Achievements :-
Many of our faculty members and research students have
brought laurels to the Department by bagging awards such
as International AEB honours award - 1995 and National Award
of Academy of Plant Sciences - 1997 (Prof. S. Kant), Hira
Lal Chakravarty Award of Indian Science Congress Association
(Prof. R.N. Gohil), Young Scientist Award of Indian Science
Congress Association (Dr. Namrata Sharma), Young Scientist
Award of Department of Science & Technology, J&K
(Drs. Namrata Sharma and R.K. Sharma) and Dr. M.S. Swaminathan
Young Botanist Award of IBS (Drs Veenu Kaul and Susheel
Verma).
Besides, our research scholars have bagged a number of gold
medals and best paper presentation awards.
During their stay in this Department, the students are encouraged
to spend some time in well-established laboratories of the
country. Our students have been visiting, working and interacting
with other researchers of University of Delhi, Indian Agricultural
Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, Regional Research
Laboratory (RRL), Jammu etc. Some collaborative work is
also in progress with:
a) National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad
b) Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun
c) Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut
Organisation Memberships
Besides serving on a number of academic and decision making
bodies of various Universities/Institutions in different
capacities, teachers of this Department have also bagged
awards and fellowships of prestigious societies/institutions.
Recognition
The Department has been recognized by the Department of
Science and Technology for grant (Rs. 28.00 lac) under FIST
Programme.
Research Activities
With the limited resources available in the beginning, most
of the research work carried out at that time was of exploratory
nature. The data thus compiled were later used to diversify.
At present, the Department has a rich live collection of
more than 500 plant species, mainly representing the local
flora, in our Botanical Garden. Some of the major achievements
in research, carried out in our Department, are:
-
Most of the Jammu region has been
studied for floristic composition covering both the higher
and lower plants. This has helped in adding many new taxa
to the already existing lists.
-
A large number of plants have been
studied for cytogenetical details.
-
Germplasm collections of a number of
economically important taxa, such as Allium (60 acc.),
Carthamus (14), Crotalaria (12), Plantago (12), medicinal
umbellifers (13) are being maintained.
-
In keeping with the need of conserving
our natural resources/wealth, a large number of rare/endangered
plants have been studied for their status, reproductive
details, cytogenetic behaviour and potentials. Some of
the endangered taxa like Eremostachys superba, Eremurus
himalaicus, E. persicus, Gloriosa superba; Incarvillea
emodii Thlaspi arvense, Arenaria neelgherrensis etc. are
being conserved in the Botanical Garden of the Department.
Through these efforts, Eremostachys superba has been revived
from the point of near extinction.
-
Nearly 80 hepatic taxa, including about
a dozen (Athalamia pinguis, A. pusilla, Asterella angusta,
A. reticulata, Metzgeria conjugata, M. himalayensis, Conocephalum
conicum, Dumortiera hirsuta, Reboulia hemispherica, Weisnerella
denudata and Stephensoniella brevipedunculata) rare/endemic
and threatened ones have been collected from various districts
of Jammu region. Of these, S. brevipedunculata figures
in the "World Red List Bryophytes".
-
Eight water bodies of the region have
been studied for limnological and other biological parameters.
-
Work has been done on the morphogenesis
of economically important taxa such as Bunium, Morus,
Heracleum,Cicer etc.
-
A large number of plant pathogens have
been reported from Jammu region.
-
Reproductive biology of some economically
important plant groups e.g. Umbellifers, Plantagos, Trifoliums,
etc. has been worked out.
-
Studies on biodiversity and phytosociological
aspects have been undertaken in different parts of Jammu
province.
|
