Historical Landmarks
Landmarks in the History of Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore
Prior to 1950
| 1912 | The Institute was established as a Sugarcane Research Station under the Department of Agriculture, Madras
Presidency funded by the then British Government. Dr. C.A. Barber was appointed as the first Head of Station & Government Sugarcane Expert. |
| 1918 | The first inter-specific commercial sugarcane variety Co 205 was released |
| 1926 | Work on tropical cane breeding initiated |
| 1927 | Co canes spread to foreign countries- Co 205 to Cuba and Florida (U.S.A) |
| 1928 | Release of Co 312 which dominated as the most popular variety in the sub-tropical India for the next 3 decades |
| 1932 | The Karnal Centre was established with the funds sanctioned by the Imperial
Council of Agricultural Research. Mr. G.V. James was the first In-Charge of the station and he succeeded in germinating the sugarcane fluff at Karnal. The first batch of seedlings were planted |
| 1933 | First wonder cane of tropical India Co 419 was released |
| 1946 | Launching of Spontaneum expeditions scheme (SES) |
| 1949 | Second wonder cane of India Co 740 was released |
1950-2000
| 1956 | Establishment of a world collection of germplasm duplicating the original collection at Canal Point,
U.S.A with U.S. aid. Ninth ISSCT Conference was held for the first time in India at Delhi |
| 1962 | The Golden Jubilee of the Institute celebrated. The Cannanore (Kannur) Research Centre was established to house the world collection of sugarcane germplasm |
| 1963 | First PL 480 project taken up for producing Indo-American clones with built-in resistance to
diseases, adverse environments utilizing S. spontaneum. Radio isotope laboratory was set up |
| 1966 | All India Coordinated Project on Sugarcane of ICAR was launched with this Institute as one of the main centres |
| 1969 | The Institute became part of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) |
| 1974 | National Hybridization Garden (NHG) on sugarcane was established |
| 1977 | Tissue culture laboratory was established Division of breeding, genetics, cytogenetics and physiology reorganized |
| 1983 | Testing of pre-zonal varieties at five zonal centes |
| 1987 | Platinum Jubilee celebrated |
| 1999 | The Agali Centre that was established in 1994 became operational as a full-fledged Research Centre |
Beyond 2000
| 2011 | October 24, 2011 - The Centenary Celebrations were launched by Dr. S. Ayyappan, DG (ICAR) & Secretary (DARE) on the occasion of 99th Foundation Day of the Institute. |
| 2012 | June 26-27, 2012 - National Institute-Industry Workshop was held in connection with the Centenary Celebrations |
| 2012 | October 15-18, 2012 - International Symposium on New Paradigms in Sugarcane Research was held in connection with the Centenary Celebrations |
| 2012 | December 18, 2012 - The Valedictory Function of the Centenary Celebrations was held at the Main Institute, Coimbatore |
