The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the apex body for coordinating, guiding, and managing agriculture research and education in the country under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
India’s ICAR-AU System consists of 74 Agricultural Universities, including 63 State Agricultural, Veterinary, Horticultural, and Fisheries Universities (SAUs), four ICAR-DUs (IARI, IVRI, NDRI, and CIFE), three Central Agricultural Universities (CAU, Imphal, Dr. RPCAU, Pusa, and RLB CAU, Jhansi), and four Central Universities (CUs) with Agriculture Faculty (BHU, AMU, Viswa Bharati and Nagaland University).
Every year, the ICAR JRF exam is conducted to allow a significant number of students seeking admission to Doctorate degree programmes in AUs in Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Veterinary, Animal Sciences, and other fields to participate.
In this article, let’s get to know all information about the ICAR JRF exam dates, notification, eligibility, application form, exam pattern and syllabus.
ICAR JRF Exam Notification
The National Testing Agency (NTA) administered the AICE-JRF/SRF(Ph.D.)-2022 examination for admission to Doctorate degree programmes in several disciplines of Agriculture and Allied Sciences running in approved institutions within the ICAR-AU System on September 20, 2022.
The ICAR JRF exam notification for 2023 will be released soon by NTA on its official website. The exam is conducted in July-September every year. The notification provides all relevant details for the ICAR JRF exam related to exam dates, application form, exam fees, exam pattern, marking scheme and syllabus. Aspirants can download the ICAR JRF exam notification for 2022 to get an idea about the exam and start preparing accordingly before the 2023 notification is released.
ICAR JRF 2022 Notification PDF
ICAR JRF Exam Date 2023
The ICAR JRF exam dates for 2023 will be announced tentatively in July once the official notification is released. Aspirants can refer to the previous year exam date details to get an idea about the timing and schedule of 2023 exam.
ICAR JRF 2022 Exam Date
| Event | Date |
| Online submission of Application Form | 20.07.2022 to 19.08.2022 |
| Last date of fee payment | 19.08.2022 |
| Correction in application form | 21.08.2022 to 23.08.2022 |
| Date of ICAR JRF/SRF Exam | 20.09.2022 |
ICAR JRF Application
The ICAR JRF Application form is released with along with the official notification. Aspirants can check the process of downloading, filling and submitting the application form below.
How to fill ICAR JRF/SRF Application Form?
Step 1 – Candidates can apply online for AICE-JRF/SRF (Ph.D.)-2023 on the official website: https://icar.nta.nic.in/
Step 2 – Register online using your Email Id and Mobile Number
Step 3- Fill in the Online Application Form and note down the system generated Application Number
Step 4 – Make the payment using using SBI/Canara/HDFC Payment Gateway through Debit Card/Credit Card/Net Banking/UPI and keep proof of fee paid.
Step 5 – Download a copy of application form for future reference.
Candidates must have all relevant documents for uploading during the submission of the online application form.
Candidates need to upload the following:
- scanned images of the Candidate’s Photograph (file size: 10kb – 200kb),
- Candidate’s Signature (file size: 4kb – 30kb)
- Thumb impression (file size: 3kb-30kb) in JPG/JPEG format.
ICAR JRF Exam Fees
The exam fees for the ICAR JRF exam for various categories are as follows:
General/Unreserved – Rs. 1850/-
OBC-NCL/ UPS/EWS- Rs. 1820/-
SC/ ST/ PwBD / Third Gender Rs. 920/-
ICAR JRF Exam Pattern
ICAR JRF Exam is a single paper test conducted for 480 marks and for 2 hours. The detailed ICAR JRF Exam Pattern is given below:
| Mode of Exam | Computer-based exam |
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Number of questions | 120 |
| Maximum marks | 480 marks |
| Marks for each question | 4 marks |
| Marks for wrong response | -1 mark |
| Marks for non-attempted question | 0 |
| Medium of Paper | English |
There are 3 sections in the exam.
Section A – General Knowledge/Reasoning Ability
This section has 20 MCQs that will be common to all the 70 specialised subjects. The questions in this section assess the level of the candidate’s awareness of the environment and its application to society. The questions are based on general knowledge in the domain of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries and Allied Sciences, etc.
Section B- Core group specialised subjects opted by the candidate for PhD.
This section will have 50 MCQs from the core group subjects – Crop Sciences, Horticulture, Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Dairy Science, Dairy Technology & Food Technology, Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Community Science, Fishery Science, Natural Resource Management, Agricultural Economics & Agri-Business Management, Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Statistics.
Section C – Specialized Subject opted by the candidate for PhD.
This section comprises 50 MCQs that will be from one of the specialised Subjects in the Master’s Degree opted by the candidate for pursuing a PhD.
ICAR JRF Exam Syllabus
The ICAR JRF Exam will be conducted based on the syllabus prescribed by ICAR. The syllabus for the ICAR JRF exam is as follows:
| Section | Topics |
| Genetics and Plant Breeding | General Genetics and Plant Breeding, Economics Botany and Plant Breeding Methods, Genome Organization and Cytogenetics of Crop Plants, Quantitative and Biometrical Genetics, etc |
| Seed Science & Technology | Seed Biology, Seed Production, Seed Processing, Seed Quality Control, Seed Storage, Seed Health, etc |
| Economic Botany & Plant Genetic Resources | Biodiversity and Plant Genetic Resources, Exploration and Germplasm Collecting, Germplasm Exchange and Plant Quarantine, Biotechnology in Plant Genetic Resource Management, Economic Botany, etc. |
| Plant Pathology | History and Principles of Plant Pathology, Laboratory and Analytical Techniques, Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, Mycology, Plant Bacteriology, etc. |
| Nematology | History and Economic Importance, Nematode Taxonomy and Morphology, Nematological Techniques, Nematode Ecology, Plant Nematode Relationships, etc. |
| Agricultural Entomology | Systematics, Morphology, Embryology, Internal Anatomy and Physiology, Ecology, Biological Control, Chemical Control and Toxicology, etc |
| Sericulture | Mulberry Crop Production, Mulberry and Silkworm Breeding, Silkworm Biology, Non-Mulberry Sericulture, Silkworm Seed Cocoon and Egg Production, etc |
| Plant Biochemistry | Basic Biochemistry and Biomolecules, Intermediary Metabolism, Enzymes, Vitamins and Hormones, Molecular Biology, Techniques in Biochemistry, etc |
| Plant Physiology | Cell Organelles and Water Relations, Metabolic Processes and Growth Regulation, Crop Productivity and Modelling, Abiotic Stress Responses in Plants, etc. |
| Agricultural Biotechnology | Cell Structure and Function, Biomolecules and Metabolism, Enzymology, Molecular Genetics, Gene Expression, etc. |
To download the detailed syllabus for all 73 subjects, click the link below.
ICAR JRF Syllabus PDF
ICAR JRF Eligibility
For appearing in AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD), it would be mandatory for the candidates to have passed out from ICAR-accredited constituent colleges and ICAR-accredited courses/programmes of public-funded/Govt. institutions (GoI / State Govt. funded) within or outside the ICAR-AU system OR ICAR-accredited Private Agriculture and Allied Science colleges and ICAR-accredited courses/programmes.
Indian nationals who have passed the Master’s Degree programme with a minimum Overall Grade Point Average (OGPA) will be eligible for the exam.
The minimum OGPA required to appear in the ICAR JRF/SRF exam is as follows:
| Category | OGPA | Marks/Percent Secured out of (100) |
| General, OBC (NCL) and UPS/ EWS |
|
60 |
| SC/ST/PwBD/ Third Gender |
|
50 |
Age Limit
Indian National who are atleast 20 years as on 31st August 2023 are eligible for the ICAR JRF/SRF exam. Also, there is no cap on the maximum age limit for the ICAR JRF Exam
ICAR JRF Exam Answer Key
The NTA will display provisional Answer Keys of the questions along with the question papers attempted by the respective candidates on the NTA website to provide an opportunity for the interested candidates to challenge the Answer Key (if any). The candidates will be able to check and download answer Keys for two to three days.
ICAR JRF Result 2023
The result for the ICAR JRF exam result 2023 will be released within a month after the commencement of the examination. The ICAR JRF result will be declared on the official website, and candidates need to follow the below-mentioned steps to download the result.
- Visit the official website – https://icar.nta.nic.in/ or www.nta.ac.in
- Once the result is declared, candidates will be able to see a download link on the home page.
- Click on the link and fill in the details asked- your application number and password.
- Download the result/scorecard and take a printout.
Candidates must know that they won’t get a chance for revaluation/rechecking of answer scripts after the declaration of results, as candidates are given the opportunity to evaluate their own recorded responses and to challenge any discrepancy before the release of the final answer key and results.
ICAR JRF Counselling
Candidates declared eligible for registration and choice filling for counselling by ICAR will only be considered for allocation of subject and the Agricultural University. The schedule for ICAR JRF counselling will be notified separately on the ICAR website after the declaration of the result. The admission and scholarship would be granted only when the candidate seeks admission through counselling conducted by ICAR. Candidates shall be awarded ICAR-JRF/SRF(Ph.D.) only after completing online counselling.
