson Shipe, Shiv Kumar, Dil Thavarajah‡, 2025. Genome-wide association studies of nutritional traits in peas (Pisum sativum L.) for biofortification. The Plant Genome; 18, e70135. https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.70135.
4. Amod Madurapperumage†, Pushparajah Thavarajah, Dil Thavarajah‡, 2025. Flavor-related precursors and other compounds in raw organic dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) for plant breeding. Legume Sciences. 7:e70061. https://doi.org/10.1002/leg3.70061.
5. Sonia Salaria†, Lucas Boatwright, George Vandemark, Dil Thavarajah‡, 2025. Genetic mapping of a chickpea diversity panel for mineral biofortification towards human nutrition. The Plant Genome, 18:e70152. https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.70152.
6. Gamlath Senarathne†, Dil, Thavarajah‡, 2025. Interdisciplinary approaches to enhance sensory properties and consumer acceptance in pulse crops. Plants, People, Planet. 13 June 2025; https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70048.
7. Amod Madurapperumage†, Pushparajah Thavarajah, Leung Tang, George Vandemark, Dil Thavarajah‡, 2025. Fourier-transform mid-infrared (FT-MIR) spectroscopy for high-throughput phenotyping of total dietary fiber (TDF) in pulse crops. The Plant Phenome Journal, 8, e70022. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppj2.70022.
8. Sonia Salaria†, Tristan Lawrence, Dil, Thavarajah‡, 2025. Nutritional composition of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) grown in winter cropping systems: a new sustainable legume opportunity. Legume Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/leg3.70034.
9. Nathan Windsor†, Lucas Boatwright, Richard Boyles, William Bridges, Diego Rubiales, Diego, Dil, Thavarajah‡, 2024. Biofortifying Dry Pea (Pisum sativum L.) for Improved Performance and Nutrition. Legume Science, 6(3), e250. https://doi.org/10.1002/leg3.250.
10. Mark Dempski†, Dil Thavarajah‡ 2024. Low Molecular Weight Carbohydrates and Stress Tolerance in Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus): A Review. Frontiers in Plant Sciences, section Plant Breeding, 1408252. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1408252.

Links

Handle: @CpulsesBreeding
Channel: ‘Clemson Pulse Breeding’
Going Organic