Our history

1927 The Research center is officially created under the responsibility of Prosper Gisquet who then became Director in 1933.

1939 Generation of a hybrid stabilised as a new variety. It is the first result of the genetic research undertaken by the Institute which made it possible the adapt varieties to diseases, growing conditions, etc...

1939 - 1944 Construction of the laboratories of biology and chemistry and the first fermentation chamber.

1957 First tests of Burley for American Blend cigarettes.

1958 A first greenhouse allows the production of young seedlings during the whole year.

1962 Development of the "cotyledon test" which allows screening for resistance at an early stage of seed development.

1975 Creation of and study on the first tobacco varieties with low alkaloid content (less than 0.1%).

1988 ITB 30, the first flue-cured tobacco variety is created at the Institute.

1989 The first patent for a male-sterile F1 hybrid variety, ITB 1000 (dark air-cured tobacco) is granted to ITB.

1992 Inauguration of the new laboratories of cellular biology and confined greenhouses, enabling biotechnological work.

Recognition of the Nicotiana collection as national specialised collection by the French CCVS (Conservatoire des Collections Végétales Spécialisées).

1993 Industrial development of the variety ITB 3304, a male-sterile F1 hybrid, having resistances to the black root rot (C. elegans), and to the necrotic virus Y of potato (PVYn).

1997 ITB gets the official approval to evaluate plant protection products on tobacco, BPE (Bonnes Pratiques d'Expérimentation).

1999 French Seita and Spanish Tabacalera merge to form the Altadis Group, which the Institute becomes part of.

2004 The ITB site of the "Domaine de la Tour" is reorganised; French tobacco growers association technical centre (Anitta) and the cooperative Périgord Tabac move to the site.

2006 The Tobacco Institute of Bergerac receives ISO 14001 Certification.

First genetic map of Nicotiana tabacum published by ITB.

Release by ITB and Advanced Technology Ltd. Cambridge of 46 546 sequences of tobacco genes in EMBL and Genbank databases.

2007 First tobacco variety created at ITB by "targeted mutation breeding".

2008 UK based Imperial Tobacco acquires Altadis. The Tobacco Institute of Bergerac becomes part of the Imperial Tobacco Group (ITG).

 

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