New Director assumes charge at ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore

Dr. P. Govindaraj, a distinguished Plant Breeder, assumed charge as the Director of ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute (ICAR-SBI), Coimbatore on 01.08.2024. He was serving as the Head of Crop Improvement Division at the Institute, prior to this assignment.
He graduated from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and went on to obtain his Post graduation and doctorate from the same University, with Gold Medal.
 Belonging to the 1991 batch of ARS (Agricultural Research Service), he started his career as a scientist at ICAR-SBI, and subsequently served as Scientist In-charge of the Institute’s Research Centre in Motipur, Bihar.
With over 30 years of experience in Plant Breeding, Dr.Govindaraj has developed  Co 0232 & Co 0233 sugarcane varieties that had occupied over 70,000 ha during 2018-19 covering 20 % of the sugarcane area in Bihar, Co 09004 variety that occupies over 50,000 ha in Karnataka & Gujarat and 12 more improved cane 
varieties. 
He has developed over 13 genetic stocks of which six were climate resilient 
and are being widely used by sugarcane breeders.
He has conducted six explorations covering 13 states across the country and had collected 513 new wild sugarcane germplasm which serve as a potential source for tolerance to drought, salinity, waterlogging, low temperature and high biomass. 
For the first time in India, Dr Govindaraj had developed a promising energycane SBIEC 14006 with high biomass potential which has been licensed to multinational and national bioenergy firms producing hydrogen gas, biogas and power.
Dr Govindaraj was deputed as ‘Sugarcane Expert’ to Fiji Islands by the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India where he had drafted and implemented Fiji National Sugarcane Breeding Programme.
He has published over 100 research papers and has won several National-level awards including the ‘Sir T.S.Venkataraman award for outstanding research in sugarcane agriculture