History
Botanical research in the National Research Centre started since its early beginning in the fifties as a Research Unit of Plant Physiology and a Research Unit of Plant Growth Regulators and Biochemistry. Later on, in the sixties the following units were established:
– Water relations
– Physiology of Plant Nutrition
– Physiological Anatomy
– Post Harvest Physiology
– Enzymes and Proteins
In 1968, all these units together with the not yet fully established Institute of Plant Production, and a group working on Medical Plants were regrouped in the frame of reorganization to build the so called Botany Laboratory as a part of the Agricultural and Biological Research Division.
In 1987, the name was changed to be Botany Department.
Since the emerging of all those units, the Botany department was the largest Department in the National Research Centre. Therefore it was divided in the eighties into different more or less independent research groups as follows:
• Field crops (physiology and production)
• Fruit crops (physiology and production)
• Vegetable crops (physiology and production)
• Medicinal and ornamental plants (physiology and production)
• General plant physiology
• Weed physiology and herbicides
• Physiology of plant growth regulators
• Ecological physiology and adaptation
• Water relations physiology and irrigation
• Algae and plant nutrition
In the early nineties, the Department was reorganized and two new departments for Field Crops Research and Horticulture were established comprises the first research group mentioned above as well as the second and the third groups, respectively. The Medicinal and Ornamental plants group was later on attached to the Horticulture Department.
In 1995, the groups remained in the Botany Department were redistributed and named as follows:
• Algae and plant nutrition
• Weed Biology and Control
• Developmental Physiology and Growth Regulators
• Water Relations and Acclimatization
In 2002, plant nutrition group from soil science department to se there with Algae and plant nutrition group from botany departments formed the Plant Nutrition Department. By July 2004, The Plant Nutrition group belonged to Botany Department established the Department of Fertilization Technology and the Department of plant Biochemistry
Fertilization Technology Department
One of 16 departments belonging to Agricultural and Biological Division , National Research Centre, Cairo , Egypt .