The ICAR - Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, often abbreviated to ICAR - CTCRI, is a constituent institute under the

Indian Council of Agricultural Research The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...

(ICAR) is the only

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

organization in the world dedicated solely to the research on

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

tuber crops. The Institute established in 1963 with its headquarters at

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

has with an area of 48.19

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s. The headquarters of ICAR - CTCRI is located at Sreekaryam at a distance 12 km away from

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Thiruvananthapuram International Airport , is an international airport which serves Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. Established in 1932, it is the first airport in the state of Kerala and fifth international airport of In ...

and 10 km from

Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station Thiruvananthapuram Central, formerly Trivandrum Central (also known as Thampanoor railway station) (station code: TVC), is a major railway station which serves the city of Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum), capital of Kerala state, In ...

as well as Central Bus Station Thiruvananthapuram. The Institute has a regional centre at

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...

established in 1976 with an area of 20

s located 8 km from

Bhubaneswar Airport Biju Patnaik International Airport is an international airport serving Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha. It is situated around south-west from Bhubaneswar Railway Station and from the city center. Named after the former chief minist ...

and 7 km from

Bhubaneswar railway station Bhubaneswar Railway Station (BBS) serves Bhubaneswar, the capital of the Indian state of Odisha and it is the headquarters of the East Coast Railway zone of the Indian Railways. History During the period 1893 to 1896, 800 miles of East Coast St ...

to cater the needs of

Eastern India East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magadha fr ...

Research

Research on

tuber crops is the primary mandate of CTCRI. Each division of CTCRI concentrate its research programmes on separate aspects of tuber crops. Crop improvement division focus its activities on collection

germplasm Germplasm are living genetic resources such as seeds or tissues that are maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, preservation, and other research uses. These resources may take the form of seed collections stored in seed banks, tr ...

of different tuber crops from different parts of the world and conserving it in field gene bank as well as

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...

. Development of new varieties of tuber crops with higher yield and other attributes suitable for industrial applications as well as for food purpose is another important activity of this division. Crop production division is engaged in developing new agro techniques for tropical tuber crops in different agro climatic regions. Crop protection division develop strategies and products for managing pests and diseases affecting tropical tuber crops. Crop utilization division concentrates its activities on value addition and post harvest processing of tropical tuber crops. Section of Extension and social sciences is involved in transferring the technologies developed by CTCRI to its clienteles.

References

{{authority control Research institutes in Thiruvananthapuram Biological research institutes Research institutes established in 1963 1963 establishments in Kerala