DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
AND
PLANT BREEDING
Department
of Agronomy and Plant Breeding offers degrees both at the undergraduate (B.Sc.) and
graduate (M.Sc.) levels.
Research Activities
Research activities in the department include the
application of both conventional and modern techniques in crop improvement and production. In the area of crop improvement, the research is conventionally
focused on the study of inheritance of quantitative traits, cytogenetics and
breeding of different crops. Cell and tissue culture is employed in cereal
improvement including the production of double haploid lines via another
culture, in vitro selection for environmental stresses and germplasm
preservation through embryo rescue.
In the area of crop production, the research is
concentrated on the optimization of plant density, planting date, fertilizer
application and conservative tillage systems in several locally grown crops.
The department is embarking on research on the evaluation
of genetic variability of endogenous crop species, especially the locally grown
land races.
Research Facilities
The facilities available for research include:
-
Spectrophotometer
- Various kinds
of microscopes
- Leaf and root
area meters
- Laminar
airflow cabinets
- Germinators
- Growth
chambers
- Cold rooms
- Autoclave
-
Electrophoresis
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
To obtain a B.Sc. degree in Agronomy and Plant Breeding
undergraduate students must take a total of 135 credits of which 20 credits are
general, 32 credits basic, 76 credits core, and 11 credits are elective courses.
UNDERGRADUATE
COURSES
Curriculum for the Degree of Bachelor of Science
in Agricultural Sciences: Agronomy &
Plant Breeding
Semester
I (Fall)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36100 |
General Biology |
2 |
|
36101 |
Botany I (Plant Anatomy & Physiology) |
3 |
|
19081 |
Calculus |
2 |
|
21107 |
General Chemistry |
3 |
|
20008 |
General Physics |
2 |
|
20009 |
General Physics Lab |
1 |
|
- |
General Courses |
5 |
Semester
II (Spring)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36102 |
Botany II (Plant Taxonomy & Morphology) |
3 |
|
36266 |
Probability & Statistics |
3 |
|
36263 |
Genetics |
3 |
|
36260 |
General Agronomy |
3 |
|
21204 |
Organic Chemistry |
3 |
|
- |
General Courses |
3 |
Semester
III (Fall)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36240 |
Introduction to Soil Science |
3 |
|
36285 |
General Biochemistry |
3 |
|
36211 |
Irrigation |
3 |
|
36264 |
Meteorology and Climatology |
3 |
|
36262 |
Cereal Crops |
3 |
|
- |
General Courses |
2 |
Semester
IV (Spring)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36220 |
Agricultural Economics |
3 |
|
36366 |
Industrial Crops |
3 |
|
36290 |
Farm Machinery |
4 |
|
36271 |
Plant Pathology |
3 |
|
36270 |
General Entomology & Pest Control |
3 |
|
- |
General Courses |
2 |
Semester
V (Fall)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36250 |
Introduction to Animal Science |
3 |
|
36340 |
Soil, Water & Plant Relations |
3 |
|
36230 |
Horticultural Science |
4 |
|
36363 |
Principles of Plant Breeding |
3 |
|
36267 |
Experimental Design in Agriculture I |
3 |
|
- |
General Courses |
2 |
Semester
VI (Spring)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36268 |
Field - Work Training |
3 |
|
36362 |
Weeds & Weed Control |
3 |
|
36368 |
Crop Physiology |
3 |
|
36224 |
Agricultural Education |
3 |
|
- |
General Courses |
2 |
|
- |
Elective Courses |
3 |
Semester
VII (Fall)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36361 |
Dry Land Farming |
3 |
|
36265 |
General Ecology |
3 |
|
36466 |
Forage Crops |
2 |
|
- |
General Courses |
2 |
|
- |
Elective Courses |
5 |
Semester
VIII (Spring)
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36364 |
Breeding Field Crops |
3 |
|
36460 |
Seminar in Agronomy & Plant Breeding |
1 |
|
36461 |
Training in Agronomy & Plant Breeding |
2 |
|
36401 |
Introduction to Computer |
2 |
|
- |
General Courses |
2 |
|
- |
Elective Courses |
3 |
Elective
Courses
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36365 |
Experimental Design in Agriculture II |
3 |
|
36465 |
Pulse Crops |
2 |
|
36360 |
Range Management |
3 |
|
36390 |
Agricultural Mechanization |
3 |
|
36213 |
Surveying & Planimetry |
3 |
|
36463 |
Cytology |
3 |
UNDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
36260
General Agronomy 3
Cr. Crops classification, plant organs,
environment, seedbed, date, rate and depth of planting, planting machinery,
irrigation, thinning, cultivation, transplanting, fertilizers, insects,
diseases, weeds, harvesting, rotation, storage.
Prerequisite:
Plant Science I, 36101.
36262
Cereal Crops 3 Cr. Origin morphology, adaptation, varieties,
rotation, seedbed, fertilizer, date and method of planting, irrigation, weeds,
insects, diseases, harvesting and storage are discussed for cereal crops.
Prerequisite:
General Agronomy 36260.
36263
Genetics 3 Cr. History of genetics, mendelian genetics,
monohybrid crosses, dihybrid crosses, linkage and crossing over, sex linkage,
allelic interaction, gene interaction, DNA structure, replication,
transcription, translation, mutation, chromosomal mutation, aneuploidy,
euploidy, population and quantitative genetics.
Prerequisite:
General Biology 36100
36266
Probability & Statistics 3
Cr. Frequency distribution, measures of central
tendency and dispersion, probability, binomial, poisson and normal
distributions, estimation theory, test of hypothesis, t-x 2 and distribution,
analysis of variance, chi Square test,
regression and correlation, nonparametric statistics.
36267
Experimental Design in Agriculture I
3 Cr. Principles of experimental
design, completely randomized design (CRD), Randomized Complete Block Design
(RCBD), Latin Square Design (LS), Factorial Experiments, confounded design,
split-plot design.
Prerequisite:
Statistics 36266
36361
Dryland Farming 3 Cr. Climatology, soil suitability, environment,
plant, seedbed, rotation, fertilizer, planting and weeds.
Prerequisite: General Agronomy 36260.
36362
Weeds and Their Control 3
Cr. Damages to agriculture, growth stages,
classification, ecology and mechanical, ecological, biological and chemical
controls of weeds. Prerequisite : Botany II, 36102.
36363
Principles of Plant Breeding 3
Cr. Plant reproduction and seed development.
Apomixis in crop improvement. Self-incompatibility, self-sterility, selection
in self pollinated crops. Selection in cross pollinated crops. Breeding Systems
in self and cross pollinated crops. Hybrid varieties. Heterosis, heritability,
general and specific combining ability.
Prerequisite:
Genetics 36263
36364
Breeding Field Crops 3
Cr. Breeding, wheat, barley, triticale, rice,
soybean, corn, sorghum, cotton, sugarbeets, sugarcane, flax, sunflower, and
forage crops including alfalfa and clover. Prerequisite:
Principles of Plant-Breeding 36363
36365
Experimental Design in Agriculture II
3 Cr. Confounding, split plot
designs, nested and cross designs, expected value of mean square, combined
analysis, ANOVA assumptions and data transformation, incomplete block designs.
Prerequisite: Experimental Design in Agriculture I 36267
36366
Industrial Crops 3 Cr. Origin, morphology, adaptation, varieties,
rotation, seedbed, fertilizer, date and method of planting, irrigation, weeds,
insects, diseases, harvesting and storage are discussed for oilseed, textile
and sugar crops, potato and tobacco.
Prerequisite:
General Agronomy 36260.
36465
Pulse and Local Crops 2 Cr. Origin, morphology, adaptation, varieties,
rotation, seedbed, fertilizer, date and method of planting, irrigation, weeds,
insects, diseases, harvesting and storage are discussed for pulse crops and
saffron.
Prerequisite: General Agronomy 36260.
GRADUATE PROGRAM
M.Sc. Program
To obtain M.Sc. degree in Plant Breeding graduate
students must take a total of 32 credits of which 19 credits are compulsory
courses, 6 credits are elective, 1 credit is seminar and 6 credits are thesis.
The following
table is a list of academic staff and their research interests.
GRADUATE
COURSES
|
COURSE CODE |
COURSETITLE |
CREDITS |
|
36501 |
Research Methods |
2 |
|
36761 |
Advanced Statistical Methods |
3 |
|
36661 |
Quantitative Genetics |
2 |
|
36660 |
Advanced Genetics |
3 |
|
36608 |
Crops Physiology |
3 |
|
36665 |
Advanced Plant Breeding |
3 |
|
36662 |
Biometry I |
2 |
|
36664 |
Cytogenetics |
3 |
|
36517 |
Thesis I |
2 |
|
36400 |
Computer Programing |
3 |
|
36663 |
Biometry II |
2 |
|
36666 |
Topics in Plant Breeding |
2 |
|
36669 |
Seminar in Plant Breeding |
1 |
|
36668 |
Applied Plant Breeding II |
2 |
|
36518 |
Thesis II |
2 |
|
36760 |
Special Topics |
2 |
|
36519 |
Thesis III |
2 |
GRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
36501
Research Methods 2
Cr. Introduction (Aims, description, types), scientific methods, research phases; choice
of topic and preparation of research projects; research proposal writing,
preparing a bibliography; scientific writing (reports, articles); presentation
skills.
36660
Advanced Genetics 3 Cr. Extrachromosomal inheritance, mutation,
genetics of bacteria and their viruses, transposable elements, polyploidy and
aneuploidy, DNA recombinant technology,
genetic engineering, Molecular genetics and molecular analysis of gene.
36661
Quantitative Genetics 3
Cr. Genetic constitution of a population including
gene and genotypic frequencies, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Changes of gene
frequency in random mating and small populations. Linkage and in breeding.
Continuous variation. Values, means and gene effects. Resemblance between
relatives. Variance components. Mating designs.
36662
Biometry I 2 Cr. Linear regression and correlation including
estimate of the model, test of hypothesis and matrix algebra. Multiple
regression and correlation. Stepwise regression, nonlinear relations, general
linear models, Anova with regression method.
36663
Biometry II 2 Cr. Samples from multivariate normal population,
multivariate analysis of variance, cononical correlation and principal
components analysis. Factor and cluster analysis.
36664
Cytogenetics 3 Cr. History of cytogenetics, structure of
chromosomes, meiotic pachytene chromosomes, cytological basis of crossing over,
variations in chromosome type, chromosome structure and numbers.
36665
Advanced Plant Breeding 3 Cr. Natural
breeding systems including apomixis, incompatibility and male sterility.
Comparison of different breeding methods. Maximizing genetic improvement,
genotype X environment interaction and stability analysis. Germplasm and plant
breeding. Mutation, Polyploidy, Breeding for quality and resistance to biotic
and abiotic stresses.
36668
Applied Plant Breeding 2 Cr. Tissue culture : preparation of media and
explant, embryo rescue, mature embryo culture, anther culture; Interspecific
hybridization; emasculation and pollination techniques; application of
colchicine/inducing auto-and allopolyploids, techniques of breeding for rust
resistance.