Department Of Botany
Convenor
| Name: | Dr Sarita Srivastava |
| Designation: | Associate Professor |
| Qualification: | MSc Botany, Ph.D Botany |
| Email: | saritasrivastava21@gmail.com |
| Mobile No.: | 933553005 |
| IRINS ID: | View Irins Profile |
| Google Scholar ID: | View Google Scholar Profile |
The Department was established in the Year 1950 by Late Dr. Jagdish Prasad Srivastava. It has a heritage of 73 glorious years carrying a rich tradition of teaching and research in Botany. At present there are 14 permanent faculty members from almost all the specialized fields of conventional (Morphology, Taxonomy, Anatomy, Mycology, Phycology, Bryology, Ecology) as well as different areas of applied Botany (Plant Physiology Limnology, marine biology, Molecular biology and Genetics, Plant Biotechnology and Tissue culture, Pathology, Microbiology, Palynology and Paleobotany).
Founder Head of the Department:
Dr. J.P. Srivastava, a well-known researcher and teacher was head of Botany Department for nearly 29 years. He was initially trained as a plant pathologist, who did his Doctorate under the able guidance of Prof. R.N. Tandon, University of Allahabad. He was a very good teacher, popular amongst students. He wrote his first book of Fungi, that was most popular book at his time. Later on, his area of interest got changed to the field of Bryology especially the study of Mosses. In 1967 Mr. Norcket, who was the curator of the British Museum came to India, and along with him Dr. J.P. Srivastava went to Kumaon region for the collection of mosses in Western Himalayas. He published several National and International papers on Mosses. He wrote another book Bryophyta in Hindi for making the subject more popular amongst Hindi speaking students. This book fetched Hindi Granth Academy Award to him by the State Government.
DBT Star College Scheme: The Department is funded under the strenghtening component of DBT Star College scheme of Department of Biotechnology, MHRD, New Delhi since February 2020. Under the scheme the department has strenthened the undergraduate teaching and research in Botany. There is a DBT central facility laboratory equipped with all the instruments granted under the scheme. the laboratory has and small Tissue culture laboratory.
Thrust areas of Research: The faculty is enriched with teachers of all fields who are actively engaged in research covering various branches of Botany including Phycology, Plant Physiology, Bryology, Genetics, and Molecular Biology, Applied Microbiology, Paleobotany, Palynology , Ecology, Taxonomy, etc. The Department had made significant contributions in various disciplines of Botany in the form of research papers in National and International Journals. Currently many research projects are running in the department funded by U.G.C. There are UGC- 4 minor and 01 major Research project sanctioned.
COURSES OFFERED
Initially it was an undergraduate Department which was later upgraded to Post graduation in July 2016. the department offers 3 years B.Sc program with an intake of 525 seats, and a Two years Post Graduate program in Botany; PhD in Botany is also offered by the department. The Department is moving forward with the moto of reaching new horizons of reaching and teaching in Botany. The department also runs two short term courses in : Mushroom Cultivation and Organic farming.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
The faculty members are engaged in research projects and publish many research papers in national and international journals which further adds excellence to the Departmental profile. Some of the faculty members have published papers in some of the SCI indexed high impact factor Journals including: 01 paper in Nature 1968 by Dr. H.N. Srivastava, one Paper “The Plant Journal (impact factor 6.9 in 2012) by Dr. Sarita Srivastava, Dr. Vijay Pratap Singh 2018 Journal of Hazardous Materials impact factor 6.43. Dr Neha Pandey, Planta impact factor 4 (2014 & 2015).
WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS
To maintain scientific temperament among the students the department organizes seminars and workshops every year in collaboration with National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad-India, Society for Biological Sciences Rural development, Allahabad, Cytogene research and Development Lucknow, NBRI Lucknow, CDRI Lucknowand CIMAP Lucknow.
CHAUDHARY MAHADEO PRASAD BOTANICAL GARDEN:
The Department has a well-maintained Botanical Garden in an area of 0.75 acres inhabited by wide arena of plants from different plant groups containing about 175 sp of angiosperms, 12 species of Pteridophytes, 5 sp. Of Bryophytes, more than 100 sp. Of bryophytes (dry collection), 7 species of Gymnosperms, besides these aquatic plants are maintained in a water pond. There are 12-13 species of macrofungus inhabiting in the garden area.
“Aarogyam” the medicinal plant conservatory
There is a newly developed medicinal plant garden “Aarogyam” maintained with about 150 different species collected from different places in India.
NAVGRAH VATIKA
There is a Navgrah Vatika maintained in the garden which contains 9 different plants planted in specific directions representing the nine planets of the solar system, it is one of its kind in Allahabad district.
ORGANIC SYSTEM OF MAINTENANCE: The department is self-sufficient in generating organic manure by vermicomposting this is used to maintain the botanical garden. The Department has technical expertise for training in Vermicomposting and Mushroom cultivation. We organize workshops to train students to become entrepreneur.
Departmental LIbrary:
The Deaprtment has its own library where the books are donated by the ex faculty and the teachers in the department. it has books which are issued to the student of PG level.