diff --git a/stable/instana-agent/Chart.yaml b/stable/instana-agent/Chart.yaml
index 6dd88d9a7e..d2231a7007 100644
--- a/stable/instana-agent/Chart.yaml
+++ b/stable/instana-agent/Chart.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 apiVersion: v1
 name: instana-agent
-version: 1.0.21
+version: 1.0.22
 appVersion: 1.0
 description: Instana Agent for Kubernetes
 home: https://www.instana.com/
diff --git a/stable/instana-agent/README.md b/stable/instana-agent/README.md
index 9e2c87b139..59ea7bbc06 100644
--- a/stable/instana-agent/README.md
+++ b/stable/instana-agent/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ This chart adds the Instana Agent to all schedulable nodes in your cluster via a
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
-Kubernetes 1.9.x - 1.14.x
+Kubernetes 1.9.x - 1.16.x
 
 Working `helm` and `tiller`.
 
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ The following table lists the configurable parameters of the Instana chart and t
 | `agent.pod.requests.memory`        | Container memory requests in MiB                                        | `512`                                                                                                       |
 | `agent.pod.requests.cpu`           | Container cpu requests in cpu cores                                     | `0.5`                                                                                                       |
 | `agent.pod.tolerations`            | Tolerations for pod assignment                                          | `[]`                                                                                                        |
+| `agent.env`                        | Additional environment variables for the agent                          | `{}`                                                                                                        |
 | `agent.redactKubernetesSecrets`    | Enable additional secrets redaction for selected Kubernetes resources   | `nil` See [Kubernetes secrets](https://docs.instana.io/quick_start/agent_setup/container/kubernetes/#secrets) for more details.   |
 | `cluster.name`                     | Display name of the monitored cluster                                   | Value of `zone.name`                                                                                        |
 | `podSecurityPolicy.enable`         | Whether a PodSecurityPolicy should be authorized for the Instana Agent pods. Requires `rbac.create` to be `true` as well. | `false` See [PodSecurityPolicy](https://docs.instana.io/quick_start/agent_setup/container/kubernetes/#podsecuritypolicy) for more details. |
diff --git a/stable/instana-agent/templates/daemonset.yaml b/stable/instana-agent/templates/daemonset.yaml
index ce7d942765..1df6edf8e1 100644
--- a/stable/instana-agent/templates/daemonset.yaml
+++ b/stable/instana-agent/templates/daemonset.yaml
@@ -96,6 +96,10 @@ spec:
               valueFrom:
                 fieldRef:
                   fieldPath: status.podIP
+            {{- range $key, $value := .Values.agent.env }}
+            - name: {{ $key }}
+              value: {{ $value | quote }}
+            {{- end }}
           securityContext:
             privileged: true
           volumeMounts:
@@ -124,8 +128,8 @@ spec:
             httpGet:
               path: /status
               port: 42699
-            initialDelaySeconds: 75
-            periodSeconds: 5
+            initialDelaySeconds: 300
+            timeoutSeconds: 3
           resources:
             requests:
               memory: "{{ default 512 .Values.agent.pod.requests.memory }}Mi"
@@ -155,8 +159,8 @@ spec:
             httpGet:
               path: /status
               port: 42699
-            initialDelaySeconds: 75
-            periodSeconds: 5
+            initialDelaySeconds: 300
+            timeoutSeconds: 3
           ports:
             - containerPort: {{ .Values.agent.leaderElectorPort }}
       {{- if .Values.agent.pod.tolerations }}
diff --git a/stable/instana-agent/values.yaml b/stable/instana-agent/values.yaml
index 3c5ab7249c..ae9cd9dcdf 100644
--- a/stable/instana-agent/values.yaml
+++ b/stable/instana-agent/values.yaml
@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ agent:
   # agent.proxyUseDNS sets the INSTANA_AGENT_PROXY_USE_DNS environment variable.
   # proxyUseDNS: null
 
+  # use this to set additional environment variables for the instana agent
+  # for example:
+  # env:
+  #   INSTANA_AGENT_TAGS: dev
+  env: {}
+
   configuration_yaml: |
     # Place agent configuration here