Sugarcane Breeding Institute maintains the largest assembly of Saccharum species and hybrid germplasm with nearly 3800 clones besides 2250 Indian commercial hybrids developed. The germplasm is maintained in the field gene bank at Kannur and at Coimbatore. The Economic Botany Section is actively involved in conducting germplasm explorations at different parts of the country and has been instrumental in the collection, assembling, maintenance, characterization & evaluation of a large number of wild and related species of sugarcane germplasm. A number of germplasm catalogues has been brought out by this section.

The Section is also actively involved in the maintenance, evaluation and utilization of the National Active Germplasm (NAG) of sugarcane that consists of commercial sugarcane varieties released for cultivation and the germplasm registered with National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi from different research stations.

The Institute has been identified as a National DUS (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability) testing centre for Sugarcane by the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers’ Rights Authority (PVP). The Economic Botany Section has a major focus on the DUS testing also. The are three centres for DUS testing of sugarcane varieties viz., Coimbatore and Research Centre, Agali for tropical sugarcane varieties and Regional Centre, Karnal for sub-tropical varieties.