UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY

• Head of the Dept.: Prof. Harendra Prasad Chaurasia
• Year of Establishment : 1965
• Email : udbotany.tmbu@gmail.com/chandra.bhanu.singh31@gmail.com
• Contact No.: 0641-2500063
• Built Up Area:11263 sq. ft.
• Level Of Study: M. Sc., Ph. D.

Courses Offered (.pdf file)

MAJOR FOCUS AREAS:

• Plant Pathology and Microbiology
• Mycotoxicology and Seed Pathology
• Ecology and Environmental Biology
• Plant Systematics and Ethnobotany
• Cytogenetics and Plant Breeding
• Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

At a Glance

• Engaged in teaching and research since its inception in 1965.
• Sanctioned strength of students in M.Sc. (Previous) : 40
• Sanctioned strength of students in M.Sc.(Final) : 40
• No. of books in the Department Library : 5074
• Journals/Periodicals Subscribed by the Department : 25
• Computer facility available. : Yes
• Ratio of students to teachers – for theory classes :20:1
• Admission on the basis of Honours marks and admission tests.
• Ph.D. Registration on the basis of M.Sc. (Final) result, Pre-Ph.D. Exam Test, Presentation of research theme and seminar.

ADVANCED FACILITIES :

• HERBARIUM :

  The Bhagalpur University Herbarium was established in July 1970. Within a very short period it became one of the best organized university herbaria in the country. The
  Bhagalpur University herbarium is one of the primary biological resources of department serving for research, teaching at post-graduate level and public service. Herbarium contains four sections. The first section contains
  collection of vascular plants. The three sections include cryptogrammic herbarium, the paleo-botany and ethnobotanical collections. Herbarium contains over 13,000 specimens of which 95% are angiosperms, rest are gymnosperms, ferns
  and fern allies. Particularly from North-Eastern Bihar including plains of Eastern Nepal as per details given below:

  • North Eastern Bihar – 11,000
  • Rest of Bihar – 1000
  • Rest of India – 1000

  Its secondary collections comprise mainly the seeds of wild plants including aromatic, medicinal and plants of miscellaneous uses. Their number is more than 500. The Herbarium supplies seeds to other institutions on exchange basis
  and also use them as planting stocks in case of some interesting or thereat end or endangered plants. The Bhagalpur University Herbarium is now Internationally recognized and registered with BHAGALPUR™ as acronym in Index
  Herbarium (a reference book published by the New York Botanical Garden, USA). Its secondary collections comprise mainly the seeds of wild plants including aromatic, medicinal and plants of miscellaneous uses. Their number is more
  than 500. The Herbarium supplies seeds to other institutions on exchange basis and also use them as planting stocks in case of some interesting or thereat end or endangered plants. The Bhagalpur University Herbarium is now
  Internationally recognized and registered with BHAGALPUR™ as acronym in Index Herbarium (a reference book published by the New York Botanical Garden, USA). Bhagalpur University Herbarium is being regularly used by students
  and faculty members of the department as well as by outsiders. Herbarium has been visited by several National and International Scientists and researchers from time to time. Some of the important visitors who recently visited the
  Herbarium include Dr. Jun Wen from the Field Museum, Chicago, USA. Bhagalpur University Herbarium is being regularly used by students and faculty members of the department as well as by outsiders. Herbarium has been visited by
  several National and International Scientists and researchers from time to time. Some of the important visitors who recently visited the Herbarium include Dr. Jun Wen from the Field Museum, Chicago, USA.

• MUSEUM :

  A Botanical Museum is established in 1996. The theme of the museum is Plant Diversity and Human Welfare. The specimens belonging to different plant groups viz., algae,
  fungi, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms have been displayed in the museum. Besides this the department has a rich collection of fossils from Rajmahal Hills of Jharkhand.

• BOTANICAL GARDEN :

  The development of botanical garden of the department was started in the year 1970. The garden has a beautiful landscape and covers a total area of about 7
  acres. The garden comprises an open air theatre, lawn, pond for aquatic plants, greenhouse, cactus house, and a mist chamber. A separate section of medicinal and aromatic plants has been developed for the conservation and large
  scale propagation of these plants. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, has also selected this garden for conservation and propagation of endangered plant e.g. Freiria indica, and plants of Eastern
  India. A number of rare, endangered and threatened plants introduced in the garden are thriving well in the botanical garden.In the past three decades, a large number of botanically important plants have been introduced in the
  botanical garden. The collections in the garden are more than 1600 plant species both indigenous and exotics. Many gymnosperms viz.
  species of Araucaria, Agathis, Cycas, Ephedra, Ginkgo, Juniperus, Pinus, Podocarus, Taxodium, Thuja, Zamia are thriving well. In the garden there is also provision for maintaining ferns and fern allies; some of them are
  species of Psilotum, Selaginella, Equisetum, Helminthostachys, Ophiglossum, Lycopodium, Salvinia, Marsilia, Azolla, Adiantum, Pteris, Christalla, Pyrossis, Cythodium.There are large number of plants of medicinal importance.
  Some important ones are
  
  Adhatoda zeylanica, Abrus precatorius, Andrographis paniculata, Aloe barbadensis, Cactus speciosus, Rauvolfia serpentine, R. tetraphylla, Strychnos nux-vomica, Oroxylum indicum, Cinnamomum tamala, C. Zeylanica, Withania
  somnifere, Ocimum sanctum, O. basilicum, Woodfordia fruticosa, Plumbago zeylanica, Mentha piperita, Piper longum, P. betel
  
  etc.Some orchids like species of Habenaria, Rhynchostylis, Nervalia, Dendrobium, Cymbidium, Geodorum, Eulophia, Zeuxine are also flourishing well.Some cacti and succulents have also been introduced in the garden. The
  important ones are species of Cereus, Echinopsis, Mammillaria, Opuntia, Pereskia, Aeonum, Kalanchoe, Sedum, Portulaca, Euphorbia, Pedialanthus, Stapellia, Howarthia etc.

Achievements

• Since its inception, the Department has established itself at National & Intenational level both & in the field of teaching and research.
• The department has the distinction of receiving of COSIST and Special Assistance Programme (DRS : SAP Phase I & II Completed, and Phase III awaited) of U.G.C., New Delhi.
• Many research projects sponsored by various national and international agencies like UGC, DST, DBT, ICAR, CSIR, ICMR, CMPDI, Ministry of Coal,Ministry of Earth Science, ICFRE, NATP, IFS (Sweden), WDCS (U.K.) have been successfully
  completed and many are in progress.
• The department has participated in previous year & in many prestigious national and international programmes, such as PL – 480 scheme, MAB Programme, Ganga Action Plan etc.
• The department has collaborations with the national and international agencies, like CMPDI,ICMR, Molecular systematic lab of The field, Museum, Chicago and WDCS, U.K,I.A.R.I,R.M.R.I, Mahaveer Cancer Institute
• As a recognition of their outstanding contributions, several Faculty members have been honoured Awards and Fellowships, that include P. Maheshwari award of Indian Botanical Society to Late Prof. K. S. Bilgrami, ex-Head of the
  Department, Y. S. Murty gold Medal of I.B.S. to Prof. A. K. Roy and Prof. A.K. Pandey, V. V. Shivarajan gold medal of I.A.A.T. to Prof. A. K. Pandey, Jeerasa nidhi Lecture Award of Indian Phytopathological society to Prof. A K. Roy,
  Prof. Hira Lal Chakravarty and Prof. S.N. Banerjee Memorial Lecture Award of IMS Award to Prof. K. K. Sinha and Fellowship for contribution in the field of Environmental Education conservations by Lama Gangchu World Peace Foundation
  and the Global open University. Milan, Italy to Prof. Sunil K. Choudhary.
• The Department has organized several National, Zonal and Regional Symposia, Seminars, Workshops and Conferences in the Past. Several training courses/refresher courses have been also conducted successfully.
• Majority of the Faculty members are either acting as Resource Persons for various national and international agencies or are in the Panel of Advisory Board. Teachers have gone abroad for Post doctoral research and for delivering
  imited lectures. They have also chaired the sessions of national and international meetings.
• The departmental Botanical Garden has been appreciated by various scientific Bodies including UGC and MoEnF, Govt. of India and has been adjudged as one of the excellent University Botanical gardens in Eastern India. The Ministry of
  Environment and Format, Govt. of India has also selected this garden for conservation and propagation of endangered Plant, Freria media. The garden has a collection of more than 1600 plant species, both indigenous and exotics.
• The department has well-organized herbarium, recognized internationally. More than 13,000 herbarium sheets of vascular Plants are collected and property indexed. Department is providing identification service of medicinal and other
  plants to local people and herbal drug practitioners. The UGC visiting Committee has highly commended the organization of departmental herbarium.
• The department has been also particular in taking up the projects that cater the need of local people. One such project presently in progress in Production of biofertilizer packs using sericulture and mycorrhizal technology.