Historical Landmarks

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

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

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