The Oil Crops Research Institute (OCRI)of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS)is a national center specialized for oil crops research and development . It was established in 1960, sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture(MOA).The location of OCRI¡¯s headquarter in Wuhan, named as Baojian, was one of the originating sites of modern agricultural education and technology development in China as Mr Zhang Zhidong in late Qing Dynasty once first set up the Hubei Agronomy School in 1898 here. OCRI has rapeseed, soybean, peanut and sesame as its mandate crops with a mission to conduct basic and applied research which can lead to enhanced productivity and utilization of the oil crops. The current research disciplines cover germplasm, genetics, breeding, functional genomic, genetic engineering, safety assessment of genetic modified organisms (GMOS), plant nutrition and physiology, plant pathology, chemical analysis, food safety and product processing.
The institute has four research stations with desirable laboratory, greenhouse and field facilities, totally occupying 143 ha land. Based on OCRI, several national research centers have been set up including the National Center for Oil Crops Improvement, National Engineering and Technology Research Center for Rapeseed, Key Lab for Oil Products of MOA, and Inspection and Testing Center of Environmental Biosafety of Transgenic Oil Crop of MOA. Construction of these centers has considerably improved the research capacity. The editorial office of the Chinese Journal of Oil Crop Sciences and the Oil Crops Association of China are also affiliated to OCRI.Totally, 246 staff are working in the institute including 62 senior scientists.
The institute has undertaken more than 960 research projects supported by various funding sources including National 863 plans, National 973 plans, National Key Projects, National Natural Scientific Foundation and International Collaboration, and has been the nationwide leading or coordinating institution for many important projects. Remarkable progress has been made on research of germplasm, utilization of heterosis in rapeseed and sesame, enhancement of Sclerotinia resistance in rapeseed and to bacterial wilt in peanut, management of peanut viral diseases, genetic engineering, quality standards, food safety, and product progressing. More than 90 research achievements have been awarded, among which, 16 were awarded by the central government. In the comprehensive evaluation in 2004, OCRI ranked as the 3rd one among the agricultural research institutions in China in terms of scientific innovation capacity and research facilities.