The scholars and experts of botany discipline have stressed the need for research and preservation of the flora. These views were expressed at the inaugural session of a six-day national seminar on "New trends in plant science," organised by the Botany Department, University of Sindh, in collaboration with Pakistan Botanical Society, sponsored by the Science Foundation of Pakistan, here on Wednesday.
Karachi University's Faculty of Sciences Dean, Dr Muhammad Qaisar, in his paper on "Flora of Pakistan," said that the need of the hour was to work more on the flora of Pakistan, especially in those areas where the work on the plants and species had not been done.
He said that in our country, at the time of its establishment, there was no information about the flora of Pakistan, adding before the partition the medical and army offices of the British government preserved the information about the flora of Pakistan.
He said that for the first time, a book on "Flora of Pakistan" was published in 1976, while the help was sought from the published material from the publications of the British government.
Dr Qaisar also stressed the need for besides compilation of materials on flora, other areas, which were still not discovered, including North, South Wazirstan, Kurram Agency and Khirthar.
He suggested the Sindh University's scholars to carry out work on Khirthar and discover new plants.
He said that there were many unique plants in Pakistan, which were not available in any part of the world, and added that they must be preserved for the research work.
Dr Qaisar said that in Pakistan, there was no any red list prepared for the identification of endangered species, and added until now only 14 species had been recorded as threatened.
Dr Qaisar also stressed for the development of the Herbarium at the college levels with view to preserving the local flora.
He said that the former British rulers had started the collection of the plants for the preservation in 1820, which were now in "British Herbaria." He said that in our country, the first edition of "Flora of Pakistan" was published in 1970, which appreciated by many botanists and scholars world-wide, adding there was also contribution of 35 authors from Pakistan, UK, US, Germany and other countries.
Dr Qaisar said that now more material and information was available and added the "First species of flora of Pakistan" was appeared 34 years ago and now it also needed revision.
Earlier, Sindh University vice-chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, inaugurating the seminar, said that there were many threats and problems, including population growth, non-availability of quality food and deterioration in environmental ecological balance, to human lives.
He urged the biologists to play their role in creating awareness among the society, adding the scholars should have to develop more purposeful programmes for the Pakistan Botanical Society to human lives to human lives.
Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Sindh University Professor Asif Ali Kazi said that the seminar would be helpful in updating the syllabus of the botany disciplines.
He also advised the organisers and scholars to prepare recommendations for better development of the syllabus of the botany discipline.
He called upon the botanists to incorporate the agriculture aspect in the subject and make it more attractive to the students and the botany graduates.
Pakistan Botanical Society President and Chairman of the Department of Botany University of Sindh, Professor Dr Hidayatullah Abro, said the Pakistan Botanical Society was established in 1965, which was a tool to monitor the ongoing research progress in the country.
He said the research in plant sciences had brought the revolutionary changes in the world, and added that plant breeding, hybridisation, polypolidy tissue culture, foods genetic engineering and other such process were first applied on plants and now were being applied on human beings.
He invited the scholars to join hand for development of new techniques and phyto technologies for the betterment of the humanity.
Seminar Co-ordinator Professor Dr Muhammad Tahir Rajput, highlighting the aims and objectives of seminar, said it would not only help in updating the knowledge, but would also help in transforming the updated knowledge to the teachers involved in teaching the botany at degree level.
He said the plant sciences had huge dimensions and it would not be possible to discuss all topics related to the plant sciences in few lectures, and pointed out that 18 lectures would be delivered, including laboratory work on various aspects of plant sciences.
He said the lectures would mainly focus on the new development and modern concepts in the field of taxonomy, genetics, pale botany, physiology, mycology, plant physiology and different fields of plant sciences.