DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FAISALABAD

Department of Botany is one of the premier departments of the faculty. Its staff comprises one Professor, two Associate Professors, two Assistant Professor and four Lecturers. At the time of establishment of the University in 1961, the Department was primarily engaged in teaching undergraduate classes. In 1964, the Department started offering postgraduate courses to the students of Faculty of Agriculture and research was carried out only on a limited scale. With the initiation of Master's degree programme in Botany in 1973, the research activities of the Department increased manifold. The year 1981 was another milestone in the history of the Department when M. Phil programme was introduced, while the Ph.D. degree programme in Botany was launched in 1989. So far more than 480 M.Sc.,140 M.Phil and 20 Ph.D. have been produced. The students after completion of their educational programme from the Department are serving in various organizations such as NIAB, NIBGE, PARC, PAF, Banks, Universities and Educational Departments of Federal and Provincial governments. At present, 75 students are enrolled in M.Sc., 28 in M.Phil and 25 in Ph.D. programmes

The Department has a well maintained Botanical Garden and experimental area as an aid to the postgraduate and faculty research. The department is actively engaged in establishing a New Botanical Garden, which is spread over an area of 25 acres of land.

The Department initiated pioneering research work in the field of plant genetic resources for the collection, preservation and evaluation of primitive crop cultivars from the diversity rich parts of North Western Frontier Province (NWFP). The first germplasm collection expedition in collaboration with FAO/BGPR, Bangor-Layallpur Universities was carried out in 1974 in the northern areas of Pakistan. General emphasis was laid on primitive cereals like wheat and barley. Two PL-480 projects, one on the "Biology of Farm Weeds" was carried out during 1971-77 and the other titled "National Research Programme on Weeds of Cereals" was initiated in 1981 and completed in 1988. In these projects, survey of wheat, rice, maize, and cotton fields of different districts of the Punjab Province was conducted to determine the extent of weed infestation. In addition, this Department has conducted a massive amount of research work on salinity and drought tolerance, growth regulators and fertilizer application to various crops so as to improve economic yield. Moreover, a project was also completed on the induction of polyembryony in citrus and mango.

This Department has five functional laboratories for conducting postgraduate research. Of them, two have been equipped with instruments supplied by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan. The research work being done in these laboratories includes physiological, biochemical and anatomical aspects of plant tolerance to stressful environments. Due attention is also being given to plant tissue culture and growth regulation in plants. Recently the department was renovated with the help of funds provided by the by the Govt. of Punjab and three more research laboratories are made for housing the sophisticated equipment procured with the funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

Different research areas have been specified keeping in view the available resources, need of the institution, and expertise of the faculty. The various research areas being pursued in the department are as follows:

1. Exploration of genetic variation in oilseed and leguminous crops.
2. Assessment of the effects of pre-sowing seed treatment with different plant growth regulators on alleviation of the effect of salt stress on wheat and other cereal crops.
3. Appraisal of hormone balance in plants raised from seeds primed with different priming agents.
4. Determination of the role of plasma membrane and tonoplast ion transporters in ion uptake in plants grown under salinity stress.
5. Industrial effluents and their impact on the productivity of important agricultural crops.
6. Identification of physiological/biochemical markers for selection for tolerance to different abiotic stresses.

Research Activities:

1. Exploration of genetic diversity of different oilseed and leguminous crops and their weedy relatives.
2. "In situ" and "in vitro" screening of food and forage crops through anatomical/physiological studies.
3. Determination of the impact of environmental stresses/pollutants (industrial effluents) on the biology of plant species.
4. Application of plant growth regulators on leguminous and oilseed crops and alleviation of different stresses.
5. NaCl tolerance in wheat genotypes at whole plant and cellular level.

Research Activities:

1. Selection of stress resistant lines after rigorous screening of the local and exotic germplasm
2. Studies on the underlying physiological and biochemical attributes such as changes in ABA, ethylene, polyamines, gas exchange parameters, water use efficiency, osmotic adjustment and stress proteins responsible for stress resistance
3. Appraisal (rigorous field trials) of the selected materials for their responses and economic yield performance under increased salinity, drought and high temperature stresses
4. Recommendation of the most suitable materials for general cultivation in stressed areas of the country

1. Establishment and maintenance of herbaria at Botany Department, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
2. Establishment of Botanical garden by collecting plants from all over the country and of exotic nature
3. Cultivation of medicinal plants at Botanical Garden, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and investigation of their medicinal properties
4. Revision of the flora of Faisalabad and adjacent districts\
5. Exploration of economic flora of Pakistan