Institution Profile

National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow 

Despite an adverse socio-political environment, over the past six decades NBRI (estb.1948) has acquired an international reputation for academic rigour and research excellence

In Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest Hindi heartland and most populous state (180 million), institutions of higher education have suffered a steep decline in academic reputation and learning outcomes because of militant student unionism and persistent political interference. Nevertheless, despite adverse conditions a handful of higher education institutions have successfully resisted socio-political pressures to emerge as islands of excellence in a sea of academic mediocrity. Among them is the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow, which over the past 60 years has acquired an international reputation for academic rigour and research excellence.

For instance in the year 2006-07, NBRI undertook 138 projects and assignments, attracting Rs.5.67 crore of external cash flow, signed four MOUs (memoranda of understanding) and awarded 16 Ph Ds, even as its 97 scientists published 145 papers in national and international journals and filed 56 patents in India and abroad.

Established as the National Botanic Garden by the government of Uttar Pradesh in 1948, the institute was subsumed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in April 1953. Since then NBRI has transformed into the country’s premier research centre for basic and applied plant sciences. Currently active in researching plant biodiversity, conservation and sustain-able utilisation of non-crop and wild plant genetic material, bioprospecting, biofuels, bioinformatics and plant biotechnology, the institute’s manage-ment aspires to morph NBRI into a prime mover in the conversion of plant life into economic wealth, besides developing it into a national referral centre for plant biodiversity.

NBRI director Rakesh Tuli, an alumnus of Pantnagar and Gujarat universities, says that thus far the institute’s greatest achievement has been to manage a wide span of knowledge ranging from the traditional to cutting edge technology. "We have the most expansive knowledge base and identify and document plant life across a wide spectrum. The institute’s approach is multidisciplinary and encompasses both documentation and utilisation of all skills. From taxonomy, to molecular biology and genetic engineering — we do it all. There’s great width and depth in our work," says Tuli.

Tuli’s assertion is supported by the institute’s comprehensive list of research and development specialisations which include biomass biology and environmental sciences, bioinformatics, biotechnology and plant physiology, floriculture and botanical gardens, genetics, plant breeding, agro technology, molecular biology, genetic engineering, plant diversity and conservation biology, pharmocognosy and ethno pharmacology, plant biodiversity and conservation, plant microbial interaction, phyto chemistry and experimental agro fields.

NBRI sprawls over two campuses, a smaller administrative unit set in 4.9 acres and a larger garden property spread over 65 acres. The latter is home to an arboretum, a cactus and succulents house, conservatory and ferns greenhouse. Moreover the garden campus maintains an internationally respected herbarium which boasts 2.25 lakh specimens. In 2003 NBRI signed a collaboration agreement with Botanic Gardens Conservation International, UK, to establish a network of Indian botanic gardens, database, website and model medicinal plant gardens.

Inevitably, given its plant life research focus, the institute strongly advocates early environment and ecology education. This has translated into a children’s laboratory, a kitchen and herb garden, and the country’s first- of-its-kind touch-and-smell garden for the visually challenged. Moreover the institute provides consultancy, landscaping and training services besides staging an annual flower show which is a big draw for the city’s population. Besides the 300-plus morning walkers who frequent NBRI’s garden campus every day, the institute is visited by an average of 100 school students every week for hands-on eco education. NBRI has also designed customised training programmes (eg. cultivation of medicinal plants, production of bio-pesticides) for plant specialists and for economically and socially disadvantaged communities.

Although a somewhat low profile institution in India, within the esoteric community of botanists and plant life researchers, NBRI’s reputation as a centre of research excellence has spread to many countries. Olugbenga Ige, a university lecturer from Nigeria, who arrived in October 2007 to conduct research in vegetational analysis and palaeo ecology under the TWAS (The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World)-CSIR programme, is all praise for the material and moral support provided by the institute. "The equipment here is world class. A research project which would have taken me three months back home is about to be completed in three weeks here," says Ige.

Despite Uttar Pradesh (and Lucknow) being largely bypassed by the post-liberalisation (1991) industrial boom, NBRI has sold some of its research data and output to industry for commercialisation. While the most notable research technology commercialised is protection of BT cotton, research output relating to herbal gulal and cosmetics has also found buyers. However Tuli concedes that there is a wide gap between core research work conducted at NBRI and its commercial application. "The process of transfer of research from laboratory to industry is admittedly slow and started only in 2005 after new intellectual property laws were enacted. Now that guidelines are clear, both parties are willing to talk," says Tuli.

S.K.S. Rathore, group leader for international collaboration, also concedes that the institute requires to develop business management expertise to interact with industry partners. "As a purely research institute we have experienced considerable discomfort in disseminating knowledge or marketing our products," he admits.

Tuli, who took charge as director of the institute in 2006, has identified two significant focus areas for NBRI in the long term. "We are researching and developing plants capable of growing with minimum inputs in inhospitable conditions. The second is a mammoth project to document the plant diversity of India. I have no doubt that our scientists will develop NBRI into a globally competitive knowledge centre, which will contribute handsomely to the development of Indian agriculture and biotechnology. NBRI’s growth story has just begun," says Tuli.

Summiya Yasmeen