Department Of Botany
Convenor
| Name: | Prof. Sarita Srivastava |
| Designation: | 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 75 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 department carries a rich tradition of research and all the faculty members are recognized as PhD guide by University of Allahabad. the overall H-index of th department is 22 based on the IRINS database, with the maximum number of citations. 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. most pof the faculty members have published ion SCI ranking journals 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) and Frontiers in Plant Science (2022) 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). besides these, Dr Vijay Pratab Singh is counted among top 1% of scientists in the world as per clavirate global ranking. he is the most cited researcher since 2021.
WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS
To maintain scientific temperament among the students, the department organizes seminars and workshops every year in collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad-India, the Society for Biological Sciences Rural Development, Allahabad, Cytogene Research and Development Lucknow, NBRI Lucknow, CDRI Lucknow, and CIMAP Lucknow. The department conducts workshops and training programs to inculcate research aptitude amongst the UG and PG students.
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. the garden has different sections growing specialized plants like Cycads house, Fern House, Succulent house , Nav grah Vatika and Arogyam containing herbal plants used in Indian materia medica.
"Aarogyam,” the medicinal plant conservatory
Arogyam was conceptualized on the basis of IKS and aimed at transferring the Indian knowledge system to common people . This served as a boon during Covid times, and thousands of plants were distributed to common people, making them aware of the significance of herbal drugs in curing the general illness and also boosting the immunity of society during Covid times. There is a newly developed medicinal plant garden, "Aarogyam,” maintained with about 150 different species collected from different places in India. The department has maintained nearly 150 herbal plants and is also maintaining the nursery of these plants to create awareness about herbal gardens in urban houses.
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.
Prof Sudhir Chandra Memorial Library
The departmental library is named after Prof Sudhir Chandra, one of the alumnus from the first batch of B.Sc. in 1955. Prof Chandra was topper of his batch and was later selected as Lecturer in the department of botany at the University of Allahabad. With the efforts of Prof H.K Kehri, the department could upgrade the departmental library to the present form with books and book shelves added by contributions from faculty members and other renowned botanists.
Botanical Museums:
There are two museums maintained in the department fpor Paleobotany and Plants
1. Prof. G.K. Srivastava Paleobotany Museum: the museum is named after the former head of the Botany Department of the University of Allahabad, who has contributed in the field og Paleobotany and was a student of Prof. D.D. Pant of the University of Allahabad. The museum has some rare fossils depicting early plants and their evolution.
2. Dr. S.N. Srivastava Plant Museum: The plant museum is being named in the name of the former head of Botany department of CMP Degree College, Dr. S.N Srivastava who was an alumnus of this department and later appointed as a lecturer in the department, giving 44 years to this department and has contributed a lot to the development of the botany department and Botanical garden. The museum consists of different sections representing the various plant groups.