Southern Regional Research Centre (SRRC) is a regional centre of the Central Sheep & Wool Research Institute (CSWRI), a premier Institution of the

Indian Council of Agricultural Research The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...

(I.C.A.R), New Delhi. The SRRC was founded on 16 November 1965 and has been active for over 45 years at Mannavanur. The centre was created in 1965 by former Agriculture Minister, Shri C. Subramaniam. It is located 30 km away from

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () (English: ) is a municipality and hill station in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated at an altitude of in the Palani hills of the Western Ghats. Kodaikanal was established in 1845 to serve as a r ...

. This centre is the animal science research centre under ICAR for both

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

states. It is located in

Mannavanur Mannavanur (Mannavanor, Mannavannur), is a farming village of 1437 households in Mannavanor Panchayat, Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu, India, west from Kodaikanal It is by road from Kumbur village and from Kilanavayal village. Altitude is . ...

village,

Dindigul district Dindigul District is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Dindigul District is the largest district in Tamil Nadu by area. The district was carved out of Madurai District in 1985. It has an area of 6266.64 km2 and c ...

in the Indian state of

on of rolling grassland at altitude . The centre breeds sheep and

rabbits Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...

for wool and meat, including Angora,

Chinchilla Chinchilla refers to either of two species ('' Chinchilla chinchilla'' and '' Chinchilla lanigera'') of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. They live in colonies called "her ...

White giant A giant star has a substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature. They lie above the main sequence (luminosity class V in the Yerkes spectral classification) on the Hertzspr ...

and others. The site is one of the last extensive chunks of high altitude grassland left in the

Palani Hills The Palani Hills are a mountain range in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Palani Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palani Hills adjoin with t ...

. Others have been taken over by

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

Wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australian English **''Acacia'' ***Black wattle, common name for several species of acacia ***Golden wattle, ''A ...

and other plantations.

Spotted deer The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also called spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. A moderate-sized deer, mal ...

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

wild dogs Wild dogs may refer to: *African wild dog also called painted dogs * Dingo–dog hybrids in Australia * Free-ranging dog#Free-ranging unowned dogs, including feral dogs and "wild" dogs * Wild Dogs, an American heavy metal band from Portland, Oregon ...

, sambar and other animals are regular visitors to the campus. The small lake within it has

common carp The common carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), also known as European carp, Eurasian carp, or simply carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Ark ...

mirror carp The common carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), also known as European carp, Eurasian carp, or simply carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Ark ...

and otters.

Research

The mandate of the centre is to: *Undertake basic and applied research on all aspects of sheep and rabbit production. *Develop, update and standardize meat, fibre and pelt technologies. *Educate about sheep and rabbit production and utilization. *Transfer improved technologies to farmers, rural artisans and development workers. *Provide referral and consultation services. Scientific research at the centre targets: * Performance evaluation of Broiler and Angora rabbits in field conditions * Demonstration unit for Bharat

Merino The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...

and Avikalin sheep * Operational research project on technology transfer They employ 5 full-time scientists (Agricultural Research Scientists) and 3 technical officers.

Notes

External links

*Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute
Southern Regional Research Centre, Mannavanur

*CSWRI, Avikanagar, Rajasthan, Indi

{{coord, 10, 13, 26, N, 77, 21, 6, E, display=title Indian Council of Agricultural Research Agricultural organisations based in India Animal husbandry in Tamil Nadu Dindigul district Animal husbandry in India Research institutes in Tamil Nadu Wool organizations Research institutes established in 1965 1965 establishments in Madras State