The legendary royal garden of the erstwhile Oudh kings, "Sikander Bagh", who ruled the region during the 19th century before being taken over by the British in 1857, is today the home of the premier national plant research center in the country. And NBRI is celebrating the global jubilee of its formation this year. Over the past fifty years, it has made patient strides scouting for patents and plants. CSIR took over the National Botanical Garden in 1953 and expanded the scope of the institute into a multidisciplinary plant research centre and it was renamed as the National Botanical Research Institute in 1978. Ever since, the institute has produced innumerable varieties in horticulture, products as functional foods and filed almost 30 patents in India and abroad. Today, it is an internationally known research center that focuses on both basic and applied research in various aspects of plant sciences for the conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources for human welfare.

Plant health, economic wealth

What keeps NBRI going? Dr P Pushpangadan, director, NBRI explains, "Unless we love the nature, it is difficult to work for it. To sustain our natural harmony, we all have to work for the same. At NBRI, we are all working to produce good quality eco-friendly products." Its mission is to be a premier national and international center on plant science research and development, be the prime catalyst in the conversion of plant wealth into economic wealth and develop as a national referral center for the knowledge base related to plant biodiversity.

Offering consultancy and technology, today, it caters to the needs of every aspect of plant research in the South Asian region in general and India in particular. In that mission, its practices encompass biodiversity, bioinformatics, biomass biology, biotechnology, conservation, ethnopharmacology, floriculture, plant physiology, genetics and plant breeding, molecular biology and genetic engineering, natural product development, etc.

NBRI is rich in scientists and knowledge base. For instance, Dr Rakesh Tulli and his group work in the area of plant molecular biology. Dr Tulli informs, "The main objective of our work is to develop transgenic plants improved for agronomically important characters. Characterization and designing of genes for toxicity to insects is also a part of our research. Apart from these, we also offer consultation and contract research for the biotech industry." Dr Shantha Mehrotra is another eminent scientist there. The Department of Science and Technology presented her the leading women scientist award recently. She is working on identification, authentication and evaluation of medicinal plants/raw drugs by modern pharmacogenic methods which include correct taxonomic identification of plants and their parts, macro-and microscopical details, histochemical and biological analysis of the plant parts used as medicine, SEM studies of plants parts. Mehrotra adds, "We are working on to produce quality evaluation and standardization of herbal drugs and products and scientific validation of ethnobotanical claims."

With a rich heritage of research, the institute is not confining its research activities to the laboratories alone. It is looking at spreading awareness among the masses through various means and ways. Says Dr Pushpangadan, "We have established a garden for "housewives" in to which we welcome housewives and educate them about the easy biotech application in their daily life. We also have a lab exclusively for kids. In this lab, kids can use any instrument they like. These are the various types of awareness programs which NBRI conducts regularly."

NBRI recognizes that technology developed in any laboratory cannot be considered as successful unless it reaches the market. Agrees Dr Pushpangadan, "It is always difficult for the scientific society to develop the skills to market their inventions. For that we opt for industrial collaborations. But at NBRI, we are planning to recruit proper MBAs for marketing our products. This way we can reach the market in a proper way. CSIR has granted two posts for the Business Development Unit at NBRI." The message from NBRI director is crystal clear—"Biodiversity and the associated indigenous knowledge systems are the two invaluable capital assets of countries like India. They can be utilized profitably to generate a number of IPR-covered high value products and technologies for domestic as well as international trade."

Research activities

Here is a list of research areas at NBRI.

Biodiversity research by inventorying, monitoring, assessment, conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resource of India with special focus on medicinal, aromatic, dye and gum yielding plants.

Bioprospecting for search of commercially valuable genes, biodynamic compounds and development of scientifically validated, value-added and standardized novel plant products—herbal drugs, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmaceuticals.

Biomass biology including biopesticides, biofuels and petroleum alternatives, and environmental sciences including phytoremediation and abatement of terrestrial and aquatic pollution including studies on greenhouse gas emission.

Bioinformatics by developing computerized/electronic databases on Indian plants with special focus on medicinal, aromatic, dyes, gum and tannin yielding plants and rare and threatened plants of botanic gardens and implementing applications of IT in plant science research and development of bio-information products.

Biotechnology (biotech processes/ products) including trans-disciplinary studies on molecular biology and genetic engineering for development of transgenic plants.

Genetics, plant breeding and agrotechnology includes selection and genetic enhancement for development of new promising varieties of economically important non-crop plants.

Herbal products

Lipstick, Luvstick: This is developed from purely natural herbal colorants composition blended with selected essential oils or aroma isolates that are capable of altering the mood and mental perception of the person who applies the lipstick. The aroma acts as mood lifting, antidepressant, anti-stress, stimulant, soothing, creative thought inducing, anxiety reducing, sensual pleasure providing, fragrant and refreshing agents.

Fermented drink, NBIRA: It is a mild herbal beverage, like beer, with 2-3 percent alcohol content. NBIRA is fortified with other health protective and promotive attributes such as hepatoprotective, antioxidant, immuno-enhancing, anti-stress, and anti-fatigue properties. The beer is developed from a fruit, which is available in bulk and is cheap and has powerful antioxidant, immuno-modulator and diuretic properties.

Soft drink, NBIRASOFT: These herbal drinks contain a combination of 5-6 extracts from indigenous medicinal plants, which are fortified with other health protective and promotive attributes such as hepatopro-tective, antioxidant and immuno-modulator besides providing instant energy and vitality.

Dry color powder, Gulal: The invention relates to a process for the preparation of synergistic herbal dry color composition by lending of natural dyes with natural ingredients in specific proportions and under specific conditions. The resultant color powder thus prepared has synergistic action of natural dyes and natural ingredients resulting in good sticking capacity of skin and easily removable by soft mop. These colors can be used for playing Holi, cultural dances, and making rangoli.