UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS
B.Sc. DEGREE COURSE IN PLANT BIOLOGY AND PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY
SEMESTER SYSTEM WITH CREDITS
(Effective from the Academic Year 2003-2004)

SYLLABUS

Semester V - Paper VIII - Economic Botany

Lecture: 4 Hrs
Practicals: 2 Hrs per week

Unit 1 :

Introduction - Food Plants -Plant and Plant products of Industrial value. Cerials - Rice & Wheat. Millets - Cholam & Pearl millet. Nuts - Nuts with Protein content, Soya & Pea nuts - Nuts with fat content, Castor & Arachis.

Unit 2 :

Fibers & Fiber yielding plants - Cultivation, Classification, Extraction arid uses of Fibres. Soft Fibres, Corchorus & Linum - Hard Fibres. Manila Hemp - Musa textilis, Surface Fibres - Gossypium. Timber - Detailed study of harvesting and processing of wood in Tectona. Rubber - Extraction and processing with reference to Hevea braziliensis

Unit 3 :

Sugar - cultivation, harvesting and extraction with reference to Saccharum officinarum. Spices: Cultivation and harvesting of Eugenia caryophyllata - Beverages: Cultivation, harvesting and preparation of Coffea arabica and Thea sinensis. Pulp and Paper Industry - Raw materials, pattern of cultivation - Resource availability - Manufacture of pulp - Gums - Resins - Turpentine.

Unit 4 :

Definition, History and Scope of Pharmacognosy, Indigenous systems of medicine - Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy. Laxatives - Preparation, Sources, Discriptions, constituents, Chemical Tests and Uses - Aloe, Castor oil. Carminatives, Nutmeg, Black pepper & Cinnamon. Antitussives -Adhathoda and Ocimum

Unit V :

Sources, Discriptions, Constituents and uses of the following. Antirheumatic - Coichicine, Antitumour - via, Antidiabetic- Gymnema, Antiseptic - Neem and Diuretic - Chota Gokhrü. Vitamins - Amla, Enzymes - Papaya, Pharmaceutical aids - Different types of Starch and lemon grass oil.

PRACTICAL:

Items included in the theory.

REFERENCE BOOKS: