The Feed Crops Research Institute works on the selective breeding of oil-yielding crops, protein crops and forage crops, and produces high quality seeds of the same.

 

Its predecessor, established in 1936, developed into one of the biggest sunflower breeding centers with extensive foreign relations.

 

Numerous well-known varieties and hybrids of sunflower, peas, soybean, chickpeas and beans were produced as a result of the selective breeding work. The Ireg large-leaved wartycabbage (Bunias) has been recently certified as a variety of a new forage crop species. The varieties and hybrids of the institute are widely used within Hungary, and also in Eastern and Western Europe. One of their best-known items is the Ireg gray striped sunflower variety, which is primarily used as a bird food, but is also an excellent snack and raw material for the food industry.

 

An important target for the selective breeding work of the institute is to create stress-resistant varieties, lines, hybrids, which meet the criteria for modern oil-yielding, food and feed crop varieties, and it also develops new, modern, species-specific crop production technologies for these crops. The institute maintains a gene bank to protect the genetic bases and to achieve the targets of selective breeding, and it also maintains a wild species and mycology collection.
The fundamental future objective of the institute is to satisfy the demand of Hungarian and foreign crop producers by supplying modern varieties and production technologies.