Webinar on Recent Trends and Emerging Technologies in Plant Sciences
Aligarh : Impressive progress in the understanding of plant science from the basic researches to latest developments in plant biology was highlighted in the webinar on ‘Recent Trends and Emerging Technologies in Plant Sciences’ of the Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
Explaining the growing importance of herbal drugs, Prof N K Dubey (Head, Department of Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University) pointed out that medicinal plants are considered as rich resources of ingredients which can be used in drug development.
He explained the use of herbal drugs for treatments of the different parts of the body.
“Since plants synthesise hundreds of chemical compounds for functions including defence against insects, fungi, diseases, and herbivorous mammals, the new research and the latest developments in the field have become of utmost importance”, said Prof Dubey.
Speaking on ‘Genetic Improvement of Medical and Aromatic Plants through Biotechnological Approaches’ in his guest lecture, Dr Laiq-ur Rahman (Senior Principal Scientist, Department of Plant Biotechnology, CSIR-CIMAP Research Centre, Lucknow) emphasised the importance of the conservation of medicinal plants by utilising alternative techniques like the plant tissue culture.
He discussed secondary metabolite production through callus and suspension culture, genetic transformation, somatic hybridization and hairy root culture in selected medicinal plants.
In the talk on ‘Carbon Storage and Sequestration Potential in Above Ground Biomass of a Tree Ecosystem’, Dr Shakeel A Khan spoke about the percentage of carbon stored by forests and carbon sequestration in trees.
Presiding over the programme, Prof Wasim Ahmad (Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences) highlighted the achievement of the Department of Botany faculty members and their contributions to cutting edge research.
He also gave a brief introduction of the Faculty of Life Science to the guest speakers.
Prof Ghazala Parveen (Organising Secretary of the programme and Chairperson, Department of Botany) delivered the welcome address and spoke on advanced researches in plant sciences.
Prof Hisamuddin conducted the webinar and Prof Shamsul Hayat extended the vote of thanks.
Over 600 faculty members, advanced students and research scholars from across the country participated in the programme.