NARI has developed various safflower varieties and hybrids for both high oil content and petals. NARI is one of the research centers included in the All India Coordinated Research Project on Oilseeds for irrigated safflower under the aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The institute has developed high yield varieties and hybrids of cotton, sunflower, safflower, and sweet sorghum, as well as technology for producing ethanol, jaggery and syrup from sweet sorghum. NARI also carries out agrochemical testing for various companies and research laboratories in India to the standards of the Central Insecticides Board for the purposes of registration of new agro-chemicals.
Renewable energy
Work in this field has been mostly in solar and biomass energy and recently in sustainable and environmentally friendly transport systems, ethanol lighting/cooking and handicapped rickshaw.
NARI has developed an efficient multifuel lantern called Noorie for rural areas.
Complete technology for producing ethanol from sweet sorghum has been developed at the institute. A number of high ethanol yielding varieties have also been produced.
NARI has developed a stove running on 50% and more ethanol/water concentration.
The gasification technology for thermal applications has been developed at NARI, including technology for gasification of loose leafy biomass fuels like sugarcane leaves and bagasse, sweet sorghum stalks and bagasse.
Technology to increase survival of tree seedlings in arid regions has been developed. Solar energy is used to collect water from soil, which is then fed to the seedlings.
NARI has developed technology for solar detoxification of distillery waste using photocatalysts.
NARI in late 1990s pioneered the development of electric cycle rickshaws in India.
NARI has developed a lantern cum stove running on ethanol for rural areas.
Recently NARI has extended the ethanol lanstove concept to that running on kerosene.
A YouTube on NARI's lanstove is available.
NARI has recently developed a very low cost water purification system using solar energy.
Animal Husbandry
The research and development has focused mostly on all aspects of sheep and goat production. Improved breeds of sheep have been developed which are more productive than the local breed. Also boer goats are being used for cross breeding to improve meat production of the local goats.
The institute has crop varietal evaluation as well as pesticides and growth promoters testing facilities.
The Bajaj Center for Sustainable Development, scheduled to open in March 2010, is intended to allow professionals from different fields to work towards finding solutions for the problems faced, in particular, by rural India.
