Sugarcane Breeding Institute (SBI) is a central

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was established in 1912 and is affiliated to

Indian Council of Agricultural Research The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...

. It was established to promote research efforts in sugarcane production and is the only sugarcane research institute in the country.

History

The Sugarcane Breeding Institute was established by the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

in 1912. The institute was established as a sugarcane research station under the Department of Agriculture,

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

funded by the then British Government. In 1932, a new center at

Karnal Karnal () is a city located in the state of Haryana, India and is the administrative headquarters of Karnal District. The city is well connected as it lies on National Highway 01, in the south of the city lies the cities of Panipat and Sonipa ...

was established with the funds sanctioned by the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research. In 1962, a new research center was established in

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...

to house the world collection of sugarcane

germplasm Germplasm refers to genetic resources such as seeds, tissues, and DNA sequences that are maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, conservation efforts, agriculture, and other research uses. These resources may take the form of s ...

. The institute got affiliated to

in 1969. In 1999, a new research center at Agali, Palakkad became operational.

Centres

# Regional Centre Karnal, Haryana # Research Centre Kannur, Kerala # Research Centre Agali, Kerala

Work

The sugarcane varieties introduced by the institute occupy more than 90% of total sugarcane cultivated area in

. The institute was involved in early research into hybridization, a first attempt to improve the subtropical types of sugarcanes. The first variety Co 205 was developed in 1918 based on wild sugarcane species

Saccharum spontaneum ''Saccharum spontaneum'' (wild sugarcane, kans grass) is a grass native throughout much of tropical and subtropical Asia, northern Australia, and eastern and northern Africa. It is a perennial grass, growing up to three meters in height, with s ...

and Saccharum officinarum resulted in 50 percent improvement in cane yield. The sugarcane varieties introduced were exported to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 2012, the institute developed transgenic sugarcane introducing new molecular technologies. In 2014, the institute introduced high energy sugar canes with high

sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

content which can be used for both commercial sugar extraction and

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

energy production. In 2015, a new sett treatment device was developed in collaboration with the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering for treating the setts under reduced pressure to prevent them from fungal diseases. The institute introduced seven new varieties of sugarcane in 2015. CODISSIA organizes Agri Intex, an annual agricultural

trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...

to promote agriculture and allied industries in association with SBRI. The 15th edition was organized in 2015 which included participants from over 10 countries.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Organisations based in Coimbatore Research institutes in Tamil Nadu Sugar organizations Sugar industry of India Research institutes established in 1912 1912 establishments in British India