Going with this year’s theme, ‘Variation’, Department of Biology planned a field trip for students to College of Agriculture, Pune. With an aim to create awareness about various fields in Biology, whose collective effort helps in betterment of human welfare, as well as livestock, vegetation and Soil itself.

Students could visit various departments and experienced actual field work. This hands-on experience gave them exposure to understand the efforts and importance of research and technology. It also helped them to understand commercial aspects in professional fields.

Students asked many questions to experts and expressed satisfaction about visit. They also felt that this field trip brought them near to Nature and it was a nice break from routine metropolitan life.

Departments visited:

1. Tissue Culture: Availability of Cash crops like Banana, soyabean and so on throughout the year in bulk is possible because of millions of plantlets formed at a time by tissue culture technique.

Students here could see all the step involved in the process.

2. Biotechnology: Formation of genetically modified, disease resistance crops like cotton, Brinjal or vit A fortified crops like golden rice , these examples of BT crops develop by modern technology open a new door in enhancement in food production. In this department Students could actual experience the working of Gene multiplication machine (PCR).

3. Polyhouse technique: Mass Cultivation of commercial flowering plants like rose, etc in a humid environment of polyhouse created by modern technique of glass panes and drip irrigation ensures protection from outside fluctuating environment and diseases. This results in mass production and quality maintenance.

Students like this department the most and spend lots of time here.

4. Biofertilizer and organic farming

Use of Algae like Anabaena to enhance protein content in crops is a new technique which ensures high quality produce without soil erosion. Students could experience how it is undertaken in this section.

5. Soil science: Here students got hand on experience of working of automated machines to find out NPK value of soil. They got to know how this department helps farmers by soil analysis and giving suggestions of needed fertilisers.

Here students also visited a Soil and Rock Museum.

6. Agronomy and Horticulture

Formation of different varieties of crops by hybridisation techniques to bring about green revolution is a research field where students were amazed to experience human adaptation of nature’s knowledge.

7. Sericuture and Pisciculture

Artificial rearing of silk worms and fishes, how it is done and what are it advantages, students could see in the actual field.