Dept. of BotanyDepartment of Botany established in the year 1967 was nourished & developed under the able leaderships of several renowned botanists of the country noticeably Dr. S.P. Singh, Prof. K.S. Bhargava, Prof. C.L. Mandhar , Prof. J.S. Singh, Prof. R.S. Mehrotra, Prof. M.L.H. Kaul, Prof. S.N. Bhambie, Prof. L.C. Lamba, Prof. Keshav Trehan, Prof. D. Mukherjee, Prof. N. K. Matta and Prof. S.R. Gupta. Presently, the department has three Professors (Dr. Ashok Aggarwal, Dr. B.D. Vashishta and Dr. Narender Singh), two Associate Professors (Dr. Neelu Sood and Dr. C.B. Singh) and two Assistant Professors (Dr. Somveer Jakhar and Dr. Yogesh Kumar). At present, Prof. Narender Singh is Chairman of the department.
The department has been known for its research contributions not only within the country, but internationally in the field of mycology and plant pathology, plant physiology, genetics, plant breeding, molecular biology, plant systematics, taxonomy, plant tissue culture and ecology now spanning over 40 years. Botanical research conducted in the department has contributed significantly to our understanding of biodiversity and conservation of economically important plants by using tissue culture techniques and microbes especially mycorrhizal fungi. Apart from this, significant contribution was made in the area of stress physiology, seeds storage proteins, growth regulators and carbon sequestration in different agro-climatic ecosystems using GIS and remote sensing.
VISION
The vision of the department is to develop scientific and technical capabilities to become one of the centre of excellence in Plant Sciences so as to provide expert services in plant taxonomy, biodiversity characterization and conservation, plant disease control, stress physiology, molecular biology, seed storage proteins, remote sensing and geographical information systems to various research organizations, industries and educational institutes. The aim is to develop institutional linkages and implement effective management systems for the promotion and development of plant biotechnology, plant disease control, biodiversity conservation, cryopreservation and natural botanical products.