First (Junior) statistician S. Shanmugasundaram, MSc was appointed at the ICAR-SBI institute.

1974

Project on uniformity trails in sugarcane crop using variety Co 419 in collaboration was started in collaboration with Institute of Agricultural Research Statistics (Now IASRI, N.Delhi).

1975

·   ‘Plant population studies in sugarcane’ project report has indicated that 34-35 setts are optimum for planting in a 20’ row length.

·   ‘Uniformity trails in sugarcane’ project highlighted that CV decreases with increasing plot size either in length or in breadth.

1976

‘Uniformity trail’ studies found that a plot size of one row 11 m long or 2 rows, 5.5 m long was optimum under experimental field conditions at Coimbatore.

1977

·   Studies with fan design reported that the optimum range of spacing for varietal trails 8040 cm [8060 cm] with corresponding plant densities 31,250 [20,800] per hectare to get consistently high yields.

·   Quantitative relationship between plant density and yield using varieties: Co 419, Co 658 and Co 6304.

·   Augmented RCBD is comparatively efficient with incomplete block designs (Rectangular Lattice) for sugarcane breeding trails in final clonal trails.

1978

·   Plant population studies through fan design for sugarcane spacing and plant population trails.

·   Augmented RCBD is sufficient for sugarcane breeding trails compared to cubic Lattice design in final clonal trails as the number of genotypes increases.

1979

·   Utilization of computers (micro-computer) for sugarcane research was initiated.

·   Main focus on developing statistical models for sugarcane research, and storing & retrieving information on sugarcane breeding data in magnetic tapes/discs.

·   Literature collected on plot sizes and statistical designs used in breeding trails in the sugarcane research stations throughout the world.

1980

·   Applied pooled analysis for drought resistance studies over 3 seasons in 3 locations on data from physiology section.

·   All scientific divisions have utilized MICRO 2200 computer service for processing their research data.

1981

·   Data analysis was carried out for datasets received from all scientific divisions.

·   Computer programs for CRD, stability analysis, compact family block designs were developed and loaded in magnetic discs of MICRO 2200.

1982

Further programs for statistical tools  factorial RBD, ANCOVA, augmented RBD, simple lattice design was developed and loaded in magnetic discs.

1983

Another computer BDP 100 of electronic corporation of India Ltd., Hyderabad was procured and a few computer programs were developed.

1984

·   Development of models for sugarcane varietal screening

·   Development of models for crop production and post-harvest technology in sugarcane

·   AICRP in Sugarcane data also processed using computer programs which were specially designed for this purpose.

1985

·   Guidance on statistical tools suitable for research studies and data analysis was made to all scientific divisions of the institute.

·   Computer programs on analysis of Biparental progenies, repeated lattice designs were developed.

·   Sugarcane data on over 60 characters of S. spontaneum, S. sinense, S. robustum, S. edule, S. barbari; data on pre-zonal varietal trails (PZVT) and its statistics was stored in computers.

·   A course on ‘Experimental Designs for Sugarcane’ was started for MSc and PhD scholars in the institute.

1986

·   Computer was used for scrutinizing the meteorological data of 5 years for identifying climatic changes that caused heavy pest outbreak in North India during 1986.

·   Statistics on sugarcane agriculture and industry and other general information were loaded in the computer for future uses.

1987

Sugarcane data on 4 seasons of 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1987-1988 used for analysis to study the (i) pattern of block effects in adopted augmented design for all 6 locations (Coimbatore, Sameerwadi, Mundiampakkam, Tanuku, Karnal, Barachakia); (ii) worked out the simple correlation between yield and its attributes, and between hand refractometer brix of different portions of cane and final CCS%

1988

·   PZVT data on distinct characters were analysed for short duration, early, midlate groups of all 6 locations (Coimbatore, Sameerwadi, Mundiampakkam, Kovvuru, Karnal, Barachakia).

·   Annual workshop on AICRP-Sugarcane made some changes in the computer programme, information storage and retrieval system.

1989-90

Establishment of data bank on sugarcane: Data on general statistics of sugarcane.

1990-91

·   Computers programs was developed for: (i) storage and retrieval of data on S. officinarum germplasm; (ii) selection of best varieties based on quantitative morphological data; and (iii) selection of ‘Co’ varieties based on PZVT data.

·   The second statistician Dr.S. Ravichandran has joined in the Section. 

1991-92

·   Information on sugarcane area, production, consumption, etc. were compiled at District, State and All India levels.

·   Data analysis supported that for cane yield and CCS, Co 6907; for sucrose% Co 7717 & CoC 8001 in tropics, but for sub-tropical zone, Co 1148 was stable.

1992-93

·   Statistical efficiency of modified augmented design (MAD) was against augmented design (AD).

·   CD in MAD analysis can be brought down if number of genotypes exceeds 120 and if number of standards is more than 4.

1993-94

·   Besag and Kempton method of analysis of nearest neighbor design was studied in a field study during 1994-95 cropping season.

·   Computer softwares were developed for various sugarcane experiments such as multivariate statistical program, Time series package, etc.

1994-95

·   Adaptability of non-conventional designs.

·   Networking of sugarcane general information under NICNET program, ICAR.

·   Construction of statistical expert systems to simulation, for which DUDOC, Wageningen was procured.

1995-96

·   In place of Ravichandran, statistician Dr. R. Balakrishnan has joined at Statistics section of the institute.

·   Development of database; computerization and data processing for sugarcane breeding.

·   Growth and instability of sugarcane area and production was studied.

·   GRINS (Germplasm Resource INformation System) developed

1996-97

·   Simulation of dry matter production and yield of sugarcane under water stress conditions using cane characters- single cane weight, cane height, cane diameter.

·   Existing manual catalogues of S. officinarum, S. spontaneum and 400 foreign hybrids were computerized using GRINS.

·   The Agricultural Research Information System (ARIS) Cell was established in 1997 at the institute.

1997-98

·   Working manual of GRINS was prepared.

·   Fitting of ARIMA models for forecasting of sugarcane production based on time series data for All India and major states.

·   MAD with 120 genotypes with 4 standards in 3 replications taken for study.

1998-99

·   Statistical methods for establishment of gene pools in sugarcane germplasm using available data on qualitative and quantitative characters.

·   Pre-harvest forecasting and estimation of sugarcane and sugar yield in Tamil Nadu, and the developed model was compared with crop-weather forecasting models proposed by Agarwal and Jain (1992).

·   Database on personnel information system (PERMISNET) was updated using common software provided by ICAR.

1999-2K

·   GRINS facility provided to other institutes and utilized in other crops.

·   Three computer programs were developed for administration, library & stores.

2000-01

Evaluation of selection methods in sugarcane breeding using last 30 years data.

2001-02

·   The institute website was designed and launched as http://sugarcane-breeding.tn.nic.in during September 2002 with assistance of NIC, Chennai.

·   Computer programs written in FOXPRO for maintenance of GPF accounts and carrying income tax calculations of staff.

·   Training on ‘computer fundamentals and MS office package’ provided to entire staff.

·   Training on ‘usage of SPSS’ provided to scientific staff.

2002-03

·   GRAINS (Genetic Resources Information System)-Application package for management of databases on crop genetic resources updated from single user DOS environment to MS-Windows environment.

·   Two computer packages: one for library and another for statistical calculations of meteorological observations were prepared in VISUAL BASIC.

2003-04

·  Studies declares the potential of sugarcane families revealed that the cross mean and RANK statistics of univariate and bivariate methods are sufficiently predicts the best cross through BLUE and FORTRAN simulations.

·  Databases on sugarcane crop genetic resources from dBase format were converted to MS-Access format and implemented in GRAINS.

2004-05

·   Evaluation of statistical models for analysing success or failure rates of released sugarcane varieties in different factory zones of Tamil Nadu.

·   Sugarcane Knowledge Bank was initiated, and it comprises available information on various facets of sugarcane research.

·   Computer programs were developed for analysis and selections of diversity of Saccharum spontaneum collections using distinct sampling schemes.

·   FORTRAN program was written for predicting of red rot reaction based on morphological features.

2005-06

·  Modification in program code of GRAINS Software was made for database compatibility with more recent versions of MS Access.

·  Database on parents of Co-canes was updated used for computing co-ancestry coefficients of parents (whose pedigree were known) with appropriate softwares.

·  Statistical models applied for analysing success or failure rates of Co 86032 in four sugar mills (MRK Coop. Sugar Mills, Cheyyar Coop. Sugar Mills, Sakti Sugar Mills, & Sivaganga and Pondichery Coop. Sugar Mills of Tamil Nadu) w.r.t yield, drought, pest & diseases.

2006-07

·  Survey was conducted in two sugar mills (Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd, & Dharmapuri district Coop. Sugar Mills Ltd.) for finding farmers perception and coverage of Co 86032 w.r.t important factors yield, drought, pest & diseases incidences.

·  Maintenance/ updating of computer programs on Pay roll, wage Bill, Income Tax etc. as per the needs of administration section; and a new E-Tax program installed in Cash & Bill section under FOXPRO environment.

·  Field surveys were analysed using Fishers’ discriminant function to identify variables that decide farmers’ preference or grading about a particular variety.

·  Maintenance/ updating of computer programs on Pay roll, wage Bill, Income Tax etc. as per the needs of administration section.

·  Updating databases on parents of Co-canes & AICRP trails.

· Analysing multi-location variety evaluation trails using AMMI/ GE Biplot techniques for identifying promising entries for advancement to the next stage of evaluation & selection.

·  Dr. P. Murali, PhD (Agri. Econ) was has joined in the section.

2008-09

·  Field surveys data on eight sugar mills were analysed using Fishers’ discriminant function to identify variables that decide farmers’ preference or grading popular varieties Co 86032 & Co 99004.

·  Technical efficiency of sugarcane farmers in Tamil Nadu studied through surveys in three agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu where extensively (Co 86032) grown.

2009-10

·  Statistics Section was renamed as Statistics and Economics Section

2010-11

·  Technical efficiency of 150 sugarcane farmers in Tamil Nadu studied by collecting data on cost of cultivation & revenue earned.

·  Economic impact assessment of cane varieties and technologies in sugarcane production system using time series data to find total factor productivity (TFP).

·  ARIS cell was renamed as AKMU as per ICAR guidelines (F.No. 3-1/2010-GAS (DIPA) on 27 January, 2011. The AKMU came into being in the terminal years of VIII Five Year Plan.

2011-12

·  Analysis of means (ANOM) was used for checking performance of entries and test locations & their interactions using graphical means.

·  Database of Personnel information system (PERMISNET), Institute Monitoring (ISMON), Scientific project management (SPM) and Research project files (RPF) were periodically uploaded to ICAR.

·  Study on analysing cost & returns of different methods of cane cultivation.

·  Economic impact assessment and efficiency change of cane varieties (pre- & post- start of Co 86032) and technologies in sugarcane production system using data envelopment analysis, TFP, & stochastic frontier analysis; resulted Co 86032 has high average TFP.

2012-13

·  Economic impact assessment in sugarcane production system using time series data on area, production, sugar recovery, sugar, & jaggery prices for 20 years since 1993 for analysing sugar recovery’s improvement of Co 86032.

·  Softwares & databases for sugarcane field experiments & information systems in sugarcane research in VISUAL BASIC were maintained and updated.

2013-14

·  Economic impact assessment in sugarcane production system: field surveys conducted in nine sugar mills covering 200 farmers to know coverage of Co 86032, CoC 22 & CoC 24 in Tamil Nadu.

2014-15

·  Application of ANOM and analysis of mean variance (ANOMV) with Shukla’s stability variance for identifying entries that have high mean and low stability variance.

·  Economic impact assessment in sugarcane production system: field surveys conducted in 15 sugar mills to know adoption of Co 86032 in Tamil Nadu by utilizing dynamic research evaluation for management (DREAM) model of IFPRI, Washington, USA.

2015-16

·  Innovative training module for development of sugarcane farm leaders (SFL) for up-scaling sugarcane production and protection technologies in Tamil Nadu by implementing need-based capacity building programmes at 5 low productivity districts (Dharmapuri, Vellore, Nagapattinam, Karur & Tirunelveli).

2016-17

·  A feasibility study of recommended sugarcane production and protection technologies for promoting rural entrepreneurship.

·  An economic analysis on sugar recovery of co-canes in different states in India to know the dynamics of sugar recovery.

2017-18

·  AKMU has redesigned and upgraded the institutes’ website.

·  Capacity building programmes conducted to staff members on the topics of Payroll, Core-HRMS, etc.

·  A feasibility study of recommended sugarcane production and protection technologies for promoting rural entrepreneurship contd. mainly soil moisture indicator (SMI), sett treatment device (STD), production of FYM & jaggery production enterprise were finalized.

·  An economic analysis on sugar recovery of co-canes (CoC 671, Co 6304, Co 7704 & Co 8021) in different states in India.

·  Socio-economic impact of ICAR-SBI varieties and production technologies in different agro-climatic zones of India.

2018-19

·  A feasibility study of recommended sugarcane production and protection technologies for promoting rural entrepreneurship for starting rural enterprise to manufacture and market SMI by rural youth.

·  An economic analysis on sugar recovery of co-canes (Co 0238) in 4 states (Haryana, Bihar, Uttarkhand & Uttar Pradesh) was studied. The study has recorded North Karnataka also yielded high recovery compared to South Karnataka due to favourable climate.

·  Socio-economic impact of ICAR-SBI varieties and production technologies in different agro-climatic zones of India: the  study revealed that SBI Co-varieties had more life span, better yield and sugar recovery and good adoptability in the farmers’ fields of various agro-climatic zones of country.

2020

·  An economic analysis on sugar recovery of co-canes (Co 0238) in three states (Haryana, Panjab & Uttar Pradesh) in India resulted overall improvement in recovery rates despite fluctuating sugar recovery pattern.

·  Economic impact and climate smartness of Co 0238 in sub-tropical India wherein study highlighted that surplus sugarcane and sugar production has helped to implement the Policy decision on permitting sugarcane juice to fuel ethanol production.

·  Sugarcane based Agri-Business Incubator named SugarcaneEdge® (ICAR-SBI-ABI) was established under World Bank funded NAIF Project.

2021

·  An economic analysis on sugar recovery of co-canes was done in three states (Maharashtra, Karnataka and , Gujarat) in India.

·  Economic impact and climate smartness of Co 0238 in sub-tropical India, rest of India and India study carried to know yield and sugar recovery improvement.

·  A full-fledged sugarcane based ABI (Sugarcane Edge) was established for supporting technology commercialisation and incubation activities.

2022

·  Economic impact of ICAR-SBI varieties and technologies in India: estimates on impact of Co 0238 on compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is significantly higher.

·  Sugarcane Edge: has received Rs. 24.20 Lakhs from IPTM-NAIF component-II, & seven incubates were registered and actively developing new products as well as licensed technology commercialization.

·  MANAGE and SBI-ABI (Sugarcane Edge) has jointly organized sensitization workshop for Agri-Startups and FPO’s in the country.

·  Institute website was moved to new webpage- WordPress

2023

·  Sugarcane Edge: has received Rs. 17.80 Lakhs from IPTM-NAIF component-II, & Five incubates are actively developing new products as well as licensed technology commercialization.

·  Ex-ante assessment of water saving by SMI in Tamil Nadu revealed that the 9034 Lakh cubic litters of irrigation water saved and increment in yield by 161 lakh tonnes to sugarcane farmers.

·  AKMU is continuously upgrading IT infrastructure, timely information, and accessories for easy communication and technical support.

2024

·  Sugarcane Edge: has received Rs. 11.65 Lakhs from IPTM-NAIF component-II, & Three incubates are actively developing new products as well as licensed technology commercialization.