The legacy of CSIR-NBRI dates back to the periods of Nawabs of Lucknow. Nawab Saadat Ali Khan, who laid the foundation of Awadh dynasty of the Shia Nawabs of Iranian lineage, established a royal garden in 1800 AD. Later, during the first half of 19th century, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, named this garden as ‘Sikandar Bagh’ to honour his wife Queen Sikandar Mahal Begum. The remains of this historic garden are still there, witnessing the evolution of the garden into an institute of international repute.
‘Sikandar Bagh’ was renamed as the ‘Government Horticulture Garden’ during the British rule and became an active centerfor horticultural activities. Later in 1932, Prof. Birbal Sahni and Dr S.K. Mukherjee of Lucknow University transformed it into a ‘Botanic Garden’ for cultivation and study of medicinal plants. With the approval of Upper Province (U.P.) Government in 1948, the Botanic Garden was again developed and rechristened as “National Botanic Garden”. In 1953, the National Botanic Garden was taken over by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and on October 25, 1978, got its present name ‘National Botanical Research Institute’ (NBRI).
Role of CSIR-NBRI in plant diversity documentation and conservation
Discovering the myriad diversity in plant world and understanding the complex web of plant life are important challenges in plant science research today. Since its inception, plant diversity and conservation researches at CSIR-NBRI have been oriented towards enriching the knowledge base on plant diversity of India and its systematic documentation, conservation and sustainable utilization through traditional and modern approaches. During its early days as National Botanic Garden, the institute was actively engaged in taxonomy, horticulture, phytochemistry and pharmacognosy of medicinal and aromatic plants, virology and plant pathology. Later with its revised mandate as CSIR-NBRI, several new areas have been added resulting into the development of an institute that is taking up various research programmes in plant science, ranging from classical taxonomy to modern molecular biology.
NBRI taxonomists, who are specialists in identifying, naming and classifying the diverse groups of plants, conducted a number of floristic explorations in different geographic zones of the country, including the humid tropical evergreen forests of the north-east, the high altitude cold deserts in the north Himalayas, and the Indo-Gangetic plains of northern India. Their sustained efforts over the last 75 years have resulted in systematic enumeration and documentation of various plant groups from algae to flowering plants, discovery of over 130 new plant species, new records of extended distribution of more than 500 plant species to India, preparation of taxonomic monographs on more than 60 genera of non-flowering and flowering plants, floristic inventories of many of the protected areas in India, and ethnobotanical resource inventories of tribes of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Plant diversity and prospection studies taken up by CSIR-NBRI have not only helped to understand the status of plant wealth of the country but also to develop several commercially viable products and technologies as well as standardization of more than 300 raw single herbal drugs and more than 40 poly herbal formulations for the benefit of the society.
In 1956, The U.P. Government awarded about 150 acres of ‘Usar’ land to NBG as a challenge to develop a nursery and a research farm. Over the period of time, it has emerged as a R&D center of research on usar soil reclamation and plant improvement programmes.
CSIR-NBRI had a remarkable presence in Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh for its work on betel vine during 1982-2002. The Uttar Pradesh government allotted 10 acres of land in two parts of 5 acre each in 1983 and 1991 for the development of research center to continue the work on betelvine. The center provided technological support to the betelvine growers of the area. The upkeep and maintenance of the fields was later sponsored by DPAP programme and Mandi Parishad of Uttar Pradesh government. Though the major thrust of the center was identification and management of diseases and agronomical aspects, multidisciplinary research including morphological and chemical studies for identification and classification of varieties, agronomy, pathology, post-harvest physiology and senescens, biotechnological parameters for identification of cultivars and pathogens, cultivation through in-vitro tissue culture techniques, quality characterstics and value addition and PCR profiling of the betelvine landraces for assessment of genetic diversity were also done.
Similarly, in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh, CSIR-NBRI conducted a demonstration project on rehabilitation of derelict sodic land (pH 10.00-10.45) during 1984-89. The Banthra Research Station, Lucknow of CSIR-NBRI has been working on reclamation and rehabilitation of in hospitable alkali soils through biological means. The scientist of the institute has made extensive research on 190 ha barren land and over the years a large man-made forest with diverse species belonging to different plant species has been developed which serves as a model forest system for studying productivity and nutrient cycling. The institute is also working on plantation of medicinal, aromatic as well as ornamental plants at degraded land not only to save the diversity of these herbal plants but also to minimize the pressure on crop lands by reclaiming the degraded land and its utilization to fulfil the demand of Indian plant material in world market.
Currently the Plant Diversity, Systematics and Herbarium division of CSIR-NBRI is involved in the floristic study of Suhelwa wildlife sanctuary and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. Studies on some specific groups of plants such as Acanthaceae, Lamiaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Asteraceae of Uttar Pradesh, herbaceous flora of Lucknow and its adjoining districts, cultivated legumes of Uttar Pradesh are in progress. A total of 457 species under 340 genera belonging to 71 families have been reported from Lucknow and adjoining districts Barabanki, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao and Raebareli. A list of 185 weed species of Rabi crops has also been prepared. CSIR-NBRI has recently prepared an account of 150 tree species with data on their identification, phenology, distribution, uses etc. and published as ‘Trees of Uttar Pradesh- Part I’ by Chaudhary et al. (2016) in collaboration of Department of Forests & Wildlife, Uttar Pradesh Biodiversity Board and the Times Group, Lucknow.
Ethnobotanical studies have also been carried out in the tribal communities (Tharus, Kol, Gonds, Bhoksa, Kharwars, Musahars and Baigas) of different parts of Uttar Pradesh by Wagh (2016), Prakash (2011) and Prakash and Singh (2000). A 3D gallery was also established in the exposition of the institute to showcase the life style and use of plants by Tharu tribe of Uttar Pradesh.
The Lichenological lab of CSIR-NBRI conducted two projects related to lichens of Uttar Pradesh, funded by Uttar Pradesh State Biodiversity Board. One of the aims was to sensitize stakeholders for biodiversity conservation. A total of 10 awareness workshops were organized and training was imparted to about 85 participants including forest officials, villagers and students. All the districts of Uttar Pradesh including protected areas were surveyed. Recently, Nayaka and Upreti (2013) published ‘Lichens of Uttar Pradesh’ and provided an account of 135 lichen species belonging to 46 genera and 25 families. It included 61 new records to Uttar Pradesh and 11 new records for India. At present Uttar Pradesh is represented by 156 lichen species.
Sahu and Asthana (2015) reported 29 species of bryophytes from Terai region of Uttar Pradesh belonging to 20 genera of 15 families including 08 new records to the state. Subsequently, Rawat et al. (2016) published a checklist of 79 mosses (bryophytes) of Gangetic plains falling under 40 genera of 19 families. Algology group of the Institute has documented 43 taxa of algae from Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh.
Singh et al. (2017) provided a checklist of 59 Pteridophytes of Uttar Prdesh. At present, about 65 species belonging to 32 genera of Pteridophytes including some relic and economically important taxa of ferns and fern-allies are conserved in the fern-house of CSIR-NBRI. In addition, Singh and Johri (2015) also documented the ethnobotanical information regarding the use of Pteridophytes by Tharu tribes in Terrai regions of Uttar Pradesh.
