INDIAN
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
NEW DELHI 110 012
Originally
founded in 1905 at Pusa (Bihar), the Indian Agricultural Research
Institute, popularly known as Pusa Institute, is the country’s
largest and foremost institute for agricultural research,
education and extension. The Institute was shifted to New Delhi in
1936 and was formally opened on 7 November 1936.
The administrative and technical head of IARI is its Director. The Board of Management, with Director as its chairman, as served by four councils, viz. Research Advisory Council, Academic Council, Extension Council and Executive Council.
The research, education and extension activities of the Institute are carried out through a network of 19 discipline based divisions, 6 multi-disciplinary centres, and service units situated at Delhi; 9 regional stations situated at Amartara Cottage, Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Tutikandi, Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Kalimpong (West Bengal), Karnal (Haryana), Katrain (Himachal Pradesh), Pune (Maharashtra), Pusa (Bihar), and Wellington, the Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu), 2 off-season nurseries situated at Dharwad (Karnataka) and Aduthurai (Tamil Nadu); and a Krishi Vigyan Kendra situated at Shikohpur, Gurgaon (Haryana). The institute also serves as the headquarter/centers of 14 all India co-ordinated research projects. It has 19 divisions; and 6 multidisciplinary centers/project directorates.
It awards M.Sc. degree in 22 disciplines and Ph. D. degree in 19 disciplines.
The major achievements of the institute are: to determine the water-use efficiency of crop plants and showing differences among different species, now called c3 and c4 types; collection and description of landraces of barley, some of which were dwarf and had the grain: straw ratio of nearly 45:50; rhizosphere nitrogen fixation in maize; biogas-generation technology; and use of neem as a means of protection against insects. The institute received the Best Institution Award (1995) of the ICAR.