Economic Botany

By Prof. Irshad Ahmad Nawchoo | University of Kashmir

Learners enrolled: 1877

The course “Plant Resource Utilization” is a core course in B.Sc. Botany under the Choice Based Credit System (CBSE). The course is specially designed to supplement and enhance the understanding of students about different dimensions of plant identification as a resource for self-sustenance, their domestication, commercialization based on the need and induction of modification using modern techniques. Starting from basic concept of Plant resource identification, their domestication and commercialization and ultimately culminating with genetic manipulation for self dependence.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Botany
Credit Points :	4
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	05 Jan 2026
End Date :	30 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends :	28 Feb 2026
Exam Date :	18 Jun 2026 IST
Translation Languages :	English
NCrF Level	6.0
Exam Shift :	II

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

WEEK - I

Vavilov’s Centre’s of origin

Evolution of Crops

Crop domestication and loss of Genetic Diversity

Wheat and its products

WEEK - II

Rice: Botany, cultivation and economic importance

Rice fields

Milling of Rice and its by-products

Sugars– as information molecules

WEEK - III

Sugarcane: Botany, cultivation, and its economic importance

Genetically modified crops

Fats and oils

Essential oils: General account, extraction methods, comparison with fatty oils and their uses.

WEEK - IV

Eucalyptus essential oils

Sandalwood essential oil

Rosa essential oil

Mustard: Botany, cultivation, and economic importance

WEEK - V

General description, classification, extraction, uses and health implications of linseed oil

Brief Account of Millets

Economic importance of fennel

Timber: general account with special reference to teak and pine

WEEK - VI

Timber extraction–mining, dams, and their effects on forests, and tribal people

Legumes: Structure and composition

Processing of legumes

Pigeon pea: Origin, morphology and uses.

WEEK - VII

Chickpea: Origin, morphology and uses

Starch: Commercial sources and productivity

Potato: Botany, cultivation, and economic importance

Cinchona: Botany and uses

WEEK - VIII

Soybean: General description, classification, extraction, uses, and heath implications

Economic importance of Clove and Black pepper

Spices and Condiments: General account

Spices -Classification, trade, flavors, processing, and quality

WEEK - IX

Medicinal plants: General account

Green gold of Kashmir Himalayas: Medicinal herbs

Therapeutic and habit forming drug Cannabis

Digitals: General Account

WEEK - X

Papaver: General Account

Tobacco: Morphology, processing, uses and health hazards

Cotton: Botany, cultivation, and economic importance

Jute: Cultivation and economic importance

WEEK - XI

Coconut: Botany, cultivation, and economic importance

Coir: Morphology, extraction and uses

Coffee: Botany, cultivation, and processing

Rubber: Botany, cultivation, processing, and uses

WEEK - XII

Simple sugars

Firewood and timber sources

DNA damage

Projected risks & benefits of genetically modified crops

Books and references

1.Harlan, J. R. (1971). Agricultural origins: centers and noncenters. Science, 174(4008), 468-474.

2.Hawkes, J. G. (1998). Back to Vavilov: Why were plants domesticated in some areas and not in others. The Origins of Agriculture and Crop Domestication, International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, Aleppo, Syria, 5-8.

3.Harris, D. R. (1990). 3. Vavilov's concept of centres of origin of cultivated plants: its genesis and its influence on the study of agricultural origins. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 39(1), 7-16

4.Hawkes, J. G. (1990). 2. NI Vavilov—the man and his work. Biological journal of the Linnean Society, 39(1), 3-6..

5.Vavilov, N. I., Vavylov, M. I., Vavílov, N. Í., & Dorofeev, V. F. (1992). Origin and geography of cultivated plants. Cambridge University Press.

6. Anderson, G. J. 2005. Crop origins, cytogenetics and plant evolution. American Journal of Botany, 92(1): 193–195.

7. Brandenberg, O., Dhlamini, Z., Sensi, A., Ghosh,K. and Sonnino, A. 2011.

8. Introduction to molecular biology and genetic engineering. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

9. Gould, F. 1988. Evolutionary Biology and Genetically Engineered Crops. BioScience, 38(1): pp. 26-33.

10. Job, D. 2002. Plant biotechnology in agriculture. Biochimie, 84: 1105–1110.

Meyer, R.S. and Purugganan, M. D. 2013. Evolution of crop species: Genetics of domestication and diversification. Nature Reviews Genetics. 14: 840-852.

Instructor bio

Prof. Irshad Ahmad Nawchooholds master’s degree in Botany from the University of Kashmir and worked for his M.Phil., and Ph.D. inUniversity of Kashmir. He currently teaches at theDepartment of Botany, University of Kashmir. His basic research interests include plant resource utilization with basic assessment of natural resource assessment, development of protocol for domestication and commercialization. His interests include density and diversity of Medicinal and Aromatic plants, their genetic diversity, chemical profiles and identification of elite genotypes for commercialization. He has published more than 80 high-impact research papers, two books and several book chapters, in recognition of which he has been awardedseveral national and international awards. Prof. Irshadis on the editorial board of some prestigious journals and has been an invited speaker at various scientific meetings/conferences. He is currently a part of some national network projects sponsored by DST, DBT, UGC and CSIR mainly related to assessment of genetic diversity, chemical profiles and development of commercialization techniques of some elite Medicinal and Aromatic plants of NW Himalaya. He has so far completed 7 National collaborative projects and at present 3 projects are in Vogue. He has so far supervised 12 Ph. D and 30 M. Phil Scholars and at present is supervising 9 Ph. D scholars in diverse fields mainly related in MAP’s.

Apart from Heading the Department of Botany for a period of 3yrs, he has also been Director ULDD, University of Kashmir for 5yrs. At present he is Director of Admission and Competitive Examinations, University of Kashmir; Coordinator UGC SET and Supervisor CSIR UGC NET

Course certificate

1. End-Term Examination:

Weightage: 70% of the final result

Minimum Passing Criteria: 40%

2. Internal Assessment:

Weightage: 30% of the final result

Minimum Passing Criteria: 40%

Calculation of IA Marks:

Out of all graded weekly Assessments/Assignments, the top 50% of Assignments shall be considered for the calculation of the final Internal Assessment marks.

All students who obtain 40% marks in the internal Assessment and 40% marks in the end-term proctored exam separately will be eligible for the SWAYAM Credit Certificate.

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