BUAN

Associate Professor Utlwang Batlang

Associate Professor

Faculty of Agriculture
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (CSS)

P/Bag 0027, Gaborone Botswana
3650100
ubatlang@buan.ac.bw

He is an Associate Professor (Agronomy and Plant Physiology) with the degree of Bachelor of Science (BSc) (Biological and Environmental Sciences) from the University of Botswana, Master of Science (MS) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degrees in Plant Physiology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia (USA) in 2006 and 2009 respectively. As Plant Physiologist my research applies tools to understand the effects of environmental stress (drought, temperature, salinity) on crop productivity. His recent publications on plant environment interactions are in reputable publishing houses such as Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, Elsevier, and Springer, among others. He has successfully led and delivered research projects involving colleagues and graduate students, with successful supervision fourteen (14) graduate students. He has widely consulted for the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to advise on various crop development programmes. My research and consultancy portfolio to-date is well over P 20 million .

Plant Physiology,
Plant Biotechnology
Agronomy,

1. Scale Farmers. National Environment Fund (NEF), Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism (MEWT), Botswana Government.

2. Water use efficiency and grain quality of crops under water deficit (Task 308). Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL).

3. Making use of the wild legume resource to improve arable and livestock farming in Botswana (Task 316).Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL)

4. Identification of medicinal uses and phytochemicals from plants used by Botswana Traditional Healers to address health related concerns. Forest Conservation Botswana (FCB) Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism (MEWT), Botswana Government.

5. Using isotopic, nuclear and other conventional techniques to support the development of improved soil and water Management techniques to increase crop production (BOT5007). International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Department of Agricultural Research, Botswana

On Farm popularization of sunflower intercropping with arable crop production for poverty alleviation among smallholder farmers of Nigeria and Botswana (IDMRCI04). Association of African Universities (AAU)

Development and adoption of improved and climate resilient cereal farming systems across Botswana’s landscapes. The Ministry of Communications and Innovation (MCI), Botswana Government

PUBLICATIONS

1. Nuugulu L.M and Batlang U. (2025). Characterization of spider plant (Cleome gynandra L.) accessions from diverse agroecological regions for morphological and physiological traits associated with nitrogen deficiency tolerance. Plant Science Today 12. https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.4952

2. Kereilwe, D., Malambane, G., Emongor, V. E, and Batlang, U. (2025). Cold stress-induced biochemical and molecular responses in safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.). Plant Science Today 12.https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.4032

3. Madumane, K.; Sewelo, L.T.; Nkane, M.N.; Batlang, U.; Malambane, G. 2024. Morphological, Physiological, and Molecular Stomatal Responses in Local Watermelon Landraces as Drought Tolerance Mechanisms. Horticulturae 10: 123. https://doi.org/10.3390

4. Malambane G, Madumane K, Sewelo LT and Batlang U. 2023. Drought stress tolerance mechanisms and their potential common indicators to salinity, insights from the wild watermelon (Citrullus lanatus): A review. Frontiers in Plant Science 13:1074395

5. Malambane, G., Batlang U., Ramolekwa, K., Tsujimoto, H., Akashi., K. 2021. Growth chamber and field evaluation of physiological factors of two watermelon genotypes. Plant Stress 2: 100017.

6. Ambavaram MR , Basu S , Krishnan A , Venkategowda R, Batlang U, Rahman L, Niranjan B Baisakh B, Pereira A. 2014. Coordinated regulation of photosynthesis in rice increases yield and tolerance to environmental stress. Nature Communications 5: 5302.

7. Utlwang Batlang, Niranjan Baisakh, Madana M.R. Reddy, Andy Pereira. 2013. Phenotypic and Physiological Evaluation for Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Rice. Pp in 209-225. In: Yang Yanong (ed). Pp 209-225. Methods in Molecular Biology: Rice Protocols 956. Springer Nature: 209-225.

8. Kakumanu, A., Ambavaram, M.M.R., Klumas, C., Krishnan, A., Batlang, U., Myers, E., Grene, R., Pereira, A. 2012. Effects of drought on gene expression in maize reproductive and leaf meristem as revealed by deep sequencing. Plant Physiology 160: 846-867.