Activities

Seminars, invited lectures and workshops

We organise seminars, invited lectures and workshops on various topics. Students are motivated to listen and interact with eminent personalities to augment their research aptitude. Extension activities like training on mushroom cultivation and organic farming are also organized for the public along with the participation of students to develop social commitment among them. The department also thrives to develop entrepreneurial culture among the students and conducts training programs, workshops and interactive sessions with entrepreneurs.

Field Trips and institutional visits:

Wide ranges of teaching strategies are followed to effectively meet the needs of individual learners. A student-centered approach which actively engages the students in the learning process is also practiced. The students are taken for field trips and study tours every year for experienced learning. To promote research temper among students, they are taken to research centers or institutes to familiarize modern equipments, labs, and research activities in the scientific fields. Some of our students attended training on Molecular Biology, Algal Culture etc. in research institutes like CMFRI, TIES etc.

Mentoring and Remedial coaching

Effective mentoring is offered to the students. The students of all the degree classes are divided among the teachers of the Department and these students will be taken care of by the respective teachers. These teachers often meet the students personally and enquire about their personal as well as academic problems. The needy students are directed to the professional counsellors in the college for personal counselling, and Remedial coaching is offered to slow learners.

Co-curricular activities

We celebrate and observe all the important functions and days in the college keeping the decorum of each function. Students of our Department actively participate in Arts fest, Sports fest, Food fest, Onam and Christmas celebrations. The students participated in Annual arts and sports competitions with good team spirit and some of them won prizes. Few of our students are the members of NCC and NSS units of the College.

Scientific identification and Documentation of campus flora

We have done Scientific identification of the campus flora. This is used for updating of the Biodiversity Register which is kept in the Department. This Register records various trees, shrubs, climbers and the herbs of the campus.

Research and Development

The current research interests of the department are in Ecology, Molecular Biology Biotechnology, Plant taxonomy, Photochemistry and Pharmacognosy. The department has a well equipped research facility to conduct research in Molecular biology, Photochemistry, Ecology and Plant Taxonomy. The department is actively involved in Bar coding of plants and microbes. The research facility is supported by the star college scheme, Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. The department has successfully completed externally funded projects from UGC, KSCSTE and KSBB. The faculty of the department is regularly publishing in the form of research articles, research notes, and book chapters. The department has signed MoUs for R&D with Nirmala College of Pharmacy Muvattupuzha and Merit Bioloabs Palarivattom,

Learning Resources in the Department

Undergraduate laboratory

The BSc. Botany laboratory is provided with ample space and equipments to conduct laboratory experiments.

Research lab and Instrumentation Facility

We have a well equipped research lab with facilities to conduct Phytochemical, Molecular biology and Microbiology experiments.

Museum:

A very good collection of plant specimens representing the diverse groups of Algae, Fungi, Lichens, Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms are present in the Museum.

Herbarium

The Department has a decent collection of well preserved herbarium of plant specimens from families prescribed in the syllabus. A few herbariums of local plants are also available.

Xylarium

Well curated authentic wood specimens of some tree species are also maintained in the museum