The University Botany Laboratory (UBL) was established in 1930 a small unit at the Agri-Horticultural Society’s Gardens on Cathedral Road. In 1933 the unit moved into its own Laboratory building constructed behind the Senate House at Chepauk. On elevation as the Centre of Advanced Study the department moved to the Centenary building of the University of Madras. In 1985, the department was shifted to the Guindy Campus, into a five-floor building. The department, besides the CAS-SAP status of the University Grants Commission received financial support through the UGC-COSIST and the DST-FIST programmes.
Prof. T. Ekambaram was the first Honorary Director of the Laboratory. He was a plant physiologist who had his training with Prof. F.F. Blackman. During Prof. T. Ekambaram’s short tenure as Director, three Master’s theses and few publications appeared.
In 1933, Prof. M.O.P. Iyengar took over as the first permanent Director. Prof. Iyengar had worked on algae with Prof. F.E. Fritsch in London and was a respected teacher and botanist. At the UBL, he established a school of research in algology, the first of its kind in the country. The work he initiated was broad based and covered limnological observations of fresh water, estuarine, and marine algae, besides systematics, morphology, life-histories and cytology of algae. These pioneering, work brought international acclaim to Prof. Iyengar and to the UBL. Especially noteworthy were the contributions of the group to our knowledge of green, red and blue-green algae and of diatoms. Prof. Iyengar was invited to contribute a Chapter on Chlorophyceae in the Manual of Phycology edited by Prof. Gilbert M. Smith published by Chronica Botanica. Contributions continued to flow from several students who had their training from Prof. Iyengar.
In 1944, there was a re-orientation of the work from algae to plant pathology and mycology with the appointment of Dr. T.S. Sadasivan to the Directorship of the UBL in succession to Prof. Iyengar on his retirement. To begin with, work was initiated on soil borne diseases of plants, especially Fusariose wilts of cotton and pigeon pea, and on the ecology of soil-borne fungal pathogens and their interactions with root systems of plants. Several other areas were taken up for study later and these included: physiology of fungi and the physiology of host-pathogen interactions, particularly in Fusariose wilts in plants; techniques of bioassay, especially of heavy metals using fungi, spectrochemical studies on uptake of ions by fungi and by plants, the role of vivotoxins and of fungal enzymes in diseases syndromes, and respiration and electrophoretic studies on plant tissues. For the first time in the country, a given disease such as Fusariose wilt of cotton plants was taken up for in-depth study from many angles; autecology and behaviour of the pathogen in soils, host-pathogen interactions and disease systems, pathogenesis, and the role of toxins and enzymes in wilt, and the basis of disease resistance. These studies were later on extended to understanding of other disease systems such as Pyricularia blast of paddy, and tikka of groundnut due to Cercospora. In every case, special attention was paid to elucidating the basis of resistance/susceptibility of cultivars to disease. The UBL gained recognition as the centre for plant pathology in the country and this was reflected in the invitation to Prof. Sadasivan to serve on the Editorial Board of the three- volume international treatise on Plant Pathology published by the Academic Press in 1959.
The first Doctoral thesis to be submitted from the UBL was in 1947 and was in the area of Plant Pathology by Prof. C.V, Subramanian. In recognition of the outstanding work done over the years at the UBL it was chosen by the University Grants Commission for elevation to the status of a Centre of Advanced Study in 1963. The UGC sanctioned a Chair in Mycology to which Prof. C.V. Subramanian was appointed in 1964. Additionally, the University created a Chair in Algology to which Dr. T.V. Desikachary was appointed in the same year. The UBL received generous assistance from the University Grants Commission, the UNESCO and the U.K. (Under Colombo Plan) by way grants and equipments.
Prof. Sadasivan retired in 1973 and was succeeded by Prof. C.V. Subramanian as Director. Prof. Subramanian relinquished the Directorship in 1976 to take up the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship awarded to him. He assumed again in July 1979. The Golden Jubilee of the department was celebrated in 1980 and an International Symposium was organized. He was the founder President of the Mycological Society of India. He also was a member of the University Grants Commission during 1979-82. Prof. C. V. Subramanian retired in 1985 and now resides in Chennai and is an active participant of the activities of the CAS in Botany. He recently inaugurated the Platinum Jubilee Celebration of the Botany Department and also the Asian Conference on “Emerging trends in Plant Microbial interaction held on December, 2005. He is a great source of inspiration and encouragement.
Prof. Mahadevan became Director and continued till his retirement in June 1998. Prof. Mahadevan strengthened the instrumentation facility of the Centre. During his time several sophisticated instruments were added to the facility which include: Transmission and scanning Electron Microscopes, high speed Centrifuges, recording spectrophotometers and spectrofluorimeter with computer terminals, Electroporator, PCR thermocyclers and research microscope with Phase contrast, dark field and fluorescent objectives. He introduced the Computer culture in the Centre and the administrative staffs were given training in handling Computers. Basically a Plant pathologist and biochemist, he was interested in the degradation of secondary metabolites especially the biochemical pathways. One of his important findings was to designate dissimilatory Plasmids that were involved in microbial degradation of aromatic compounds. His other interest included: forest ecology, bioremediation, gene sequencing and bioinformatics. He organized an International workshop in 1986 to mark the Centenary Celebration of the eminent algologist Prof. M.O.P. Iyengar which was followed by an International Symposium on Phycology in 1987. The Indian Botanical Society elected Prof. Mahadevan as its Secretary and the Annual Conference was held in 1988 at the CAS in Botany. He also organized the Asian Conference on Mycorrhiza and the Asian Mycological Conference. He conducted the International symposium on Phycology to celebrate the 75th Birth anniversary of Prof. T.V. Desikachary in 1994 and the International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria in 1996. The laboratory manual published with his student Dr. R. Sridhar is a popular book of research scholars. He was succeeded by Prof. D. Lalithakumari.
Prof. Lalithakumari concentrated to work on Plant disease management first with reference to chemical fungicides and pesticides and later on with biological control of plant diseases. She developed protocols for protoplast fusion techniques in fungi, especially for strain improvement. Bioremediation of xenobiotic compounds and Industrial effluents, molecular mechanism of fungicide resistance, forecasting fungicide resistance, extra chromosomal and gene involvement in which in fungicide resistance, characterization of mitochondrial of genomic DNA of plant pathogen, mechanism of degradation of textile mill dyes, heavy metal detoxification and degradation of hydrocarbons were the topics perused during her period. Prof. Lalithakumari conducted several training programmes and workshops for the benefit of not only researchers but also for rural women and farmers. She convened the National Symposium on Phycology in the New Millennium and also the Annual meeting of the Phytopathological Society. Prof. Lalithakumari was also the coordinator of the Indian herbal Science Programme and developed Agrotechniques for selected medicinal Plants. She revived the Dr. E.K. Janaki Ammal Herbal garden at Maduravoyal and trained students in the study of medicinal plants. She was President of the AMI (Madras Chapter) and Fellow of the Indian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Prof. Lalithakumari was recipient of the Hari Om Ashram Award, The Best Women Scientist award and Tamil Nadu State award for Environment. Prof. Lalihakumari retired in 2003. She moved to British Guyana on a teaching assignment and now is a research scientist at Michigan State University.
Prof. N. Anand became the Director in 2003. He took his Ph.D. under the guidance of the eminent Phycologists of the country, Prof. T.V. Desikachary and was awarded the D.Sc., degree of the University of Madras in 2004. He concentrated on developing modern infrastructure in the Centre besides improving the academic ambience in the Centre. He also served as the Dean (Research) of the Univeristy of Madras. He worked the micro-algae especially on the taxonomy and biology of the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). The Ministry of Environment and Forests designated him as the Coordinator of the All India Coordinated Project on Taxonomy of algae in 2003 which he continues. He organized several training programmes, national conferences and participated in the organization of the 150th year celebrations of the Univeristy of Madras. He was succeeded by Prof. R. Rengasamy on January 2008.
Prof. R. Rengasamy joined the Centre in 1976, joined the faculty and obtained his Ph.D in 1981 under the guidance of Prof. V. S. Sundaralilngam. He has been working on ultrastructure and usefulness marine algae. His areas of interest include: cultivation of marine algae, investigate the role of sea weeds in bioremediation and as source of bioproducts, biofuels from microalgae and molecular taxonomy of microalgae. He recently organized a National conference on algal Biodiversity and Biotechnology. Additional grants from UGC for strengthening the infrastructure is now being utilized effectively. Prof. Rengasamy has been establishing rapport with Industries through projects and recently visited Australia for a major collaboration for research on Biofuels from algae.
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The department also has Prof. K. Manibushan Rao D.Sc., Prof. K. Natarajan. Prof. B.P.R. Vittal and Dr. M.V. Viswanathan as Emeritus Professors. Prof. G. Kulandaivelu has recently joined as Sesquicentennial Emeritus Professor. Dr. K. Janardhanan has joined as UGC Emeritus Professor. The Centre has also Research Associates under the DST-Women Scientist Programme, Dr. Sivakami Sundari, Dr. Prema Paul and Ms. Meena.
The Centre has been concentrating on research in three major thrust areas namely, Algology, Mycology and Plant Pathology. Ph. D., programme is the strength of the Centre. There are also M. Phil and post-graduate teaching programmes, M.Sc., Applied Plant Science and M.Sc. Industrial Microbiology. The Centre has excellent basic facilities, sophisticated Instrumentation facility, Library facility, networking facility and field laboratory.
The motto of the Centre from the time of inception is research of excellence.
Prof. N. Anand., D. Sc
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