N.W.F.P Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan

Faculty of Crop Protection Sciences

Department of Plant Pathology

Established in 1985, the Department of Plant Pathology, with its main offices and post graduate research laboratories, is housed in the Plant Science Building (PSB) of the NWFP Agricultural University (NWFP-AU), Peshawar . Greenhouse facilities and Research Farm for field studies are located nearby at the NWFP-AU campus. The postgraduate research laboratories of the department are well equipped with modern equipments such as incubators, autoclaves, centrifuges, laminar flow cabinets, freeze drier and thermocycler etc.

The Department of Plant Pathology has a three pronged approach imparting high quality education, conducting problem-oriented research and transferring technology to solve the disease problems of agricultural/horticultural crops of the NWFP. The foreign qualified teaching faculty provides a stimulating academic environment to the students to pursue their study programmes leading to B.Sc.(Hons), M.Sc.(Hons) and Ph.D degrees. The students are required to have studied basic biology and introductory plant pathology courses for specializing in various disciplines of plant pathology i.e. mycology, plant virology, phytonematology and phytobacteriology. The research component of the department includes work on various externally funded research projects executed by faculty and actively participated by graduate students. These projects are aimed to control plant diseases through various management practices. Major outreach activities of the Department are the diagnosis of plant diseases, advice to farmers and those interested in agriculture on plant disease control and publication of various brochures regarding disease management. Besides this, a full fledged programme on mushroom cultivation is in progress to provide professional training to mushroom growers.

The department has been successful in providing trained manpower of plant pathology graduates in both public and private sector working on problems faced by the farming community. Since its inception, it has produced 162 graduates with bachelor and/or master degrees. Some of these graduates showed excellent performance during their academic tenure and received several awards such as Gold Medals (6), Presidential Awards (4), Silver Medals (4) and Bronze Medals (3).

We welcome you to the Department and will be more than happy to provide further information regarding the Department. Inquiries may please be directed to the Chairman, Department of Plant Pathology, NWFP-AU, Peshawar (Phone: 091-9216552) during office hours.

Syllabus In Plant Pathology
Graduate Courses:
The department offers the following 3-4 hours graduate courses for awarding B.Sc.(Hons Agriculture degree).
1.	Introductory plant pathology
2.	Introduction to plant pathogens
3.	Introduction to plant viruses
4.	Introduction to prokaryotes
5.	Introductory mycology
6.	Introductory plant nematology
7.	Diseases of field crops
8.	Plant resistance to diseases
9.	Diseases of fruit crops
10.	Diseases of vegetable crops
11.	Principles and methods of plant disease management
12.	Beneficial microorganisms
13.	Methods and research techniques in plant pathology
14.	Clinical plant pathology
15.	Fundamentals of plant pathology
16.	Seminar
17.	Review paper
18.	Internship/project study

Post Graduate courses:
The following courses are offered for the award of M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture and Ph.D degrees.
1.	Mycology-I
2.	Mycology-II
3.	Plant virology
4.	Plant bacteriology
5.	Plant nematology
6.	Variability & genetics of plant pathogens
7.	Seed pathology
8.	Plant disease management-I
9.	Plant disease management-II
10.	Molecular plant pathology
11.	Biology and cultivation of edible fungi
12.	Virus, viroids and phytoplasma diseases of plants
13.	Molecular plant virology
14.	Seminar
15.	Special Problem
16.	Thesis

Faculty Members
1.	Prof.Dr. Saifullah, Chairman
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1985), NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1988), NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
		Ph.D (1996) University of Wales, UK
		Research area: Nematode biocontrol. Mushroom cultivation

2.	Dr. Muhammad Arif, Professor
2.		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1983), NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan
		Ph.D (1995) University of Edinburgh, UK
		Post-Doc (2002-2003), USA
		Research area: Molecular plant virology; Virual diseases of agricultural crops

3.	Dr. Shaukat Hussain, Associate Professor
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1988) NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
		M.S. (1994) Oregon State University, USA
		Ph.D (2003) University of Abertay, UK
		Research area: Molecular Plant pathology, Biology and control of soil and seedborne microorganisms

4.	Dr. Fazli Raziq, Associate Professor
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1992), NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
		Ph.D (1998), The University of Reading, UK
		Research area: Biological and integrated control of fungal plant pathogens. Population dynamics of plant pathogens and their biocontrol agents
5.	Abdur Rafi, Assistant Professor
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1983), NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan
		M.S. (1992) University of Nebraska, USA.
		Research area: Epidemiology and control of bacterial diseases of crops

6.	Asad Ali, Lecturer
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1996), NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
		Research area: Control of viral diseases of vegetable crops

7.	Hakim Khan, Lecturer
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (1992), NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
		Research area: Ecology, epidemiology and management of fungal plant pathogens

8.	Syed Sartaj Alam, Lecturer
		M.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (2004), NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
		Research area: Biology, epidemiology and management of fungal plant pathogens