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ICRISAT Research Facilities
ICRISAT Global Headquarters (India)
The ICRISAT global headquarters is located in Patancheru near Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The research station offers an insight into the integration of agricultural sciences and research-for- development activities across the whole value chain – high end science using germplasm from the genebank, genomics laboratory, phenotyping and genetic engineering facilities, through to the agribusiness center, watershed management and crop production field experiments.
The research station has a land area of 1,390 ha, of which 800 ha is arable. The experimental farm is representative of the dryland environment – consisting of two major soil groups found in the semi- arid tropics, the red alfisols (300 ha) and the black vertisols (500 ha) – that allows testing of breeding lines and crop production systems in two different environments within one location. The arable areas in the two soil types are subdivided into irrigated and non-irrigated, sprayed and non-sprayed, and low and high fertility areas to represent low and high input environments. Normal rainfall at the ICRISAT campus is 800 mm per year.
1. Rainout Shelter (for drought screening experiments) and Lysimeter Facility
The rainout shelter is a facility for screening of crop germplasm and breeding materials for drought tolerance so that rains do not interfere with the treatments. Crops can be grown here under real field conditions, and drought condition can be created for research work on drought-tolerant traits and how roots help dryland crops survive during dry periods within cropping seasons.
2 The Rainout Shelter has a lysimeter facility for phenotyping. Lysimeters are PVC tubes filled with soil to measure plant water use. ICRISAT’s lysimetric facility has 2800 tubes of 1.2-m length and 20-cm diameter, and 1700 tubes with 2.0-m length and 25-cm diameter. These dimensions give the plants the soil depth and aerial spacing similar to field conditions. Lysimeters complement other
phenotyping activities both in the field and in controlled environments.
The lysimeter approach provides a bridge between field-based and laboratory-based research. It enables the collection of precise data on water consumption (quantities, timing) which are related to agronomic data (grain yield), and which provide information on traits that contribute to yield
increase.
Lysimeters at ICRISAT.
2. LeasyScan Phenotyping Platform
LeasyScan is a high-throughput phenotyping platform acquired in 2014 designed to measure leaf area quicker so as to access the dynamics of leaf development and leaf conductance, traits that are the focus for plant drought adaptation. The high throughput computerized platform based on 3-D images allows scientists to analyze the
phenotypes of plants in greater detail, and conduct large-scale screening of plants to be linked and integrated into genomics and breeding works to speed up the
development of improved, drought-adapted crops.
The LeasyScan platform uses the PlantEye®
scanner, a camera with a 45 degree angle that captures 3-D images. The high- throughput scanning equipment can scan
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7 10. ICRISAT Genebank
The ICRISAT Genebank serves as a world repository for the collection of germplasm of the institute’s five mandate crops – sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut; and six small millets – finger millet, foxtail millet, little millet, kodo millet, proso millet and barnyard millet. With over 121,500 germplasm accessions assembled from 144 countries, it is one of the largest
international genebanks. Several landraces now conserved at the ICRISAT genebank have
disappeared from their natural habitats in Africa and Asia. The collection serves as insurance against genetic erosion and as a source of resistance to diseases and pests, tolerance to climatic and other environmental stresses and improved quality and yield traits for crop improvement.
The active collection of the genebank, stored at 4°C and 30% RH, is a basic source for distribution and utilization. The base collection is maintained at -20°C in vacuum packed aluminum foil pouches at 3-7% seed moisture content. Base collections ensure long-term viability of material (more than 50 years) as a security to the active collection. In addition, ICRISAT has committed to place the FAO- designated germplasm (111,000 accessions) at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway as safety backup. The Seed Vault provides an insurance against the loss of seeds in genebanks, as well as a refuge for seeds in the case of large-scale regional or global crisis.
11. Plant Quarantine Laboratory
Movement of seeds across countries is regulated as per Government of India (GoI) regulations. All research seeds imported by the institute or sent to other countries, are tested in the Plant
Quarantine Laboratory, and cleared and certified by GoI officials. In the past 40 years, through the meticulous work in this laboratory, all samples coming in and out of the country have been cleared.
8 12. Arachis House
ICRISAT maintains a huge collection of wild species of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea). These are important for the improvement of cultivated groundnuts. Many of these species do not flower or produce seeds in normal crop growing seasons in India, and have to be grown in this special facility.
13. Watersheds
The watershed area is where strategic research on rainwater harvesting, conservation management as well as soil conservation and crop production is undertaken. This area is maintained without much movement of soil or changing the natural slopes. This area has black soil watersheds.
Watershed-based crop production is a simple technology that makes it possible to grow two crops under rainfed conditions using suitable land and water management. This technology can produce 5 tons of crops per ha/year, which can feed 24 persons per ha/year, much higher compared with farmers’ practice which produces 1 ton/ha/year and can feed only 5 persons. This work is now being up-scaled in different locations.
14. Meteorological Laboratory
Information on weather and climate is very important for agriculture. This met lab is a class “A” type, which is fully equipped to record all required weather parameters such as rainfall, temperature, soil temperature, humidity, sunshine hours and radiation, etc. essential for agricultural research. Some of the equipment are manually operated, while others are automatic devices. This weather data system is attached to the institute’s computer network system and all data are available daily for researchers globally.
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15. Agribusiness and Innovation Platform
ICRISAT’s Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) fosters public-private partnerships to bring science-based technologies, innovations, knowledge and products to the market for the benefit of smallholder farmers. AIP provides prototype innovation, knowledge and expertise, training and co- location to researchers and innovators; and guide entrepreneurs in fine-tuning the prototypes and taking them to market to minimize risk and help them succeed.
It is composed of three flagship components:
- Agribusiness incubation;
- Innovation and partnership (in such areas as plant breeding, agricultural biotechnology);
and
- Product development of nutritional foods and food safety initiatives (NutriPlus Knowledge program).
10 16. Center of Excellence on ICT in Agriculture
The Center of Excellence (COE) in Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) innovations for Agriculture was launched in 2012 to integrate science, technology and value-chain approaches in the design and development of new and affordable ICT tools, platforms and methods.
Some ICT solutions linking farmers with other agricultural stakeholders developed and tested by the COE include:
Open data and knowledge solutions
- KSIConnect (http://ksiconnect.icrisat.org/) – shares information and educational video resources, face- to-face virtual training and learning sessions, and virtual expert-farmer interactions globally.
- AgED Open Courseware platform
(http://www.aged.icrisat.org/moodle23/) – offers research curriculum/learning opportunities to
students, faculty members, extension agents, smallholder farmers etc.
- Open Access Repository (http://oar.icrisat.org) – hold more than 8,163 publication records.
- Open Data Repositories (http://dataverse.icrisat.org/dvn/) – offers open data to global community (464 data files in more than 9 Dataverse with 59 studies available).
ICT mediated extension systems and capacity building activities
- The Green SIM project, an ICT mediated extension system (mobile and web apps, voice advisory services, participatory video extension methods) offering affordable technologies, knowledge solutions, quality inputs, credit and insurance at the doorsteps of smallholder farmers, anchored on public-private partnership and a sustainable business model.
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Phytopathology laboratory (ELISA kit for aflatoxin test)
Entomology laboratory
Small biotechnology laboratory
Regional gene bank
Seed unit
Lysimeter system
Nurseries and greenhouses used for research as well as for hands-on training of field technical staff
A conference room, training classrooms, video conference facilities, and
A library is directly connected to the ICRISAT headquarters library in India, thus linking it to major professional databases (an electronic library is also available).
A separate Training and Visitors Centre (TVC), a self-contained modern training/housing facility, is located approximately 5 km from the city center on the Burkina Faso road.
ICRISAT-Nigeria
ICRISAT Nigeria is located in Kano, Nigeria. Approximately 16 hectares of farm land were acquired within the premises of Bayero University Kano (BUK) for research purposes. Currently, the ICRISAT staff members are housed in temporary offices provided by the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) in Kano. A request has been made for office and laboratory space within the IAR premises in Kano, and the Federal Government of Nigeria will hopefully provide support for the construction.
A farmers’ field day in Kano, Nigeria.
Women farmers showing ICRISAT groundnut and pearl millet varieties.
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ICRISAT Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Research Facilities
ICRISAT Kenya (Regional hub)
ICRISAT Kenya in Nairobi is the regional hub for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) with its office located at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) campus. Its Kiboko research station has a farm area of 11 hectares. There is a plan to request the Government of Kenya to allocate another 14 hectares in addition to the existing farmland.
The facilities available include:
Laboratories
Genebank
Seed storage
Farm machineries
Irrigation facilities (at both Kiboko and Alupe stations) ICRISAT Malawi
At ICRISAT Malawi, land is allocated each year by the government, averaging around 70 -100 hectares per year.
Experimental fields are available and are cultivated only in one season in rainfed condition. Also available are:
Limited irrigation facilities
Breeding, pathology and aflatoxin laboratories
Basic farm machinery
Cold rooms for short-term seed storage
Green houses.
ICRISAT Zimbabwe
ICRISAT Zimbabwe in Bulawayo is located at the Matopos Research Station with 50 hectares of land, with 2 hectares in use. The Lucydale Research Station is 20 km from Matopos and has 16.24 hectares of land, with 7 hectares in use.
Also available are:
Genebank
Soil chemistry and physics laboratories
Nutrition laboratory
Irrigation equipment
Seed storage and conservation facilities
Glass houses
Workshop and transport facilities.
14 ICRISAT Ethiopia
The ICRISAT Ethiopia country office was established in 2013, and is situated at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus. The office has access to meeting rooms, houses and hostel facilities available on the campus.
Some research technicians are based at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) stations at Debre Zeit and Melkassa. The Debre Zeit research station is the main center for chickpea improvement research and Melkassa is the hub for sorghum improvement work. The location is adequately equipped with required vehicles and other equipment for field research.
