English, S.S. &

Humanities

Chairman Department of Botany

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.