BOT4013: Advanced Ecology (30 lecture hrs + 30 practical hrs)
Quantitative description of vegetation, Sampling, Association between species, Plant communities, Classification, Ordination, Pattern, Habitats and ecosystems of Sri Lanka
BOT4022: Horticulture, Floriculture and Landscaping (25 lecture hrs + 15 practical hrs)
Divisions of horticulture, Advantageous and limitations, Classification of horticultural plants, Plant propagation methods, Cultivation of horticultural plants, Nurseries, Application of hydroponics in horticulture, Cut flower production, Principles of landscaping, Designing, Installing and maintenance, Nursery production, Site selection, Selection of plants (Trees, Shrubs, Herbaceous, and Grasses etc.), Post-planting immediate care, Pruning and training of plants, Pruning methods, Pruning tools, Art of Bonsai, Wildlife gardening
BOT4032: Microbial ecology (25 lecture hrs + 15 practical hrs)
Plant-microbe interactions (rhizosphere, phyllosphere, role in disease resistance), Ecology of soil and aquatic microorganisms (interactions with environment, role in biogeochemical cycles), Microbiology of air, Unusual environments, Case studies
BOT4042: Applied Microbiology (30 lecture hrs)
Principles of Industrial Microbiology (Properties of the ideal strain, fermentation media and systems (bioreactor designs), downstream processing, product development), Microbes as Living Factories: Biocatalysis of useful Products, Organic synthesis, synthesis of optically pure drugs, antibiotics, polysaccharides and polyesters, microbial biomass, food additives etc., Microbial Enzymes (production and application), Food and Beverage Fermentation, Microbes and Energy, Biomass to fuels (ethanol, methane), bacterial batteries, Environmental Applications (Biodegradation and bioremediation, sewage and wastewater treatment, mineral recovery, biodeterioration), Medical microbiology
BOT4053: Advanced Plant Pathology (30 lecture hrs + 30 practical hrs)
Molecular plant pathology- Genetics of host-pathogen interactions (gene for gene interaction, recognition and triggering resistance), Hypersensitive reaction (oxidative burst, cell death), Induced resistance in plants (local and systemic), Putative signal transduction pathways towards systemic resistance, Biotechnology in plant protection (Diagnosis, transgenics etc.), Diseases caused by proteins, Molecular tools used in plant pathology
Ecological plant pathology - Disease assessment, Epidemiology, Disease forecasting, Plant disease management (chemical, cultural, biological control, etc. and integrated approaches)
BOT4062: Advanced Molecular Biology (25 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs)
Isolation of DNA, RNA and proteins, Quality & quantity assessments, Tools used in molecular biology (enzymes and vectors), DNA sequencing, Probe labelling, PCR techniques, Southern, Northern and Western blotting, Detection methods, Electrophoresis techniques and their practical applications, Human genome project, Transposons and their practical applications, Seminars in molecular biology, Genome organization, Transcription in eukaryotes, Post transcriptional modifications
BOT4072: Economic Botany and Entrepreneurship (30 lecture hrs)
Concepts of economics, Agro forestry, Mangroves, Medicinal plants, Plantation crops in Sri Lanka, Fruits and vegetables, Fibre and Timber, Spices, oils, gums etc., Algae, Microorganisms, Concepts of entrepreneurship, Excursions
BOT4083: Forestry and Forest Management (30 lecture hrs + 30 practical hrs)
Forest classification and Biomes, Forest mensuration, The use of Remote sensing and GIS in forestry, Silviculture and different silvicultural systems, Forest planning, Forest resource management, Uses of forests, Forest policy in Sri Lanka, Forest protection, Forest fires, diseases and pests, Agro forestry, Invasive plants
BOT4092: Food Technology (25 lecture hrs +15 practical hrs) Optional for students following Special Degree in Botany
History, Use of microorganisms in food industry, Preservation of food, Nutritional level of food, Post-harvest technology, Genetically-engineered food, Food production and processing and packaging, Properties of food, Food nutrition and consumption
BOT4102: Plant Tissue Culture (25 lecture hrs + 15 practical hrs)
In vitro methods in plant tissue, Micropropagation, Callus and suspension cultures, Organ cultures, Organogenesis, Embryogenesis, Haploid cultures, Protoplast cultures, Somaclonal variation, Protoplast culture, In vitro production of secondary metabolites, Virus free plants and Rejuvenation, Applications of tissue culture in Sri Lanka, Conservation, Cryopreservation
BOT4112: Weed Biology and management (20 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs)
Introduction, Characteristics of weeds, Weed spread and evolution, Problems and Losses Caused by Weeds, Weed control: Herbicides (application, mechanisms of action, transformations in plants, persistence and behaviour in soil, Environmental Fate of Herbicides, Herbicide Behaviour in Plants, Herbicide Formulations, Herbicide Families and Characteristics, Developing a Weed Management Program, Herbicide Resistance), Organic Weed Management, Weed Management in Selected Crops, Vegetables, and Turf, Invasive species, Paddy field and aquatic weeds
BOT4122: Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (30 lecture hrs)
History of biotechnology, Gene cloning and expression, In vitro mutagenesis, Transgenic plants and animals, Agricultural biotechnology, Biotechnology in medicine, Biotechnology in crop protection, Applications molecular tools, Ethics in biotechnology, Seminars
BOT4133: Advanced Plant Physiology (35 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs)
Crop photosynthesis and yield, Metabolic and structural factors influencing photosynthetic rate, Light distribution and canopy structure, Limitations of crop yield by weather and climate, Partitioning and re-mobilization of photosynthetic assimilates, Translocation and source sink relationship, Biochemical adaptations of plants to the environment, Biochemistry of C3 – C4 intermediate species, Calcium in plants and its role of controlling stomatal function, Secondary plant metabolites
BOT4142: Advanced Environmental Science (25 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs) Optional for students following Special Degree in Botany
The global environment – (population growth, decline of vital life support ecosystems, global atmospheric changes, loss of biodiversity), Sustainability, Biodiversity – (assessment methods, values, threats and conservation), Red data book, Waste management, Agriculture related environmental problems, Bio-indicators and bio-monitoring, Principles of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Legal aspects of EIA, Challenges of EIA, Legal aspects of environmental pollution in Sri Lanka
BOT4152: Advanced Plant Virology (20 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs) Optional for students following Special Degree in Botany
History of plant virus, Properties of virus, Principles of electron microscope techniques, Characteristics of plant viruses, Virus genome, Infection process and virus synthesis, Translocation and distribution of viruses in plants, Physiology of virus-infected plants, Plant virus diseases and symptoms, Detection and identification of plant viruses, Transmission of plant viruses in nature, Plant virus disease control, Plant diseases caused by viroids and phytoplasma
BOT4162: Wood Science and technology (20 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs)
Terminology, Structure of wood, Physical properties of wood, Mechanical properties of wood, Identification of wood species, Defects of woods, Grading of woods/timber, Common and specific uses of wood, Wood seasoning, Wood preservation, Wood based industries in Sri Lanka
BOT4172: Techniques in Plant breeding (25 lecture hrs + 15 practical hrs)
History of plant breeding, Conventional breeding methods (mass selection, pure line selection, hybridization, single seed descent, backcross breeding, recurrent selection methods, synthetic varieties), Modern plant breeding methods (molecular markers, quantitative trait loci, gene mapping, selectable marker genes, Protoplast culture techniques, anther culture),
BOT4181: Herbarium Methodologies
Herbaria and Herbarium Specimens, Annotation of herbarium specimens, Annotation of type specimens, Bibliography of literature useful to the study of plants in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka plant collecting: regulations and permitting, Preparation of plant specimens for deposit as herbarium vouchers (Students are required to collect prescribed number of specimens and submit as a herbarium collection at the end of the second year of the Special Degree programme)
BOT4192: Advanced Plant Systematic (20 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs)
Species concept, Phenotypic plasticity and polymorphism, Importance of plant systematics, Taxonomic data: morphological, anatomical, embryological, palynological, phonological, cytogenetics, phytochemistry and reproductive biology in plant systematics, Introduction to plant molecular systematics: different methods and molecular markers, analysis of molecular data, Herbarium methods and filed techniques, Assignments on plant collections and preparing herbarium specimens
BOT4202: Ecotoxicology (20 lecture hrs + 21 practical hrs) Optional for students following Special Degree in Botany
Basic concepts and terminology, Toxicology and its branches, Classification of toxins/ toxicants, Toxicity and toxicity testing, Factors affecting the toxicity’ Toxicity of mixtures of toxicants, Performance criteria in toxicity tests, Hazard and risk assessments, Environmental fate of toxicants, Bioindicators and biomarkers, Biotoxins with special reference to algal and cyanobacterial toxins
BOT4213: Biostatistics (30 lecture hrs + 30 practical hrs)
MAS3223 conducted by the Department of mathematics and practicals with computer software applications which includes; Fundamental concepts in probability, Random variables, Means, Variance and expected values, Classification and description of sample data, Sampling distributions, Estimations, Hypothesis testing, Regression analysis, Analysis of variance, Scientific applications, Exercises with applications of computer software for data analysis
BOT4223: Molecular evolution and Phylogenetics (30 lecture hrs + 30 practical hrs)
Molecular evolution, Gene substitution, Gene fixation, Multiple hits, Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Nucleotide diversity, DNA sequence alignment, Sequence analysis, Tajima’s D statistics, Molecular clock, Molecular phylogeny, Phylogenetic trees, Species tree VS gene tree, Methods of tree building (Distance, Parsimony and Likelihood); UPGMA, NJ, ML, MP trees, Bootstrap analysis, Use of computer software for sequence alignment, editing and analysis, Genbank searching
BOT4232: Plant Ecophysiology (25 lecture hrs + 15 practical hrs) Optional for students following Special Degree in Botany
Plant cell and its environment, Plant growth and plant growth analysis, Interactions between plant life and environmental parameters, Light environment of plants and measurements, Water status and water stress, Methods of assessing water status and water stress, Dendroclimatology, Stable carbon isotope in plant ecophysiology studies
BOT4241: Seed Physiology and Technology (10 lecture hrs + 09 practical hrs)
Seed morphology, Orthodox and recalcitrant seeds, Planting value of seeds, Physical, biochemical and performance tests for seed quality, Seed deterioration, Seed processing, Soil seed bank
BOT4252: Training in proper use of equipment (90 practical hrs)
Microscope (light, phase contrast, fluorescent, microphotography), Photo printing, pH meter, Column chromatography, PCR machine and related equipment, DNA/RNA hybridization equipment, Lyophilizer, TLC, HPLC, GLC, and other chromatographic techniques, Soxhlet extractor, Growth chamber etc.
BOT4262: Scientific Report writing and Seminars
BOT4276: Research project
Each student will be required to conduct a research project related to his/her field of specialization during the fourth year. The project should be approved by the Department. Students are expected to complete the research during the last semester. The candidate must submit the results as a dissertation and present a seminar.
ZOO4092: Conservation and Management of Biological Resources (30 lecture hrs + 30practical hrs)
ZOO4164: Conservation and Management of Environment (30 lecture hrs + 60 practical hrs)