Tiruvadi Sambasiva Venkataraman
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Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , IAT ...
'' Sir Tiruvadi Sambasiva
Iyer Iyers (also spelt as Ayyar, Aiyar, Ayer, or Aiyer) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Brahmin, Hindu Brahmins. Most Iyers are followers of the ''Advaita Vedanta, Advaita'' philosophy propounded by Adi Shankara and adhere to the ...
Venkataraman CIE, FNI, FASc (15 June 1884 – 18 January 1963) was an
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
botanist, agronomist and plant geneticist who specialised in the study and hybridisation of
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
. He developed or supervised the development of numerous high-yield sugarcane
cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
s, which established India as the world's second largest sugar producer and sustained the sugar industries of numerous other nations, including
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,
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,
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
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, and the
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.


Early life and career

Venkataraman was born in Salem,
Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
(now in the Indian state of
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
) to an orthodox
Tamil Brahmin Tamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, predominantly living in Tamil Nadu, though they number significantly in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, in addition to other regions of India, as wel ...
family; though initially religious, he renounced religion by the age of 16. After graduating from a secondary school in
Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...
, where he was a brilliant scholar, he enrolled at
Presidency College, Madras Presidency College is an art, commerce, and science college in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. On 16 October 1840, this school was established as the Madras Preparatory School before being repurposed as a high school, and then a gra ...
, where he decided to study botany over zoology, as he strongly disliked dissecting insects and other animals. In 1905, he graduated with a first-class honours B.A. in botany and briefly studied for an M.A. at
Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...
before his appointment to the Agricultural College, Saidapet (now a constituent college of
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is the state agricultural university of Tamil Nadu located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. History The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural sc ...
) as an assistant to
Charles Alfred Barber Charles Alfred Barber C.I.E. (10 November 1860 – 23 February 1933) was a British botanist and specialist on sugarcane, who worked for much of his life in southern India. ''Saccharum barberi'', a species of sugarcane that grows wild in northern I ...
, then a botanist in the Madras Presidency government service. In 1908, the college was moved to
Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...
, where Venkataraman would spend the rest of his career. He soon demonstrated an aptitude for research, attempting to grow hybridised varieties of
eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mos ...
in his spare time.


Research and development of the Coimbatore sugarcane cultivars

In the early 1900s, the extremely poor yields of Indian sugarcane varieties necessitated the import of sugar from the
Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, which was a heavy burden on the government exchequer. The British government eventually decided to establish a Sugarcane Breeding Institute to study sugarcane breeding and to develop an indigenous sugarcane industry. Coimbatore was selected due to its ideal climate, and Barber was appointed Government Sugarcane Expert in October 1912, with Venkataraman as his assistant. According to Venkataraman's biographer and sole graduate student, J. Thuljaram Rao, the two scientists' observation of wild sugarcane (''Saccharum spontaneum'') growing near the Agricultural College campus inspired them to use it in their trials. Though the first hybrid sugarcane crosses between the wild sugarcane and a cultivated sugarcane species, ''
Saccharum officinarum ''Saccharum officinarum'' is a large, strong-growing species of grass in the genus ''Saccharum''. Its stout stalks are rich in sucrose, a simple sugar which accumulates in the stalk internodes. It originated in New Guinea, and is now cultivated ...
'', did not survive, by 1914, Venkataraman had succeeded in producing viable hybrid seedlings. As sugarcane breeding was a new field of research, Venkataraman relied on meticulous planning and observation along with the pioneering of new techniques, including artificial induction of flowering through photoperiodic treatments, nobilization and
outcrossing Out-crossing or out-breeding is the technique of crossing between different breeds. This is the practice of introducing distantly related genetic material into a breeding line, thereby increasing genetic diversity. Outcrossing can be a useful ...
plants to improve their
genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species, it ranges widely from the number of species to differences within species and can be attributed to the span of survival for a species. It is dis ...
. He also pioneered the detailed study of sugarcane root systems, which became vital in understanding the plants' yield potentials. In 1918, the first hybrid sugarcane variety produced by the Institute, Co. ("Coimbatore") 205, was recorded as generating yields 50% greater than those of indigenous varieties, which were entirely replaced by Co. 205 within 6–8 years. Along with another variant, Co. 285, the new varieties were soon commercially marketed in the Punjab, where they also proved capable of being cultivated under stressed conditions, including in waterlogged fields. Following those successes, Venkataraman developed a tri-species hybrid by crossing ''S. spontaneum'' and ''S. officinarum'' with ''
Saccharum barberi ''Saccharum sinense'' or ''Saccharum'' × ''sinense'', synonym ''Saccharum'' × ''barberi'', sugarcane, is strong-growing species of grass (Poaceae) in the genus '' Saccharum''. It is originally cultivated in Guangzhou, China where it is still ...
'', a North Indian variety which Barber had researched. The resulting hybrid, Co. 244, became commercially cultivated in
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. Subsequently, tetra-species hybrids were also produced after a fourth parent, ''
Saccharum robustum ''Saccharum robustum'', the robust cane, is a species of plant found in New Guinea. Ecology ''Eumetopina flavipes'', the island sugarcane planthopper, a species of planthopper present throughout South East Asia and is a vector for the Ramu stun ...
'', was incorporated into the breeding programme. The hybrid cultivars, with a sugar content nearly 35 times that of their parent stocks, were soon recognised for being fast-maturing, for their ease of propagation and their resistance to waterlogging, drought and the red rot ('' Glomerella tucumanensis'') and sereh diseases. In 1918, Venkataraman was promoted to full gazetted rank; he succeeded Barber as head of the Institute the following year, initially in an acting capacity while the British Indian government attempted to locate a European replacement to serve as director. After this proved unsuccessful, Venkataraman was eventually confirmed in his post and served as the permanent head of the Institute until his retirement. Over the next two decades, Venkataraman and his two research assistants, P. Thomas and N.L. Dutt, developed many more hybrid sugarcane varieties suitable for a wide range of environments and climatic conditions. While initial research had focused on developing hardy varieties that could sustain the colder winters in northern India, in 1926 research commenced into breeding plants for the South Indian and similar tropical climates. Apart from the successful Co. 205 and Co 285 cultivars, Co. 213, 421, 427 and 453 became popular in North India, notably in present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, while Co. 419, developed by Dutt, achieved tremendous success across South India and supported the region's sugarcane industries for four decades after its commercial introduction. In 1927, the
Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...
,
Lord Irwin Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior Conservative Party (UK), British Conservat ...
, visited the Sugarcane Breeding Institute and praised Venkataraman's work, subsequently ordering all those connected with sugarcane cultivation to pay a visit. In 1928, Venkataraman presided over the agricultural section of that year's Indian Science Congress, delivering a lecture on "The Indian Sugar Bowl." He visited Java the following year to attend the annual meeting of the International Society of Sugarcane Technologists, presiding over the varietal section. In 1932, he was appointed to the Indian Agricultural Service. By the 1930s, Coimbatore sugarcane cultivars were in high demand and were being successfully grown around the world. In the United States, Co. 281 and Co. 290 supported the sugar industry in
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; Co. 281 also sustained production in South Africa and Cuba as it was readily adaptable and high-yielding even in poor soils and less forgiving climates. Co. 290 achieved popularity in Australia, while the tropical-friendly Co. 419 and Co. 421 became mainstays of sugarcane growers in
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
,
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and
British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...
(now
Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
). In later years, N. Co. 310, first cultivated in South Africa from seed exported from the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, became the most popular commercially-grown sugarcane cultivar in the world. At one point in the 1960s, Coimbatore-developed varieties were supporting the sugarcane industries of 22 countries. In the 21st century, Coimbatore cultivars continue to be cultivated and used as breeding stocks in Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan.


Research into intergeneric sugarcane hybrids

In 1930, Venkataraman successfully developed
intergeneric hybrid In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...
s of sugarcane and
sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...
with the objective of producing short-duration sugarcane hybrids. Though the project was ultimately a commercial failure due to issues with sterility, his work subsequently helped inspire
Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat Janaki Ammal (4 November 1897 – 7 February 1984) was an Indian botanist who worked on plant breeding, cytogenetics and phytogeography. Her most notable work involved studies on sugarcane and the eggplant (brinjal). She als ...
to develop a sugarcane-
maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
hybrid. In 1936, he attempted to develop a further intergeneric hybrid of sugarcane and the indigenous '' Bambusa arundinacea'' bamboo, intended to combine the height of the latter with the sugar percentage of the former. Under controlled conditions, sterile male sugarcane cultivars were used as pistil parents, which were dusted with bamboo pollen. Though some seedlings were produced to much acclaim amongst plant geneticists, with Venkataraman presenting his findings at the 1939 International Genetics Congress in Edinburgh, studies later suggested the seedlings were the result of
apomixis In botany, apomixis is asexual reproduction without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttin ...
, which was less understood at the time. In his researches, however, Venkataraman anticipated the modern development of intergeneric hybrids on a far wider scale.


Later career and life

Venkataraman was elected President of the 1937 Indian Science Congress, delivering his address on "The Indian Village" and discussing the improvement of villages in the country as a priority: "Our duty then is clear, namely, to improve the village, the nucleus of our country life and inject its chief agent, the villager, with a chosen culture of the virus of hemodern age through education and industrialisation." He again presided over the agricultural section of the Indian Science Congress in 1938, delivering a lecture on sugarcane hybridisation, and attended the 1939 International Genetics Congress at
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, where he was recognised as a "wizard" of sugarcane. Though he was scheduled to retire as head of the Sugarcane Breeding Institute in 1939, Venkataraman obtained a three-year extension and finally retired in 1942, when he was succeeded by his assistant Dutt. The year of his retirement, a ''
Current Science ''Current Science'' is an English-language peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It was established in 1932 and is published by the Current Science Association along with the Indian Academy of Sciences. According to the ''Journal C ...
'' article observed "the breeding work carried out by Venkataraman – aided by ample tariff protection – has been responsible for converting India from an importer of white sugar (1 million tons) to a position where the future of the Indian industry is in urgent need of securing export markets." By the end of his tenure at Coimbatore, it was estimated Venkataraman's efforts had saved India roughly 15 crore (150 million) rupees. Following his retirement, Venkataraman agreed to conduct a survey of sugarcane research in India, but gave it up on health grounds. He subsequently retired to Madras, where he spent his time reading philosophical works and frequently writing letters to ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' on various subjects. When the International Society of Sugarcane Technologists decided to hold its 1956 conference in India, he chaired the section on cane breeding; during the conference, a plaque commemorating the development of the Co. 205 cultivar was unveiled at the Sugarcane Breeding Institute. Venkataraman died in Madras on 18 January 1963, aged 78. He was married, and had one son, Ramamurti, who later became an assistant director of the
National Physical Laboratory of India The CSIR- National Physical Laboratory of India, situated in New Delhi, is the measurement standards laboratory of India. It maintains standards of SI units in India and calibrates the national standards of weights and measures. History of me ...
.


Awards and honours

Venkataraman was extensively recognised for his achievements. In 1920, after the commercial success of the Co. 205 cultivar, he was given the title of ''
Rao Sahib Rai Sahib / Rao Saheb / Roy Sahib / Rao Sahib abbreviated R.S., was a title of honour issued during the era of British rule in India to individuals who performed faithful service or acts of public welfare to the nation. From 1911 the title was ac ...
'' by the British government, and was raised to the title of ''
Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , IAT ...
'' in 1928. He was appointed a Companion of the
Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...
(CIE) in the
1937 New Year Honours The 1937 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were t ...
list. In the 1942 New Year Honours list, he received a knighthood, becoming the first Indian agricultural scientist to be thus honoured, and was formally invested with his knighthood at the Viceroy's House (now
Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...
) in
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
on 21 February 1942 by the then Viceroy, the
Marquess of Linlithgow Marquess of Linlithgow, in the County of Linlithgow or West Lothian, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 23 October 1902 for John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun. The current holder of the title is Adrian Hope. This ...
. In 1956, he was conferred the
Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
by the
Indian government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...
. Among his other distinctions, Venkataraman was conferred an honorary D.Sc. by
Andhra University Andhra University (IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest do ...
. In 1941, he was elected the first President of the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, serving a single one-year term. He was elected as a Fellow of the
Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...
(FASc) in 1934, serving as its Vice-President in 1934–35, and was elected as a Foundation Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of India (FNI, now the
Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...
) in 1935. He was also a member of the International Genetics Congress Association, the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding and the International Society of Sugarcane Technologists, and was an Honorary Fellow of the South African Sugar Technologists Association.


References


Notes

{{authority control Indian geneticists Indian botanical writers Indian agronomists 20th-century Indian botanists Indian agriculturalists Plant breeding Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering Indian Knights Bachelor Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Rai Bahadurs Rai Sahibs Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Indian Tamil people Presidency College, Chennai alumni Scientists from Tamil Nadu People from Salem, Tamil Nadu People from Salem district 1884 births 1963 deaths People from Coimbatore