Welcome to Central Sericultural Research & Training Institute (CSRTI), Mysore, the premier research institute in the field of tropical mulberry sericulture, which is lending a constant support to stakeholders to enhance quality and productivity of silk ensuring higher returns. The institute was established in 1961 with a vision to be a “Centre of Excellence” for providing R&D support in sericulture aimed primarily at rural development through development of environment friendly technologies, equipments, gadgets and machineries required for silk production to help poor farmers and women. The scientists of the institute are working towards improvement in productivity and quality of silk with reduction in input cost, which ultimately result in an overall improvement of socio-economic conditions of the rural mass in the country. The overall achievements during X plan and period (2002-07) are enumerated below:

Over the years, the institute has achieved several breakthroughs in sericulture technology, which include development of high yielding mulberry varieties like V1, S13, S36 etc., and silkworm hybrids viz., CSR2 x CSR4 and Krishnaraja (CSR6 x CSR26) x (CSR2 x CSR27) etc. Besides, the newly evolved hybrids namely, Chamaraja (CSR50 x CSR51) and Jayalakshmi (ND7 x CSR2) are showing promising results in the field testing and will be released shortly after authourization.Packages of practices for mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing and a number of cost effective technologies and devices for different sericulture activities have been developed to bring revolution in production and productivity of mulberry silk in the southern peninsular India. The contributions made by this institute are reflected in manifold increase in productivity levels of raw silk i.e., from meager 20 to 22 kg of mulberry raw silk /ha in 1960s to 86 kg/ha during 2006-07. The bivoltine hybrids developed at this institute has been successfully reared countrywide producing silk of international grade. Thus with pride the institute acclaims recognition globally as one of the leading institutes for sericulture research in the entire tropical world.

Further, the technologies developed by this institute have been popularized among the farmers which has not only helped in maximizing yield and returns but also brought vertical growth of the industry resulting into an increased annual mulberry raw silk production to the tune of 16245 M.T. (2007-08) and today India occupies the second place in the world's raw silk production. Towards this endeavour, under CSR&TI, Mysore, more than 175 dedicated scientific personnel are working in 25 well-equipped research laboratories, concentrating on all major areas of research in sericulture viz., breeding, pathology, physiology, agronomy, rearing technology, sericultural engineering, economics, seri-biotechnology, molecular biology, bioinformatics etc. Additionally, there are full-fledged divisions dedicated to extension activities and Human Resource Development (HRD) at the institute’s main campus. Besides, this institute has a large extension network comprising 4 regional research stations and 29 extension centers/sub-units and 2 breeding stations, 11 cluster units under Cluster Promotion Programme (CPP) spread over in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala for effective transfer of technologies to bridge the gap between lab to land, test verify and fine tune the technologies developed by the main institute.

CSRTI, Mysore has undertaken collaborative research programmes with national and international agencies such as Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), European Economic Community (EEC), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), universities involved in sericultural research, etc., to harness their technical expertise in highly specialized fields and also to pool resources for the development of new technologies in frontier areas of sericulture research.

CSRTI, Mysore is committed for HRD in sericulture with its modern teaching and training facilities of international standards supported by professionally competent scientists. The Training Division is under ISO certification and is also recognized as an International Training Institute on Tropical Sericulture by SDC and JICA.Over the years, the institute has trained more than 770 foreign and 19370 Indian candidates in tropical sericulture technology. The institute has been recognized as a Post Graduate Centre for carrying out studies leading to award of Ph.D. and M. Sc. (Sericulture Technology) degrees by University of Mysore.

The institute also develops suitable extension models and provides yeomen services to farmers through information kiosks for giving timely guidance in sericulture, “Reshme Vahini”, a farm magazine, which is published on quarterly basis and Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). The IVRS is a computer-based database of FAQs and their answers, which can be accessed interactively through telephone by selecting appropriate options. The caller has option to talk to the expert or in the absence, leave his queries, which will be recorded and answered by the expert on his return to the desk.

The institute is constantly striving for upgradation of quality and quantity of silk production in the country. Besides, it is concentrating on certain key areas indicated below with an overall emphasis on complimenting the efforts of respective state governments to meet the envisaged production goals of the XI Plan with concerted efforts towards quick transformation of adopting available improved technologies by farmers.

1. New R&D initiatives for evolving suitable specific cost effective technologies through focused research programmes towards maximizing cocoon production and silkworm protection technologies.
2. Enhancing silk productivity and quality through the application of traditional and advanced breeding methods.
3. Management of mulberry and silkworm diseases through development of diagnostic kit and nano technology.
4. Popularizing new bivoltine sericulture technologies among sericulturists.
5. Expansion of sericulture through cluster approach in other potential areas of traditional states for sustained production and also productivity.
6. Value addition to sericulture by-products and products diversification.

Due to increased pressure on arable land for food/fodder corps and in view of recurring losses due to diseases the following long term plans are drawn:

1. Improve soil fertility status in mulberry belts of different agro-climate zones.
2. Development of transgenic mulberry for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress through biotechnological tools.
3. Development of cost effective tools, techniques and appliances for silkworm rearing management.
4. Breeding for disease resistance especially the NPV and robust silkworm breeds for stress tolerance in different zones.
5. Develop disease forecasting and forewarning system for disease and pest management in mulberry and silkworm crops.
6. Cloning and characterization of genes controlling yield and disease resistance.
7. Improvement of silkworm breeds through transgenic approach.