2. Development: Cell cycle, cell division, senescence, hormonal regulation of growth; life cycle of an angiosperm, pollination, fertilization, embryogenesis, seed formation, seed storage proteins, seed dormancy and germination.

3. Concept of cellular totipotency, organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis, somaclonal variation, embryo culture, in vitro fertilization.

4. Physiology and Biochemistry: Plant water relations, transport of minerals and solutes, N2 metabolism, proteins and nucleic acid, respiration, photophysiology, photosynthesis, photorespiration; biosynthesis, mechanism of action and physiological effects of plant growth regulators.

5. Genetics : Principles of Mendelian inheritance, linkage, recombination and genetic mapping; extrachromosomal inheritance; eukaryotic genome organization (chrornatin structure) and regulation of gene expression, gene mutation, chromosome aberrations (numerical and structural), transposons.

6. Plant Breeding : Principles, methods - selection, hybridization, heterosis; male sterility, self and inter-specific incompatibility; haploidy; somatic cell hybridization; molecular marker-assisted selection; gene transfer methods viz. direct and vector-mediated, transgenic plants and their applications in agriculture.

7. Economic Botany : Economically important plants - cereals, pulses, plants yielding fiber, timber, sugar, beverages, oils, rubber, dyes, gums, drugs and narcotics - a general account.

8. Systematics : Systems of classification (non-phylogenesis vs. phylogenetic -- outline), plant groups, molecular systernatics.

9. Plant Pathology : Nature and classification of plant diseases, diseases of important crops caused "by fungi, bacteria and viruses, and their control measures, mechanism(s) of pathogenesis and resistance, molecular detection of pathogens; plant-microbe beneficial interactions.