Topic: Educational cum Excursion Trip to Palampur

Event: Educational cum Excursion visit

Venue: CSIR- Institute of Himalayan Bioresource and Technology, Palampur, HP

Date: 04-11-2022 to 05-11-2022

No. of Students: 31

No. of Faculty: 05

PG Department of Botany organized an ‘Educational-cum-excursion trip’ to Palampur in collaboration with Department of Bio-technology. On 4^th of November, students visited CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource and Technology, Palampur. Dr. Vandana Jaiswal, Scientist, Moleular Fingerprinting and QTL mapping and Mr. Sahil, a scholar accompanied the students and gave a detailed tour of the institute during the whole visit. Students visited Bamboo house where they learnt about different products of the institute including essential oils from Rose, Lavender, Cedar oil, Tea wine, herbal and black tea along with different edible products including protein mix as well as others uses like bamboo charcoal, cow dung paper, bamboo fibers, bamboo artifacts, different stevia products, different pocket perfumes, tea based mouthwashes, natural hair oil etc. After that, students visited remote sensing labs where they were made aware about how the problems of remote areas can be detected and solved with the help of satellites and drones. Next, they moved towards the herbariums at the institution where local flora is preserved. They also visited various polyhouses and research fields where different varieties of Hing, Rose, Saffron were grown. The scientists explained epigenetics in detail which actually regulates the expression of characteristics in plants. Then they visited molecular biology laboratory where they were studying the effect of different environmental factors on growth of plants specially in cases of seasonal plants. Lastly, they went to Plant tissue culture lab where they introduced students to Monk plant, Saffron, Hing, different species of Bamboo, jatamansi etc. Dr. Rishab Joshi explained the importance of Plant tissue culture for conservation of endangered species like Jatamansi.

On day two of trip, students went to various areas in Palampur for collection of local flora. They collected different plant species belonging to bryophytes, pteridophytes, and flowering plants. They also interacted with the local residents and enquired about native flora of the region. They also learned about the local use of different plant species. In the afternoon, students moved to Dhauladhar Zoo, Gopalpur, Nature Park. On the way to nature park, students collected more plant species for their herbarium collection. On reaching Dhauladar Zoo, Nature Park, they saw different animals including Black Bear, Asiatic Lion, Leopard Gorals, Bhutan Grey Peacocks, Cheer Pheasants, barking Deer, Sambar, Leopard Cat and many more. On the way back students visited many tea gardens.

The students were accompanied by Mrs. Navgeet, Assistant professor and Head Department of Bio-Technology, Dr. Sandeep Kaur, PG Department of Botany, Dr. Sandeep Singh, PG Department of Botany, Ms. Latika Khosla, Department of Biotechnology and Ms. Princy, Department of Biotechnology. Students enjoyed a lot and acquired scientific temperament and knowledge from this visit. Prof. Dr. Atima Sharma Dwivedi, Principal, Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar appreciated the faculty members for organizing such knowledge filled educational trips.