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Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa

In the imperial Gazetteer of India 1878, Pusa was recorded as a government estate of about 1350 acres in Darbhanba. It was acquired by East India Company for running a stud farm to supply better breed of horses mainly for the army. Frequent incidence of glanders disease (swelling of glands), mostly affecting the valuable imported bloodstock made the civil veterinary department to shift the entire stock out of Pusa. A British tobacco concern Beg Sutherland & co. got the estate on lease but it also left in 1897 abandoning the government estate of Pusa. Lord Mayo, The Viceroy and Governor General, had been repeatedly trying to get through his proposal for setting up a directorate general of Agriculture that would take care of the soil and its productivity, formulate newer techniques of cultivation, improve the quality of seeds and livestock and also arrange for imparting agricultural education. The government of India had invited a British expert. Dr. J. A. Voelcker who had submitted as report on the development of Indian agriculture. As a follow-up action, three experts in different fields were appointed for the first time during 1885 to 1895 namely, agricultural chemist (Dr. J. W. Leafer), cryptogamic botanist (Dr. R. A. Butler) and entomologist (Dr. H. Maxwell Lefroy) with headquarters at Dehradun (U.P.) in the forest Research Institute complex. Surprisingly, until now Pusa, which was destined to become the centre of agricultural revolution in the country, was lying as before an abandoned government estate. In 1898. Lord Curzon took over as the viceroy. A widely traveled person and an administrator, he salvaged out the earlier proposal and got London’s approval for the appointment of the inspector General of Agriculture to which the first incumbent Mr. J. Mollison (Dy. Director of Agriculture, Bombay) joined in 1901 with headquarters at Nagpur The then government of Bengal had mooted in 1902 a proposal to the centre for setting up a model cattle farm for improving the dilapidated condition of the livestock at Pusa estate where plenty of land, water and feed would be available, and with Mr. Mollison’s support this was accepted in principle. Around Pusa, there were many British planters and also an indigo research centre Dalsing Sarai (near Pusa). Mr. Mollison’s visits to this mini British kingdom and his strong recommendations. In favour of Pusa as the most ideal place for the Bengal government project obviously caught the attention for the viceroy.

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Subject: Agricultural Biotechnology × Author: Arjun, Kale Rohan × End date: 2023 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Genome scanning for differential grain iron accumulation in rice using candidate gene markers
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Arjun, Kale Rohan; Sharma, V.K.
    Analysis of functional polymorphic markers provide ace in diversifying the selective genotypes that may stand useful in biofortification programme for improving the genotypes in relation to their micronutrient composition. A study was conducted based on this consideration to evaluate the molecular level genetic divergence and to investigate the genomic regions and genes associated with natural variation of grain iron concentration among purposefully selected landraces, advanced derivatives and improved varieties of rice. With this objective, 28 locally adapted landraces, improved varieties and advanced breeding lines were evaluated in randomized block design with three replications and the grains collected after harvesting of the crop were utilized for determination of iron content in unpolished grains. The digestion was carried out by di-acid mixture which included nitric acid and perchloric acid (9:4) and iron content was determined with the help of atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Eighteen entries selected from the two extremes of grain iron distribution range were utilized during molecular characterization. Genomic template was extracted from two to three weeks old seedlings of these purposefully selected varieties and then targeted amplification of the genomic regions was achieved by employing a panel of six candidate genes specific 18 primers and a panel of candidate genes based 12 microsatellite primers. Candidate gene specific primers were designed using primer blast tool for finding specific primers sequence of the identified candidate gene and appropriate primer sequences were selected for their utilization during molecular profiling. Exploitable genetic variability was observed in relation to grain iron concentration amongst 28 locally adapted landraces, varieties and advanced breeding lines of rice. Using the standard deviation for the range of variation (16.39 to 39.04 ppm) as the criterion, the rice varieties were classified into very low, low, moderate, high and very high grain iron containing groups. Putative candidate genes under investigation in the present study were searched for the presence of microsatellite sequences within the candidate gene sequences using microsatellite identification tools. Altogether 40 microsatellites were detected within the six putative iron transporter candidate genes. These microsatellites had dinucleotide to hexanucleotide repeat motifs. Only two microsatellites were detected in OsNRAMP1 and OsZIP8, whereas 18 microsatellites were detected in OsNRAMP5. Experimental results provided a basis to deduce that the variation present in candidate genes, as revealed in terms of differences in the molecular size of the genomic regions spanned by the primer pairs, may be a role player in the differential grain iron accumulation in rice varieties. Using a panel of six candidate genes specific 18 primers and 12 microsatellite primers, reproducible amplification was successfully achieved in the purposefully selected rice varieties. All the primers generated polymorphic amplified products. While each one of the eight polymorphic candidate gene specific primers, namely, APRT1a, APRT1b, APRT1c, OsNAC5a, OsNAC5c, OsNRAMP1c, OsZIP10a and OsZIP10c, generated three allelic variants, each one of the remaining ten polymorphic primers, namely, OsNAC5b, OsNRAMP1a, OsNRAMP1b, OsNRAMP5a, OsNRAMP5b, OsNRAMP5c, OsZIP8a, OsZIP8b, OsZIP8c and OsZIP10b, detected two allelic variants. Differential amplification pattern was also exhibited by candidate genes specific 12 microsatellite primers. While some of the primers generated several markers, some generated only few allelic variants. Altogether 72 allelic variants were detected among the 18 entries with an average of 6.0 alleles per primer. Polymorphic information content of candidate gene specific primers ranged from 0.278 to 0.710 with an average value of 0.483, while that of candidate genes specific microsatellite primers ranged from 0.154 to 0.864 with an average of 0.690. Sizable molecular level genetic differentiation and divergence was revealed amongst the rice varieties using the candidate gene specific primers as well as candidate genes specific microsatellite primers. Hierarchical classification pattern based on similarity coefficient matrix of pair-wise combinations of entries, which were accommodated into different clusters, was highly consistent with principal coordinate analysis based spatial distribution pattern of genetic profiles. Hierarchical cluster analysis as well as principal coordinate analysis using candidate gene markers as well as candidate genes specific microsatellite markers enabled differentiation and classification of entries with remarkably higher level of consistency in relation to their grain iron concentration. Hence, these markers can be effectively and efficiently utilized for discrimination of rice genotypes and selection of parental genotypes for genetic improvement in relation to grain iron biofortification. Single marker analysis established the association of two candidate genes specific markers (APRT1c and OsNRAMP1b) and candidate gene specific four microsatellite markers (OsNAC5A, OsNAC5B, OsNRAMP1A and OsZIP10A), with grain iron concentration. These six markers can be effectively utilized in selection program for grain iron biofortification in rice.