ICAR ARS official syllabus guide

ICAR ARS syllabus 0

ASRB recruits entry-level ICAR scientists through the ARS examination in three stages: a qualifying objective prelim, a descriptive main paper and an interview. Both written stages use the Food Technology discipline syllabus, which ASRB shares with its NET, SMS and STO examinations.

Exam pattern and marking

• Preliminary (CBT, qualifying) — one paper of 150 marks, all MCQs, 2 hours, Hindi and English; 1/3 mark deducted per wrong answer; not counted in the final merit
• Prelim qualifying marks (2025): UR 67.5 (45%), EWS/OBC 60 (40%), SC/ST/PwBD 52.5 (35%); shortlisted for Mains at 1:15 per post
• Mains (descriptive) — one 300-mark paper, 3 hours: 25 × 5 marks (~50 words), 10 × 10 marks (~100 words), 5 × 15 marks (~150 words)
• Personal interview — 45 marks, called at 1:3 per vacancy
• Figures are from the ARS-2025 notification; ASRB revises the plan by cycle (2021 used a 240-mark Mains and a 60-mark viva)

Food Technology (discipline 55) syllabus

Unit 1: Introductory Food Technology

• Food attributes (colour, texture, flavour, nutritive value) and consumer preference; food processing industries and institutions in India
• Causes and detection of spoilage, sources of microbial contamination, foodborne illness, water activity and spoilage
• Preservation principles and methods — heat processing, pasteurisation, canning, dehydration, freezing, freeze drying, fermentation, irradiation, chemical additives, fortification
• Refrigerated and modified-atmosphere storage, aseptic preservation, hurdle technology
• Non-thermal (PEF, HPP, microfiltration, bacteriofugation, thermosonication), alternate-thermal (ohmic, dielectric, infrared, induction) and biological (bacteriocins, antibacterial enzymes) technologies; supercritical fluid extraction and cold plasma

Unit 2: Technology of Foods of Plant Origin

• Fruit and vegetable post-harvest handling, minimal processing, cold chain, ZECC and CCSR storage
• Canning and process-time evaluation, dehydration and solar drying, intermediate moisture foods, juices and beverages, membrane technology
• Pectin chemistry and gel products; preserves, pickles, chutneys, sauces and tomato products; IQF and frozen produce; by-product utilisation
• Tea, coffee and cocoa processing; spices, oleoresins and essential oils; medicinal and aromatic plants
• Cereal grains and millets — structure, milling, flour rheology, gluten, bakery, pasta, extruded and breakfast foods; rice milling and parboiling; barley malting; oat and corn (wet/dry) milling
• Pulses and oilseeds — milling and processing, protein concentrates and isolates, oil extraction and refining, vanaspati, modified starches and proteins, plant-based dairy analogues

Unit 3: Technology of Foods of Animal Origin

• Dairy plant operations — reception, separation, clarification, pasteurisation, standardisation, homogenisation, sterilisation; UHT, toned, fortified and flavoured milks
• Milk products — cream, butter, ghee, cheese, condensed and evaporated milk, milk powders, ice cream, khoa, chhana, paneer; enzyme-modified cheese; dairy sanitation and CIP
• Meat and poultry — muscle structure, ante- and post-mortem inspection, slaughter, rigor mortis, cuts, curing, smoking, sausage making, tenderisation
• Fish handling, canning, smoking and freezing; egg structure, quality, preservation and egg products; by-product utilisation

Unit 4: Food Quality Management

• Quality control objectives, control charts, acceptance sampling, audits, recall and liability
• Food plant sanitation, hygiene regulations, environment and waste management
• TQM, HACCP, Codex; national and international food law — FSSAI, US-FDA, ISO 9000
• Adulteration; sensory evaluation and panel selection; instrumental and non-destructive quality evaluation

Unit 5: Food Engineering, Packaging and Labelling

• Unit operations — grading, sorting, peeling, size reduction; energy balance; automation across unit operations and CIP
• Packaging materials, properties and testing; packaging of fresh and processed foods; shelf-life studies
• Aseptic, modified-atmosphere, vacuum and gas packaging; time-temperature indicators
• Labelling requirements and principles of package design

Unit 6: Food Microbiology and Biotechnology

• Fermentation technology and fermented foods; microbial spoilage; bacterial growth curve; hurdle technology
• Fermenters and bioreactors — aeration, agitation, sterilisation, continuous and solid-state fermentation
• Biotechnological production of additives and enzymes; biomass from industrial waste; single-cell protein
• Food contaminants such as aflatoxins; food intoxication and infection; biotechnology and food safety

Unit 7: Flavour Chemistry and Technology

• Flavour composition of foods and beverages, precursors and staling reactions
• Flavour changes with maturation, microbial activity and processing; odour-active compound analysis
• Microbial and plant-cell flavour synthesis; lipid-derived flavours; flavour stability
• Flavour emulsions and composites, essential oils and oleoresins; encapsulation

Unit 8: Consumer Sciences, Product Development and Health Foods

• Socio-cultural, psychological and economic factors in food choice; domestic and export marketing; consumer trends
• New product development — ideation, screening, development, test marketing, commercialisation
• Food in human nutrition, nutritional disorders, natural contaminants and diet therapy
• Therapeutic, engineered, organic, nutraceutical and functional foods; functional properties of food components; nutrigenomics; nanotechnology in functional foods

Source: ASRB discipline-wise ARS/NET syllabus (archived copy) ↗. Source: ASRB Combined NET/ARS/SMS/STO 2025 notification (archived copy) ↗. Checked 2026-09-26. The examining authority's current document remains definitive and should be verified before planning examination preparation.

Section weight by year

Section marks are calculated from each available ICAR ARS paper. The table records how marks were distributed in each year represented on this site.

Counted from the question banks on this server. Where our reproduction of a paper is short of the official total — figure-dependent questions we cannot carry — the exam page says so against that paper.

See every ICAR ARS mock test on the site — full papers, sectional tests, cut-offs and eligibility.