Botany

INTRODUCTION

The Department of Botany is one of the oldest departments of GC University Lahore, imparting instructions at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate level since 1912. Among the prominent scholars, Prof. Shiv Ram Kashyap, Professors of stature, Prof. S.L. Ghose, Prof. A.C. Joshi, lead this Department. After the Independence of the Subcontinent, Dr. A.A. Qureshi, Dr. Sultan Ahmed, a Mycologist and Taxonomist of international repute, Prof. A.R. Zafar, Prof. A.H. Zafar, Prof. Jawad A. Khan, Prof. Masud-ul-Hasan, Dr. R.A. Mirza and Prof. A. U. Khan promoted the culture of research and development.

The Department of Botany is recognized as a leading provider of quality education supported by relevant experience of staff and the dissemination of leading edge research. Staff members are committed to provide ample opportunities for students to develop those skills that are keenly sought by employers.

The famous saying that “All Flesh is Grass” reflects its significance of Botany in the biosphere. It began with tribal lore, to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants for a number of reasons; they generate oxygen and provide food, fibres, fuel and medicine for life forms to exist on earth. An understanding of Botany can help to:

Become a researcher or teacher in a research and/or academic institution.
Understand fundamentals of life processes in living organisms to produce more food and fibre for population using healthier and better hybrid seeds of crops harvested through plant breeding and genetics.
Depict environmental changes through the use of plants as bioindicators and protect plants and endangered plant species through biodiversity conservation techniques.
Provide link between academia and industry.
Manage sustainable agriculture, forestry and horticulture with efficacy.

FACILITIES

The Department holds following sophisticated labs with state-of-the-art equipment:

Workshop and Drawing Hall

LABORATORIES

The Department has six General labs., a Tissue Culture lab., Plant Biotechnology/Mole. Biol. Lab, Biodiversity Lab., Dandrochronology Lab., Phycology Lab., Plant Physiology and Ecology Lab. It is planned to establish a separate Molecular Biology Lab., Genetics lab., and Phytopathology lab.

LIFE SCIENCES LIBRARY

The GC University Life Sciences Library has a rich and updated collection of books and research journals including several volumes of the Linnaean Society. The Library holds extensive research material on various subjects like Plant Morphology (Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms), Genetic Engineering, Crop Improvement and Environmental Studies, etc.

Dr. Sultan Ahmad Herbarium

The herbarium was established under the aegis of Prof. S.R. Kashyap in the early 1900s. Under the chairpersonship of Prof. A.U.Khan, the herbarium was officially inaugurated as “Dr. Sultan Ahmed Herbarium” in 2003. The collection at the herbarium is notable for it holds specimens dating back to 1912. The herbarium offers support to institutions and organizations in the field of Botany by making its treasure trove of plant material and specimens available to all researchers. Presently, the herbarium has numerous identified plants mounted on sheets and the addition of specimens is being continued.

Kashyap Museum

Another contribution of the Department by Prof. Kashyap’s was the establishment of a museum in the Department. Prof. Kashyap took keen interest in the collection of plant specimens, not only from Subcontinent, but also from China, Indonesia, UK and Philippines. A large number of specimens have been added to the collection.

GCU Botanic Garden

The GCU Botanic Garden is being managed by the Department since 1912. It covers an area of seven acres dedicated for research and study purposes. Since its establishment, the Botanic Garden has been properly looked after and well kept. It includes a number of wild flora as well as exotic and rare species. Presently, the Botanic Garden is home to 700 species. An index of the plant species present in the Garden entitled “Catalogue of Plants of GC University Lahore Botanic Garden” and a concise booklet entitled “A Brief Guide to Government College Lahore Botanic Garden” provides useful information. Establishment of Pakistan Botanic Gardens Network (PBGN) Secretariat at Botanic Garden GCU is a great achievement which facilitates to collect information from a variety of habitat and technical expertise from skilled persons of the member Botanic Gardens. It also help as a forum to exchange germplasm and genetic resources throughout Pakistan.

The establishment of the Herbal Plot in the Garden is another step towards improving and increasing the collection at the Botanic Garden. A green house, experimental field, plant breeding enclosures and an open-top chamber system is present at the GCU Botanic Garden to facilitate research activities. We also have a seed bank at Botanic Garden, where we conserve germplasm of economically important plant species.

Pakistan Botanic Gardens Network Secretariat (PBGN) has published a report covering Jan 2007-Dec 2008. Please click here to read the contents of the report.

Research

Following three research groups have been established in the Department:

System Level Integration
Robotics and Intelligent Systems
Signal Processing

SPECIAL FEATURES

The Biological Society was established in 1954. The founding members of the Society are Dr. Sultan Ahmad, Dr. Muzzafar Ahmed, Dr. Abu Bakar, Prof. Ahsan-ul-Islam and Prof. Waiz Hussain Bokhari. The Society launched research journal “Biologia” in June, 1955. Today, the journal is subscribed by libraries in the UK, the US, Canada, Indonesia, Brazil, Jordan, Sudan, France, Saudi Arabia, India and The Netherlands.

Horticultural Society is exclusively run under the umbrella of Department of Botany. It provides a healthy opportunity for its members to organize and participate in different seasonal flower shows and exhibitions and invite others to its dry and fresh flower arrangement competitions.

The applicant should have obtained at least 60% marks in Intermediate or Diploma of Associate Engineers/BTech. (Pass) in Electrical or Electronics or Instrument Technology/ Telecom / Avionics / IT / Precision Mechanical & Instrument / Radar Technology / Radio Technology / Automation / Instrumentation Process Control.
The applicant must have passed the entry test for admission to engineering institutions, arranged by the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, for the academic session to which the applicant is seeking admission.
The applicant should not have 3rd division throughout his/her academic career.

Graduates of the Department are serving humanity throughout the world. The Department of Botany feels its prime duty to gather all the alumni. This will not only facilitate the close contacts among the Botanists but also create a platform for further communication among the experts in the field of Botany, The Botany Alumni Association was established in 2009 with the noble objectives:

To establish a link with/among the Ravian Botanists.
To honor distinguished alumni of Botany, who have brought national/global acclaim in their respective domains by arranging social I cultural functions and publishing newsletter annually.

Maintenance of University Grounds and Gardens is another important responsibility of Department of Botany. The present fascinating landscape of the GCU campus is a beautiful contribution of The Department of Botany.

The department, in coordination with Department of Zoology has been publishing its research journal “Biologia” since 1955. This journal is an official organ of the Biological Society of Pakistan which is headquartered here at GC University Lahore.

The Department has built strong collaborations with many national and international institutions, Universities and Organizations like Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England; Gondwana Tree-Ring Laboratory New Zealand; Agriculture University, Peshawar; Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society; BZU, Multan; Dendrochronological Lab., Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences & Technology, Karachi; FC College (Charted University) Lahore; University of Punjab, Lahore; Environmental Protection Department (EPD) Pakistan; Higher Education Commission, Islamabad Pakistan; Karachi University; Ministry of Science and Technology, Pakistan; NIAB, Faisalabad; NIBGE, Faisalabad; NIFA, Peshawar; PCSIR Laboratories, Lahore; PFI, Peshawar; Punjab Small Industries Corporation and University of Agriculture Faisalabad.

Botany as the mother subject provides baseline to progress all the disciplines of plant sciences of conventional as well as modern era. The disciplines of Botany has a broad scope covering so many fields like education, forestry, horticulture, dandrochronology and climatology, research organizations related to agriculture, plant biotechnology, molecular genetics, phycodiversity, lichen biodiversity, plant and microbial genetic engineering, plant metabolic engineering, biopharming etc.

Establishment of Botanic Garden and Herbal Garden cum Biodiversity Park at GC University, New Campus at KSK that will have a state of the art laboratory for plant breeding, compositing unit, etc.

Equipment in Botany Lab

Electric Balance	Laminar Air Flow Hoods	PCR Machine	Gel Electrophoresis	Magnetic Stirrers With Hot Plate	Electric Compound Microscope	Basic Stereo Microscope USA
Camera Fitted Microscope	Microscope CH10-Mono Olympus	Rotary Evaporator	Centrifuge Machines	Hot Air Oven	Muffle Furnace	Conductivity Metter
GPS	Tree Ring with Accessories	Sledge Microtome	Filtration Assemblies	Cool Incubator	Incubator B-53 IRMEO	Shaker Incubator WIS-20R
Autoclaves (Manual and digital)	Digital Thermometer	Spector Photo Meters	LUX Meter	Leaf Area Meter	IRGA	Thermo Hygro Meter
Flame Photometer	Hot Block	Water Baths	Glass Distillation Unit	Vortex Mixture	Dry Bath With Heating Cooling	Water Bath Shaker
Water Deionization Unit	Liquid Nitrogen Container	Gel Doc System	Lab. Freezer-20 Temperature	Microwave Oven	Benchtop PH-Meter	Growth Room

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

The Department offers a popular set of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Graduates from other disciplines are also able to pursue different allied courses to accomplish their intensive programmes of study. At present, following Degrees are being offered by the Department of Botany:

B.Sc (Hons)
M. Sc
MPHIL
Ph.D

Research Groups

At present department is offering research in following areas:

Biodiversity
Fungal Biology
Ethnopharmacology
Applied Plant Anatomy: Dendrochronology
Phycology and Algal Biotechnology
Plant Biotechnology
Plant Biochemistry
Molecular Biology

COURSES

B.SC (HONS) BOTANY

Year-1
Semester -I
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 1101	Diversity of Plants	2
BOT – 1101P	Diversity of Plants	1

Semester -II
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 1201	Systematic, Anatomy and Development	2
BOT – 1201P	Systematic, Anatomy and Development	1

Year-2
Semester -III
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 2101	Cell Biology, Genetics and Evolution	3
BOT – 2101P	Cell Biology, Genetics and Evolution	1

Semester -IV
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 2201	Biodiversity and conservation	2
BOT – 2201P	Biodiversity and conservation	1
BOT – 2202	Plant Physiology and Ecology	3
BOT – 2202P	Plant Physiology and Ecology	1

Year-3
Semester –V
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 3101	Plant Ecology I	2
BOT – 3101P	Plant Ecology I	1
BOT – 3102	Diversity of Vascular Plants	2
BOT – 3102P	Diversity of Vascular Plants	1
BOT – 3103	Phycology and Bryology	2
BOT – 3103P	Phycology and Bryology	1
BOT – 3104	Mycology and Plant Pathology	2
BOT – 3104P	Mycology and Plant Pathology	1
BOT – 3105	Plant Systematic	3
BOT – 3105P	Plant Systematic	1

Semester –VI
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 3201	Plant Anatomy	2
BOT – 3201P	Plant Anatomy	1
BOT – 3202	Plant Ecology – II	2
BOT – 3202P	Plant Ecology – II	1
BOT – 3203	Genetics	2
BOT – 3203P	Genetics	1
BOT – 3204	Plant Biochemistry – I	3
BOT – 3204P	Plant Biochemistry – I	1
BOT – 3205	Plant and Tissue Culture	3
BOT – 3205P	Plant and Tissue Culture	1

Year-4
Semester –VII
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 4101	Plant Physiology – I	2
BOT – 4101P	Plan Physiology – I	1
BOT – 4102	Plant Biochemistry II	2
BOT – 4102P	Plant Biochemistry II	1
	Elective – I	3
	Elective – II	3
BOT – 4299	Research Project/Internship	3

Semester –VIII
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 4201	Plant Physiology – II	2
BOT – 4201P	Plant Physiology – II	1
BOT – 4202	Molecular Genetics	2
BOT – 4202P	Molecular Genetics	1
	Elective – III	3
	Elective – IV	3
BOT – 4299	Research Project/Internship	3

Students will select 4 courses from the following list subject to the availability of the faculty

Elective Papers
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 4203	Biostatistics	2
BOT – 4203P	Biostatistics (Practical)	1
BOT – 4204	Ethnobotany	2
BOT – 4204P	Ethnobotany (Practical)	1
BOT – 4205	Salinity & Water logging	2
BOT – 4205P	Salinity & Water logging (Practical)	1
BOT – 4206	Symbiotic Relationship	2
BOT – 4206P	Symbiotic Relationship (Practical)	1
BOT – 4207	Advanced Anatomy	2
BOT – 4207P	Advanced Anatomy (Practical)	1
BOT – 4208	Plant Pathology	2
BOT – 4208P	Plant Pathology (Practical)	1
BOT – 4209	Bioinformatics	2
BOT – 4209P	Bioinformatics (Practical)	1
BOT – 4210	Photophysiology	2
BOT – 4210P	Photophysiology (Practical)	1

ALLIED COURSES

Year-1
Semester – I
BOT – 1101	Diversity of Plants	2
BOT – 1101P	Diversity of Plants	1
Semester – II
BOT – 1201	Systematic, Anatomy and Development	2
BOT – 1201P	Systematic, Anatomy and Development	1

Year-2
Semester – III
BOT – 2101	Cell Biology, Genetics and Evolution	3
BOT – 2101P	Cell Biology, Genetics and Evolution	1
Semester – IV
BOT – 2201	Biodiversity and Conservation	2
BOT – 2201P	Biodiversity and Conservation	1

Allied Courses

M. PHIL BOTANY

Year-1
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours Theory + Practical
BOT – 7101 BOT – 7101P	Applied Plant Anatomy	2+1
BOT – 7201 BOT – 7201P	Photo physiology of Plant Growth	2+1
BOT – 7202 BOT – 7202P	Ethnobotany	2+1
BOT – 7203 BOT – 7203P	Applied Ecology	2+1
BOT – 7204 BOT – 7204P	Plant Tissue Culture	2+1
BOT – 7205 BOT – 7205P	Molecular Biology	2+1
BOT – 7206 BOT – 7206P	Advanced Phycology	2+1
BOT – 7207 BOT – 7207P	Forest Mychology	2+1
BOT – 7208 BOT – 7208P	Recombinant DNA Technology	2+1

Year-2
Semester – III & IV
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 7499	Thesis	12

PH.D BOTANY

Compulsory Subjects
Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
BOT – 8101	Field and Laboratory Methods in Ecology	3+1
BOT – 8106	Molecular Basis of Photosynthesis	3+1
BOT – 8110	Methods and Applications of Plant tissue Culture	3+1
BOT – 8216	Economic Utility of Algae	3+1
BOT – 8109	New Trends in Ethnobotany	3+1
Elective Subjects (Two Courses will be offered from the following list)
BOT – 8220	Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering	3
BOT – 8210	Stress and Secondary Metabolites	3
BOT – 8217	Algal Anatomy and Biotechnology	3
BOT – 8211	Applied Aspects of Plant Anatomy	3
BOT – 8215	Chemotaxonomy	3