On 16 June, 1925 the Soviet Cabinet approved the Regulations on the Institute of Applied Botany and New Cultures.
The Institute's Council included Nicolai Gorbunov (Chairman), Nicolai Vavilov (Principal), as well as representatives of the Agriculture Ministry of the Soviet Republics and Trade Unions

Nicolai Vavilov remained the head of the Institute until August 1940, when he was repressed.

During this period, the Institute organised numerous expeditions across the USSR and foreign countries, which resulted in the collection of a basis herbarium. Today, the Institute boasts a unique collection of over 200,000 specimens of cultivated and wild plants. Besides this, The Institute of Plant Growing had and still has a vast seed fund, which contains several tons of unique grain crops.