Indian Institute of Horticultural Research

The Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) is an autonomous organization acting as a nodal agency for basic, strategic, anticipatory and applied research on various aspects of horticulture such as fruits, vegetable, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plants and mushrooms in India. The institute has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India and is a subsidiary of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. It recently has been ranked 1st for the combined years 2019-20 and 2020–21 by the ICAR.
The IIHR, the first horticultural research institute in the country under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), was established on 5 September 1967 at New Delhi. Later, the base of IIHR was moved to Hesaraghatta located 25 km (16 mi) from Bangalore in Karnataka, on 1 February 1968, by merging the institute with National Horatorium of Govt. of Karnataka which was the premises of the Fruit Research Station, Hesaraghatta established in 1938 by HC Javaraya. The institute is spread over a land area of 263 hectares. Dr. Gurubachan Singh Randhawa was the first founding director of the institute from 1967 to 1980.
The institute is mandated to :
The institute offers various services, consolidated under the umbrella of the Agriculture Technology Information Center (ATIC).
Farmers’ Advisory services : The service envisages identification of farmers' problems, analysis and advising suitable corrective measures.
Diagnostics : Diagnosis of diseases of various horticultural crops and advice on their control and management.
Supply of Video Films : Distribution of video films to the farmers and organizations for updating knowledge on modern technologies.
Supply of Publications : The institute has published many illustrated leaflets and bulletins for dissemination of crop information to the farmers. The publications are made in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu.
Supply of Computer floppies and print outs : The institute has also made information available on floppy disks and as print-outs.
Supply of seeds: Supply of seeds in packets are also undertaken by the institute.
The division deals with improvement of production technology of mango, grapes, pineapple, guava, papaya, pomegranate, ber, annona and citrus.
Mandate
The vegetable Crops division carries out research, developing high yielding vegetable varieties / hybrids through crop improvement programmes with an emphasis on minimizing the cost. The division has five breeding laboratories and a production technology laboratory.
Mandate
The focus of the division is on development of new varieties of ornamental crops with a view to enhance export earning. The division also addresses issues like Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights.
Mandate
The Plant Pathology division attends to basic and applied research for the management of diseases by microorganisms. Fully equipped laboratories are set up to combat the fungal, bacterial, viral, viroid and phytoplasma diseases of fruit crops, vegetable crops, ornamental and medicinal crops. The division also imparts training to agricultural extension officers and farmers.
Mandate
The Division of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry is the arm of IIHR that deal with tissue culture, molecular biology, pesticide residue and food microbiology.
Mandate
The division studies the nutrient requirement of horticultural crops and to develop suitable agro techniques for vegetable crops. It houses many laboratories viz., Soil Chemistry, Soil Salinity, Micronutrient, Leaf Analysis, Isotope, Water Management, Soil Microbiology, Microbiology and Pesticide Residue Laboratories.
Mandate
E and T division operated as an Advanced Training Center of the Directorate of Extension, Government of India (1997–2003) and was the Trainers Training Center of the Indian Council and Agricultural Research from 1976 to 1997. It looks after the training and extension activities of IIHR.
Mandate
The division started as the Division of Fruit and Vegetable Processing, Microbiology and Postharvest Technology in 1978 which was later renamed as the Division of Postharvest Technology. The research work in the division focusses on handling and storage, processing, microbiology and cut flowers.
Objectives
Biotechnology The Division of Biotechnology is now merged with the Division of Basic Sciences, which focusses on research on Gene discovery, regeneration and transgenics, Molecular markers, Marker Assisted Selection, Functional Genomics, Bioinformatics and Endophytic molecular microbiology. Specific areas of work include:
Plant Genetic Resources
The division is involved in exploration, introduction, exchange, evaluation, characterization and conservation of horticultural plant growth regulators. IIHR claims to have introduced 22,080 accessions in fruits, vegetables, ornamentals & Medicinal and Aromatic Plant species. It also works on enrichment of germplasm from wild sources through exploration missions.
A Pollen Cryobank was established under the division for long term cryogenic preservation of crops which was featured in the Limca Book of Records in 2001. A Field Gene Bank (FGB) also works under the division and the division supports establishment FGBs for Mango, Guava and Jackfruit crops.
Mandate
Seed Science and Technology: to conduct research on seed production and quality aspects of horticultural crops with a mandate:
Agricultural Engineering: to develop and maintain IIHR farm and to establish workshop for research and development in Farm Machinery with a mandate to:
Medicinal Crops: to undertake research work is on the genetic improvement of commercially important medicinal and aromatic crops and standardization of agro-technology. It holds the mandate to:
Economics and Statistics: undertakes research work on economic aspects and statistical models. The section is associated in collaborative or co-investigative research at the institute level as well as in external projects. It is also involved in the post graduate collaboration in education and research with University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Dr. Y.S.R. Horticultural University, and University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot. The section has a mandate :
IIHR operates three CHESs under its wing.
CHES Chettalli: The station works on the mandate crop of mandarin out of an area of 92 hectares in Coorg. The other crops of interest are papaya and passion fruit and minor fruits like rambutan, pummelo, avocado, mangosteen, karonda, Malayan apple and Garcinia. The station is also involved in the floricultural of rose, asters, gladiolus and orchids.
CHES Bhubaneshwar is located at Bhubaneswar, Odisha and conducts research on applied and strategic aspects of horticultural crops. It also develops sustainable technologies suitable for the farmers of eastern region of the country in general and the state of Odisha in particular.
CHES Hirehalli is located at Hirehalli, near Tumkur in Karanataka.
There are two KVKs functioning under IIHR.
KVK Gonikoppal: This KVK is located at Virajpet taluk which is 50 km away from Madikeri and 92 km away from Mysore. It covers a total area of 17.5 hectares with office, laboratories, library and staff quarters and has demonstrations units like coffee based cropping system, Arecanut, Banana, Coorg mandarin, Papaya, Sapota, Guava, different vegetables, ployhouse, Piggery, Goatery and fodder block.
KVK Hirehalli: The KVK is located at Hirehalli, in Tumkur District, approximately 58 km from Bangalore on the Bangalore-Poona National Highway (NH-4). The KVK extends to a total area of the Kendra is 16.24 hectares and has an office cum-laboratory building, library, staff quarters, polyhouses, shed nets, threshing yard, nursery and landscaping.
The All India Coordinated Research Project on Fruits is a research program where the Central research institutes and the State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) work as a team to find solutions to various problems related to a specific topic. IIHR is the hosting central institute for All India Coordinated Research Project on Fruits
The institute makes its seeds and planting materials through its exclusive ICAR-IIHR Seed Portal for public. It has also integrated with SBI YONO app.
Every year since 2018, the institute is organizing National Horticulture Fair (NHF) under various themes for showcasing its technologies to the farmers and entrepreneurs. About 50,000 people had visited the fair in the year 2020 which was organized under the theme 'Horticulture: Making Farming an Enterprise'. In 2021, NHF's theme was 'Horticulture: For Stand-up and Start-up India' and had a footfall of 56,000. In the year 2022, the fair went online. However, the 2023's fair is under the theme, Innovative Horticulture for Self-Reliance and was from Feb 22–25, 2023. This year's NHF 2024 theme was "nextgen technology led horticulture for sustainable development" and it attracted about 70,000 visitors during March 5–7, 2024.
For the benefit of the farmers and other stakeholders and also to share and showcase various latest horticultural production technologies, the institute brings out monthly program on its YouTube channel[11] in seven languages viz., Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam & Odia. The programme episodes will be made live every month on second Friday with the new content coinciding with the monthly horticultural operations in the country.
The institute houses two scholarly societies viz., Society for Promotion of Horticulture (SPH]) which publishes Journal of Horticultural Sciences (JHS) and Association for Advancement for Pest Management of Horticultural Ecosystems (AAPMHE) which publishes Pest Management In Horticultural Ecosystems (PMHE) peer-reviewed journals to communicate the latest research outputs publicly in open access mode.
The campus also hosts other amenities like Bank, Hospital and staff quarters.
IIHR is credited with the development of 170 varieties and hybrids of horticultural crops and many sustainable production, protection and post harvest management technologies.
Fruit Crops : Three varieties in papaya, five hybrids in mango, three varieties in guava, five hybrids in grapes, one variety each in pomegranate, annona, ber and passion fruit. IIHR has released a high yielding pink fleshed Arka Prabhat papaya hybrid, Arka Kiran, a red fleshed hybrid guava and Arka Sahan, a hybrid of annona with large globules and less seeds.
Vegetable Crops : The institute has developed and released 60 high yielding open pollinated varieties and 15 F1 hybrids in 24 vegetable crops resistant to pests and diseases for commercial cultivation. Some of them are:
Ornamental Crops : IIHR has evolved improved varieties of gladiolus, chrysanthemum, bougainvillea, hibiscus, tube rose, rose, China aster, carnation, gerbera and crossandra. They have also developed China aster varieties such as Poornima, Kamini, Vilet cushion and Shashank and tube rose cultivars like Shringar, Suvasini, Prajwal and Vibahv and a crossandra variety by name Arka Ambara.
Mushrooms : IIHR is credited with the development of a spore less mutant of oyster mushroom, milky mushroom, Jews ear mushroom and a medicinal mushroom.
Production Technology : Some of the achievements of IIHR in the field of production technology are:
Plant Protection : Plant protection technologies standardized or developed by IIHR are:
Post Harvest Technology : IIHR has contributed to the standardization of Post Harvest Technology as:
Machineries : IIHR has developed machineries the following purposes.
IIHR has been awarded and recognized as: