Plant Breeding

As the name of the Institute itself suggests, Plant Breeding Section (under the Crop Improvement Division) forms a major component of this Institute. The contribution made by the scientists of this section is steeped in the history of sugarcane research and development in this country. The novel idea conceived by our founding fathers, viz, Dr. C.A. Barber and Sir. T.S. Venkatraman of using the wild species Saccharum spontaneum as male with S. officinarum as female in sugarcane breeding with the objectives of incorporating gene complexes for biotic and abiotic stresses and for high biomass production resulted in a tremendous level of useful genetic variability. The first successful inter-specific hybrid variety Co 205 was released for cultivation from this exercise way back in 1918. This paved the way in revolutionizing sugarcane agriculture and sugar industry not only in India, but also in most of the sugarcane growing countries of the world. This landmark achievement is unparalleled in the annals of crop breeding history. Most, if not all, of the present day varieties world-over have the Coimbatore bred canes in their genealogy. A number of varieties evolved at this Institute has sustained the sugar industry in the country for nearly a century and made India self sufficient in sugar production.

The sugarcane breeding work in the main campus is facilitated by the National Hybridization Garden (NHG), where scientists and breeders from all AICRP centres assemble and make crosses after selecting proven parents. An innovative mechanism in the form of elevated runways in NHG has greatly facilitated making crosses easier even for female scientists. To augment the work at NHG, the hybridization programme is also carried out at the farm located at Agali Research Centre. The seed is later collected, dried and the defuzzed seeds are dispatched to the coordinating centres across the country.

The major part of seedling and clonal evaluation and selection is carried out at the breeding section located at East Chittirai Chavady (ECC) about 3 km from the main Institute. Clones suitable for North India are tested at the Regional Centre, Karnal. The best performing clones are assigned Co- numbers (‘Co’ indicating Coimbatore selections) and pushed to the next level of zonal trials.

Sugarcane Varieties

Historial Landmark

Development of varieties is the central area of research since the inception of the institute in 1912. It was the first of its kind to start work on breeding varieties for sub-tropical conditions. The first commercially successful inter-specific hybrid in the world, Co 205, a hybrid between cultivated sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum and the wild grass S. spontaneum became popular in Punjab province during 1920s. Varieties such as Co 213, Co 214, Co 281, Co 285, Co 290, Co 312, etc., bred by this institute revamped sugar industry in India. From 1926, the Institute started developing varieties for tropical India as well.

The varieties developed later by this Institute such as Co 419, Co 453, Co 740, Co 997, Co 1148, Co 62175, Co 6304 and Co 6806 are some of the very successful varieties spread across the country. The variety Co 86032 notified for release in the year 2000 occupies most of the sugarcane area in tropical India at present. Recently released sub-tropical varieties such as Co 0118 and Co 0238 are gaining popularity among the farmers of Haryana, Punjab, Western UP, Uttarakhand and Bihar. Thus varieties evolved by the Institute have elevated the status of the nation from a sugar importer to the largest manufacturer of sugar in the world today. The varieties evolved at this Institute are being grown all over India and is being used as breeding stocks in 26 other countries in the world as well

Popular Varieties in different parts of India

The following Table lists varieties that are popular or gaining good recognition in Tropical and Sub-tropical India during different periods of time.

This link provides profiles of recently released varieties of sugarcane in different parts of India

Sub-Tropical Zone Varieties

Year	Cane Varieties
1920	Co 205, Co 210, Co 213, Co 214, Co 224, Co 281, Co 290
1930	Co 205, Co 213, Co 223, Co 244, Co 281, Co 285, Co 290, Co 312, Co 313
1940	Co 213, Co 312, Co 313, Co 331, Co 356, Co 453
1950	Co 312, Co 313, Co 453, Co 951
1960	Co 312, Co 975, Co 1107, Co 1148
1970	Co 312, Co 1148, Co 1158
1980	Co 1148, Co 1158, Co 7717, Co 7314
1990	Co 1148, Co 89003
2000	Co 89003, Co 98014, Co 0238, Co 0118

Tropical Zone Varieties

Year	Varieties
1920	Co 213
1930	Co 213, Co 243, Co 281, Co 290, Co 313
1940	Co 213, Co 419
1950	Co 419, Co 449, Co 527
1960	Co 419, Co 527, Co 658, Co 740, Co 853, Co 975, Co 997
1970	Co 419, Co 527, Co 658, Co 740, Co 975, Co 997, Co 853, Co 62175, Co 6304, Co 6806, Co 6415
1980	Co 419, Co 740, Co 975, Co 62175,Co 6304, Co 6907, Co 7219
1990	Co 740, Co 62175, Co 6304, Co 7219, Co 7704, Co 7527, Co 7508, Co 7504, Co 8011, Co 8014, Co 8021, Co 8208, Co 8362, Co 8371, Co 8338, Co 85004, Co 86032, Co 85019, Co 86249, Co 97009
2000	Co 86032, Co 99004, Co 94012, Co 2001-13, Co 2001-15

Recently Released Sugarcane Varieties in Peninsular

This link provides profiles of recently released varieties of sugarcane in Peninsular india.

Varieties for Peninsular India

Co 0403

Co 99004 (Damodar): A new sugarcane variety for peninsular zone.

Co 99004, a midlate maturing variety was notified for release in Peninsular zone. This variety has excellent field habits like erectness, early vigorous growth, dark green foliage, tall canes, without spines on leaf sheath or splits on the rind, and 14% fibre in cane. Though the clone is moderate in tillering, high percentage of the tillers is productive, with about 2.5 kg single cane weight and cane length of about 3 metres. Erect crop stand is an added advantage making this variety ideal for mechanical harvesting.

Co 2001-13 and Co 2001-15: New midlate maturing varieties for Peninsular Zone.

Two new midlate maturing clones Co 2001-13 and Co 2001-15 were found to be superior based on the trials conducted at different locations of Peninsular zone under All India Coordinated Research Project on Sugarcane (2006-2008). Both the varieties performed well across the zone for commercial cane sugar (CCS) yield and cane yield in comparison with the presently popular variety Co 86032. These varieties which are resistant to red rot have good ratoonability and field stand.

Varieties for North-West India

Co 05011(Karan-9)

Co 0237 (Karan-8)

Co 0214 (Karan-5)

Co 0238 (Karan-4): A new early maturing variety for North West Zone.Co 0238 is a selection from the progeny of the cross CoLk 8102 x Co 775. This clone was identified from Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Regional Centre, Karnal. It had medium thick green yellow canes with cylindrical internodes, pentagonal buds, deltoid auricle and shallow bud groove. The clone is free from splits, spines on leaf sheath, pith. Bud cushion is absent. In comparison to the major check CoJ 64, it showed about 20 %, 16 % and 0.50 % improvement in cane yield, sugar yield and sucrose % in juice, respectively. The fibre % is about 13.05 %. It is good winter ratooner, tolerant to drought and water logging conditions. The jaggery is of A1 quality with light yellow colour. This clone is resistance to the prevalent races of red rot pathogen. The clone has the potential to occupy larger area under sub-tropical India.

Co 0118 (Karan 2): A new early maturing variety for North West Zone.Co 0118 is a selection from the progeny of the cross Co 8347 x Co 86011. This clone was identified from seedling ratoon nursery raised at Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Regional Centre, Karnal. The cane yield and sugar yield of Co 0118 was higher than that of CoJ 64. It is tolerant to drought and water lodging conditions. It had medium thick, green-yellow canes with obconoidal internodes, rectangular buds, lanceolate auricle on both sides (generally long on one side), shallow bud groove and weak spines on leaf sheath. The clone is free from splits, pith. Bud cushion is absent. The fibre % is about 12.78 %. The jaggery is of A1 quality with light yellow colour. This clone is moderately resistant (MR) to the prevalent races of red rot.

Co 98014 (Karan-1)

Varieties for North East & North Central India

Co 0232 : An early maturing variety for North Eastern and North central Zone

Co 0232, an early maturing, water logging tolerant and red rot resistant clone is a selection from the cross CoLk 8102 x Co 87267 through hybridization and clonal selection. This clone is suitable for cultivation in the North Central and North East zones comprising of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and North Eastern states. This clone was identified from Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Research Centre, Motipur (presently under IISR, Lucknow) during 2002. Under water logging conditions Co 0232 performed better over the best standard CoSe 95422 with 7.63 % higher cane yield, 11.55 % higher CCS t/ha and 0.77 % higher sucrose content. It is also tolerant to early drought and top borer.

Co 0233: A midlate maturing variety for North Eastern and North central Zone

Co 0233, was identified from Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Research Centre, Motipur (presently under IISR, Lucknow). It is a selection from the cross CoLk 8102 x Co 775 and is suitable for cultivation in the North Central and North East zones. The cane and sugar yield of Co 0233 was 21.11 % and 24.62% higher over best standard CoSe 92423. This variety is midlate maturing, high yielding, tolerant to early drought, water logging and top borer and resistant to red rot.

Other promising Varieties in the pipe-line

Co 0314 – an early maturing clone for Peninsular zone

Co 0314 named as Shyamala was evolved through hybridization and selection involving two high yielding and high quality proven parents viz., Co 7201 x Co 86011. It is an early maturing clone identified as Co cane in 2003 from Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore suitable for Peninsular Zone. Besides being a high yielding and good quality clone, it is moderately resistant to red rot and resistant to smut. It possesses A1 quality jaggery and 13.93 % fibre. The clone has impressive, excellent field stand, erectness, early vigorous growth, dark green foliage, tall canes growing up to 3.0m without splits.

Co 0209– an early maturing clone for Peninsular zone

The early maturing clone Co 0209 with the parentage Co 8353 x Co 86011, performed well across the peninsular zone for cane yield and sugar yield in comparison with CoC 671 and Co 85004. Besides being a high yielding and good quality clone, it is resistant to red rot and smut also. It possesses A1 quality jaggery and 13.93 % fibre. The clone has excellent field stand, erectness, early vigorous growth, dark green foliage, tall canes growing up to 3.0 m and without spines on the sheath

Plant Breeding Scientist

A number of Scientific staff (both experienced and young) form the core group of sugarcane breeding at the Institute. The breeding section offers good facilities for undertaking basic and applied research on all aspects concerning sugarcane.

ERP ID	Scientist Name	Designation	Discipline	E_Mail ID
019759	Dr.P.Govindaraj	Director	Plant Breeding	P.Govindaraj@icar.gov.in
019749	Dr.R.M.Shanthi	Principal Scientist Head of Division of Crop Improvement	Plant Breeding & Genetics	RM.Shanthi@icar.gov.in
013229	Dr.K.A.Prabakaran Amala Joseph	Principal Scientist	Plant Breeding	prabakaran.AJ@icar.gov.in
019710	Dr.S.Alarmelu	Principal Scientist	Plant Breeding	S.Alarmelu@icar.gov.in
019721	Dr.S.Karthikeyan	Principal Scientist	Plant Breeding	Karthikeyan.S@icar.gov.in
019718	Dr.A.Anna Durai	Principal Scientist	Plant Breeding	A.Annadurai@icar.gov.in
019532	Dr.R.Karuppaiyan	Principal Scientist	Plant Breeding	Karuppaiyan.R@icar.gov.in
019748	Dr.K.Mohanraj	Principal Scientist	Plant Breeding	K.Mohanraj@icar.gov.in
019994	Dr. Ravinder Kumar	Principal Scientist, ICAR- SBI Regional Centre, Karnal	Plant Breeding, Regional Center- Karnal	ravinder.kumar6@icar.gov.in
019995	Dr. Minturam Meena	Senior Scientist, ICAR- SBI Regional Centre, Karnal	Plant Breeding, Regional Center- Karnal	mr.meena@icar.gov.in
019744	Dr.C.Appunu	Senior Scientist	Plant Breeding	C.Appunu@icar.gov.in
020671	Dr.M.Nisha	Senior Scientist,Officer-Incharge ICAR- SBI Research Centre, Kannur	Plant Breeding	Nisha.M@icar.gov.in
014264	Dr.K.Elayaraja	Senior Scientist	Genetics & Plant Breeding	Elayaraja.K@icar.gov.in
012247	Dr.R.T.Maruthi	Senior Scientist (I/C Research Center, Agali)	Genetics & Plant Breeding	Maruthi.RT@icar.gov.in
011047	Dr.S.Sheelamary	Senior Scientist	Plant Breeding & Genetics	Sheela.Mary@icar.gov.in
020445	Dr.K.Gopalareddy	Scientist	Genetics & Plant Breeding	gopalareddy.k@icar.gov.in
021660	Dr.H.K.Mahadeva Swamy	Scientist	Plant Breeding & Genetics	Mahadevaswamy.HK@icar.gov.in
024767	Dr. R. Gobu	Scientist	Plant Breeding & Genetics	gobu.r@icar.gov.in
019681	Ms.Adhini S Pazhany	Scientist	Plant Breeding	Adhini.Sp@icar.gov.in
021661	Mr.T.Lakshmi Pathy	Scientist	Genetics & Plant Breeding	Lakshmipathy.T@icar.gov.in
022786	Dr.Kona Praveen	Scientist	Genetics & Plant Breeding	kona.praveen@icar.gov.in

Activities Under AICRP

ICAR – Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore was established in the year 1912 and served for more than 107 years in evolving superior varieties of sugarcane to cater the needs of the various agro climatic zones in the country. The Institute is located at Coimbatore (77°E longitude and 11°N latitude) in Southern India on the leeward side of Western Ghats at 427 metres above mean sea level and receives an annual average rainfall of 650 mm, mostly during the months of October-December. The maximum and minimum temperatures range from 35.2°C to 21.7°C respectively. During the last century, the institute had contributed to the varietal diversity of the nation, as it was evident from the fact that more than 90% of the area under sugarcane in the country is covered by varieties which were bred or derived from crosses made at Coimbatore. In tropical region, 60% and 38% of the sugarcane area is under varieties developed by ICAR-SBI and other sugarcane breeding centres in collaboration with ICAR-SBI respectively. In subtropical region also, varieties developed by ICAR-SBI and other sugarcane breeding centres in collaboration with ICAR-SBI are occupying 75% and 23% of the sugarcane areas respectively. During 2018-19, Coimbatore canes (Co canes) covered 70.06 % of the area under sugarcane in the country. In addition, the varieties bred at Coimbatore are also cultivated/ used as parents in 28 other countries in the world. The National Hybridization Garden functioning at ICAR-SBI, Coimbatore is the basis for creating genetic variability for the whole nation as it facilitates and coordinates the crossing programme of 24 sugarcane breeding centres distributed across five agro-climatic zones of the country. The National Distant Hybridization Facility created at ICAR-SBI, Research Centre at Agali is open to all the AICRP(S) participating centres to make wide crosses involving different genera of Saccharum complex for strengthening the pre breeding activities.

Salient findings:

♦ Fourteen varieties viz., Co 8371, Co 85004, Co 86032, Co 87025, Co 87044, Co 91010, Co 94008, Co 99004, Co 2001-13, Co 2001-15, Co 0403, Co 06027, Co 09004 and Co 10026 for Peninsular zone, two varieties namely Co 86249 and Co 06030 for East Coast zone, Eleven varieties viz., Co 98014, Co 0118, Co 0124, Co 0237, Co 0238, Co 0239, Co 05009, Co 05011, Co 06034, Co 09022, Co 12029 for North West Zone and five varieties namely Co 89029, Co 87263, Co 87268, Co 0232 and Co 0233 for North Central and North East zones were developed at ICAR-SBI and were notified by Central Sub-committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties in Agricultural and Horticultural crops for general cultivation.

♦ The present ruling variety in the tropical region is Co 86032 which occupies about 55% area in Tamil Nadu, 50% area in Maharashtra, 59% Karnataka, 57% in Telengana and sizable areas in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. On a national basis, this varieity occupies 16% are under sugarcane. The gross additional value realised from this variety alone is estimated to be about 20,354 crores.

♦ The wonder variety Co 0238 is the dominant variety in subtropical areas which occupies around 66% of the total sugarcane cropped area. The variety is responsible for the improvement of 19 t/ha sugarcane and 1.49% sugar recovery in the major sugarcane growing state of Uttar Pradesh. This variety has generated as additional Rs. 28,795 crores to sugar mills and farmers due to its higher cane yield, sugar content and by-products production during 2014-15 to 2017-18.

♦ Co 94012 and Co 92005 for Maharashtra and Co 0212 and Co 06022 for Tamil Nadu were released for cultivation by the state variety release committee.

♦ A total of 125.565 Kg of fluff was supplied under fluff supply programme from 2014-15 to 2018-19 season.

♦ A total of 27 ISH and IGH clones developed at the institute were evaluated for tolerance to drought and water logging stress conditions in eight selected AICRP(S) participating centres and climate smart genetic stocks were identified. Thirty new ISH/IGH hybrids and 30 commercial clones are under evaluation at seven centres across four agroclimatic zones.