The Project Directorate on Poultry (PDP) is one of the constituent research institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), an autonomous multidisciplinary Research & Development Organization financially supported by Govt. of India. The Directorate was set up as a coordinating unit of All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Poultry in 1970 at Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Subsequently the unit was elevated as a full-fledged Project Directorate during 1988 and shifted to Hyderabad, the capital city of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The objectives of the Directorate are to coordinate research at AICRP centers located across the country and conduct research on the development and improvement of chicken lines for commercial and rural poultry production.

  
          The ongoing research programmes at PDP are focused on research relevant to societal needs, and application-oriented research towards commercialisation. These include the areas of poultry breeding, molecular genetics, applied nutrition, immunomodulation, disease diagnosis and health management etc. PDP has taken lead in the promotion of rural poultry farming through propagation of chicken varieties, Vanaraja and Gramapriya. PDP scientists received many prestigious awards including the ICAR team research award for outstanding achievements.