Biography

“Soils are the basis of life, ninety-five percent of our food comes from the soil.” –Maria-Helena Semedo

Waqas is a soil scientist whose research work emphasizes soil-plant interaction under abiotic stresses. He graduated with a PhD in Soil Science back in 2015. His research provided innovative strategies to address soil salinity in maize using silicon nutrition. Since 2016, Waqas has broadened his research domain by winning back-to-back national projects (0.21 million USD) on the hot topics of biochar, silicon, soil salinity and their impacts on wheat and rice crops. In these projects, Dr. Waqas used biochar as a nutrient carrier for the plant roots under soil salinity and heavy metal stresses. He later confirmed biochar's impact on wheat root growth using the microelectrode ion flux measurement technique at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, back in 2019. Meanwhile, Waqas worked effectively with his postgraduate research students to examine the nutrients and metabolites by using biochar/engineered biochar in different vegetables under abiotic stresses. Waqas's lab has produced high-quality publications in recent years.

In December 2024, he delivered a Keynote Speaker presentation entitled 'Minerals doped biochar: A potential source for ecological restoration' at an International Academic Symposium jointly organized by the Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences and the University of Western Australia.

Education

• Post Doc in Plant Physiology, School Of Biological Sciences, The University Of Western Australia (Perth, Australia) 2025
• PhD in Soil Science, University Of Agriculture (Faisalabad, Pakistan) 2015

Teaching Areas

Experience

Journal Papers

• Hongju Sun, Waqas ud Din Khan, Mohsin Tanveer, Usman Ijaz, Zhanyuan Lu and Sergey Shabala (2025). "Can quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) replace traditional cereals under current climate scenarios?." Frontiers in Plant Science . DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1636565 | Impact Factor: 4.8
• Hongju Sun, Waqas ud Din Khan*, Manzer H. Siddiqui, Saud Alamri, Seemal Naeem, Tariq Mehmood, Mohsin Tanveer, Usman Ijaz, Zhanyuan Lu (2025). "Examining the Trichoderma Sp. and biochar-mediated reduced nickel toxicity in tomato using isotherm adsorption models and plant growth analysis." Environmental Technology & Innovation . DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2025.104503 | Impact Factor: 7.1
• Fiza Pir Dad, Waqas-ud-Din Khan, Faiza Sharif, Abdul Sattar Nazami (2024). "Adsorption of trace heavy metals through organic compounds enriched biochar using isotherm adsorption and kinetic models." Environmental Research. . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.117702 | Impact Factor: 8.1
• Li Jia, Yue Song, Fangfang You, Sujun Wang, Umm e Rabiya, Xing Liu, Liping Huang, Liye Wang, Waqas ud Din Khan (2024). "Ameliorating the detrimental effects of chromium in wheat by silicon nanoparticles and its enriched biochar." Science of The Total Environment. . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175270 | Impact Factor: 8.2
• Muhammad Mubashar Iqbal, Muhammad Ansar Farooq, Waqas ud Din Khan, Umair Ashraf, Alanoud T. Alfaghom, Saud Alamri (2024). "Maize growth and physiological dynamics: Arsenic uptake modulation under combined abiotic stresses of salinity, boron and arsenic." Environmental Technology & Innovation . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2024.103915 | Impact Factor: 7.1
• Fiza Pir Dad, Waqas-ud-Din Khan, Usman Ijaz, Hongju Sun, Muhammad Nauman Rafi, Saud Alamri, Mohsin Tanveer (2024). "Potential of amino acids-modified biochar in mitigating the soil Cu and Ni stresses – Targeting the tomato growth, physiology and fruit quality." Plant Physiology and Biochemistry . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.108711 | Impact Factor: 6.5
• Muhammad Salman Mukhtar, Waqas-ud-Din Khan, Amin U. Khan, Shafeeq ur Rahman, Wei Guo (2023). "Enhancing the wheat growth through micronutrients enriched biochar under salt stress." Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems . DOI: 1033892023110293050 | Impact Factor: 5
• Fatima Amanullah, Waqas-ud-Din Khan (2023). "Trichoderma asperellum L. coupled the effects of biochar to enhance the growth and physiology of contrasting maize cultivars under copper and nickel stresses." Plants . DOI: 10.3390/plants12040958 | Impact Factor: 4.5
• Waqas-ud-Din Khan*, Faiza Sharif, Muhammad Asif Naeem, Muhammad Ansar Farooq, Zafar Siddiq and Muhammad Imran (2022). "Chitosan polymerized silica composite as a potential silicon source: modulation on antioxidant enzymes, ionic homeostasis and grain quality in maize plants under Na+ stress." Journal of Plant Growth Regulation . DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-022-10711-4 | Impact Factor: 4.66
• Waqas ud Din Khan, Xiangying Wei, Hafiz Haider Ali, Faisal Zulfiqar, Jianjun Chen et al (2022). "Investigating the role of bentonite clay with different soil amendments to enhance chromium adsorption and growth parameters of solanum melongena L. In tanneries wastewater." Frontiers in Plant Science . DOI: doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.958978 | Impact Factor: 6.66
• Waqas-ud-Din Khan*, Rabia Shaukat, Muhammad Ansar Farooq, Muhammad Nadeem Ashraf, Faisal Nadeem, Mohsin Tanveer, Yasir Hamid and Nan Sun (2022). "Iron-doped biochar regulated soil nickel adsorption, wheat growth, its physiology and elemental concentration under contrasting abiotic stresses." Sustainability . DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ su14137852 | Impact Factor: 3.88

Conference Papers

• Cultivated land protection and ecological security (2024), China. , Paper: "Nano doped biochar: A potential source for ecological restoration in dry land agriculture"
• International Conference on Agricultural and Food Science (6th ICAFS) (2022), Romania. , Paper: "Minerals doped biochar: A potential source to reduce the effects of abiotic stresses in agriculture"
• 15th Congress of Soil Science (2014), Islamabad. , Paper: "Zinc requirement for optimum grain yield and zinc biofortification Depends on phosphorus application to wheat cultivars"
• 6 th International Conference on Silicon in Agriculture (2014), Sweden. , Paper: "Screening and categorization of maize cultivars for silicon acquisition under salinity stress"

Projects

Awards/Achievements

• Best University Teacher Award- University Level (2022), Government College University Lahore.
• Gold medal (2020), Government College University Lahore. Firogh e Taleem Gold medal for best performance in teaching and research by the Governor, Punjab.

Thesis/Research Supervisions

• Fiza Pir Dad (2025), Ph.D.. Thesis: "Efficiency of Organic Compounds Enriched Biochar in Improving Soil Health and Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) Growth by Immobilizing Trace Heavy Metals" (In Progress)
• Rabia Shaukat (2025), Ph.D.. Thesis: "Mitigation of heavy metal stress in Zea mays L. by organic acids doped silicates facilitated through rhizobacteria" (In Progress)
• Muhammad Salman Mukhtar (2024), Ph.D.. Thesis: "Mitigating the effects of brackish water on Triticum aestivum L. through cationic-metal enriched biochar" (Completed)
• Ibrahim Jamil (2023), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Alleviation of NaCl stress in wheat (Triticum sativum L.) through pristine and zinc-enriched biochar under hydroponic system" (Completed)
• Sana Ghafoor (2023), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Effect of biochar and Trichoderma sp. on nitrogen availability for Okra under Ni stress" (Completed)
• Seemal Naeem (2023), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Effect of silica and Trichococcus sp. on growth and physiology of Zea mays L. under Cd stress" (Completed)
• Arooj Khalid (2022), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Comparative evaluation of pristine and iron enriched biochars in minimizing arsenic effects on Zea mays L." (Completed)
• Fatima Amanullah (2022), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Improving soil health, metal immobilization and Zea mays L. growth by fungal-biochar growth under heavy metals stress" (Completed)
• Masooma Batool (2021), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Potential role of different organic, inorganic and microbial amendments in soil metal remidiation" (Completed)
• Umm e Rabiya (2021), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Chromium removal in soil and Spinacia oleracea L. through microbial activity and optimized biochar" (Completed)
• Asra Amin (2020), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Potential of iron enriched bamboo biochar to reduce Pb concentrations in soil and Pea (Pisum sativum L.)" (Completed)
• Tayyaba Saleem (2020), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Effect of iron doped wheat straw biochar on growth, physiology and yield of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) under different levels of salt stress" (Completed)
• Fiza Pir Dad (2019), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Comparative analysis of silicic acid and doped biochar nanoparticles on radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.) under artificial metal spiked soil" (Completed)
• Rabia Shaukat (2019), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Interactive effects of silicon nanoparticles doped biochar on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under combined stress of NaCl, nickel and CaCO3" (Completed)
• Muhammad Bilal (2018), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Effect of Fe-nanoparticles doped biochar on coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) growth under NaCl and cadmium stress" (Completed)
• Zuhha Taqdees (2018), MS/MPhil. Thesis: "Effects of Si-nanoparticles and biochar on physiology and growth of radish under saline sodic conditions" (Completed)