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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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  • ThesisItemOpen Access
    Molecular characterization of rice genotypes using salt stress responsive candidate gene based markers
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Agarwal, Ruchi; Sharma, V.K.
    A study was undertaken for characterization of salt tolerance related response of 18 rice genotypes using morpho-agronomic characters and salt stress responsive 12 candidate gene based newly designed markers. Evaluation of genotypic response to salt stress at seed germination and early seedling stage was performed at 4 dSm-1 and 8 dSm-1 EC levels along with control by adopting a completely randomized design with two replications. Pot experiment was carried out at 8 dSm-1 and 12 dSm-1 EC levels given at vegetative and reproductive stages, respectively, along with control in completely randomized design with two replications. Field evaluation was conducted in randomized block design with two replications under normal and salt affected field conditions. The genotypes were further characterized at molecular level using 12 candidate gene based newly designed 23 genic primers and 21 genic microsatellite primers. Differential genotypic response to salt stress was noticed at germination stage and early seedling stage. Based on response exhibited at early seedling stage, the genotypes CSR-13, CSR- 23, CSR-27, CSR-30, CSR-36, CST7-1 and CSR-2K-262 were characterized with considerably higher level of tolerance to salt stress in comparison to the genotypes NDRK-11-1, NDRK-11-3, NDRK-11-4, NDRK-11-5, NDRK-11-6, NDRK-11-7, CSR-2K- 219 and CSR-2K-242, which were found to be moderately tolerant. The remaining three genotypes, namely, IR-36, IR-64 and Swarna, were found to be susceptible to salt stress. Principal component analysis based spatial distribution pattern of the genotypes in two dimensional projections distinctly separated the genotypes into two broad groups. The first group was further divided into two sub groups consisting of six salt tolerant genotypes and nine closely located moderately tolerant genotypes, whereas the second multi-genotypic group consisted of three salt susceptible genotypes. The basic pattern of differentiation and interrelationships among the genotypes was found to be similar in dendrogram. A comparison of the relative mean values of the genotypes evaluated for 14 morpho-physiological attributes, such as, panicle length, panicles per plant, spikelets per panicle, filled grains per panicle and unfilled grains per panicle, 100-seed weight, biological yield, grain yield per plant, root length, root volume, root dry weight, relative water content, SPAD value and K/Na ratio in pot experiment was made with mean index (MI) value. Based on the results, the genotypes CSR-13, CSR-23, CSR-27, CSR-30, CSR-36 and CST7-1 were found to be salt tolerant, whereas NDRK-11-1, NDRK-11-3, NDRK-11-4, NDRK-11- 5, NDRK-11-6, NDRK-11-7, CSR-2K-219, CSR-2K-242 and CSR-2K-262 were rated as moderately tolerant and genotypes IR-36, IR-64 and Swarna were found susceptible. Spatial distribution pattern of the genotypes in two dimensional ordinations based on principal component analysis broadly divided the genotypes into two groups, efficiently separating tolerant and moderately tolerant genotypes from susceptible genotypes. The pattern of genotypic discrimination was similar corroborated by dendrogram. Tolerance indices, such as, TOL, MP, GMP, SSI and STI based principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis also discriminated the susceptible genotypes from moderately tolerant and tolerant genotypes. Relative mean performance of genotypes evaluated under normal and salt affected field conditions for 11 morpho-agronomic characters also reflected that the genotypes CSR- 13, CSR-23, CSR-27, CSR-30, CSR-36, CST7-1 and CSR-2K-262 exhibited tolerant response, whereas NDRK-11-1, NDRK-11-3, NDRK-11-4, NDRK-11-5, NDRK-11-6, NDRK-11-7, CSR-2K-219 and CSR-2K-242 were found moderately tolerant and the genotypes IR-36, IR-64 and Swarna were rated as susceptible. Principal component analysis based spatial distribution pattern separated the genotypes into two broad groups, separating the three susceptible genotypes from moderately tolerant and tolerant genotypes. A similar classification pattern was revealed by average taxonomic distance based dendrogram. Recognizable molecular level genetic polymorphism amongst the 18 genotypes was revealed by amplification of genomic template using 12 candidate gene specific 23 newly designed primer pairs. All primer pairs generated 135 allelic variants with an average of 5.86 alleles per primer. The PIC values exhibited significant variation with the values ranging from 0.308 in primer pair DREB1F-1 to 0.905 in primer pairs SHMT1-1. Considering the level of polymorphism detected, the candidate gene based primer pairs OsHKT2;3-1, OsHKT2; 3-2, SNAC1-1, SNAC1-2, CDMK-1, CDMK-2, DUF6-2 SHMT1- 1, SHMT1-2 and SHMT2-1 appeared to be highly polymorphic and more informative primers for the purpose of discrimination of rice genotypes in relation to salinity tolerance. Principal coordinate analysis and hierarchical classification unambiguously discriminated the tolerant and susceptible genotypes, reflecting the usefulness of these newly designed markers. Using major ion transporter, transcription factor and oxidative metabolic pathway related candidate gene specific newly designed 21 microsatellite primer pairs, ample molecular level genetic polymorphism was detected amongst 18 genotypes. All primer pairs generated 131 allelic variants with 6.23 alleles per primer. The number of unique and shared alleles varied from 0 to 5 and 1-6, respectively. The PIC values ranged from 0.706 to 0.955. Taking into consideration the measures of polymorphism, the primers OsHKT1;5-B, OsHKT1;5-D, OsHKT2; 3-A, OsHKT2; 4–A, DREB1F-C, CDMK-B, DUF6-B, SHMT1- B, and SHMT2-A were found as relatively more polymorphic. Spatial distribution pattern of genotypes based on principal coordinate analysis of the genetic profiles generated by these newly designed primers as well as hierarchical classification unambiguously differentiated the tolerant and susceptible genotypes, validating the usefulness of salt responsive candidate genes based these newly designed microsatellite primer pairs.
  • ThesisItemOpen Access
    Genetic analysis of maize inbreds and hybrids using biochemical and microsatellite markers
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Suman, Sandeep Kumar; Kumar, Mithilesh
    Characterization of inbred lines and hybrids is crucial for release of hybrid and genetic purity analysis. Hence, field evaluation was done at AICRP, Maize, TCA, Dholi farm and lab experiment was done at Molecular Biology Lab, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, RPCAU, Pusa for characterization of parental lines and hybrids and genetic purity analysis through biochemical and microsatellite marker. Morphological genetic diversity analysis between thirteen inbreds of maize were done using Mahalanobis D2 statistics for ten characters viz. plant height, ear height, days to 50% tasseling, days to 50% silking, days to 50% Brown husk, ear length/Cob length, ear girth, number of kernels per row, number of kernel rows per cob, grain Yield per Plant. All the thirteen inbred lines under study were grouped in three clusters. Cluster I comprised of eleven inbred lines G18, CLQRC, WLS, HK1, CML490, S8200, S8481, R6429, R4093, VL111 and CLQR. Cluster II and III were found monogenotypic and consisted of CLQ25 and CG18 respectively. The inter-cluster distance between cluster II and cluster III was found maximum 6.67, while lowest inter cluster distance value was found between 4.62 cluster I and cluster II. The maximum value of genetic distance 4.89 was estimated between inbred line WLS and G18, while minimum genetic distance 2.38 was found in between VL111 and S8481. Name of the Student : SANDEEP KUMAR SUMAN Registration No. : D/AB/130/2014-2015 Major Advisor : Dr. MITHILESH KUMAR Degree to be Awarded : Ph.D. (Agricultural Biotechnology) Department : Agricultural Biotechnology and Molecular Biology Major Subject : Agricultural Biotechnology Minor Subject : Plant Breeding and Genetics Year : 2020 Total pages of the Thesis : 144 + xviii (Bibliography) + xxii (Apppendices) Title of Thesis : “Genetic analysis of maize inbreds and hybrids using biochemical and microsatellite markers” The result showed great variability was found in genetic makeup of the inbred lines. Cluster I accommodated eleven inbred lines having maximum mean value for number of kernels row per cob and number of kernels per row. While, minimum value was observed for ear height and plant height. Maximum mean value for grain yield per plant and ear girth was found for inbred line CLQ25 that is present in cluster II. The maximum contribution 26.63% was found for the trait grain yield in manifestation of genetic divergence followed by ear girth (28.47%), ear length (19.23%), number of kernel per row (11.50), number of kernels row per cob (10.04). Out of thirty crosses, eleven crosses manifest positive significant heterobeltiosis for the trait grain yield per plant. Two crosses, CLQ25 × CLQR and WLS × R4093 belongs to high divergent class. It could be deduced that genetic diversity can be used as an authentic parameter to predict heterosis in hybrids. The parental lines and hybrids were characterized with SDS-PAGE using total salt soluble seed proteins. Total salt soluble banding profile identified one hybrid G18 x VL111. The presence of 53 KDa, MW band specific for female parent G18 and 65 KDa, MW band specific for female inbred line confirmed the hybridity and purity of hybrid G18 x VL111. The 27 microsatellite primer amplified a total of 28 loci with an average of 4 alleles per locus. The number of alleles varied from 2 to 8 in case of umc1222 and umc1545 or umc1265 or umc1963 or phi084, respectively. The range of amplification varying from 72-88 in case of umc1327, while in case of phi0116 amplification ranged from 293-345. A total of 112 alleles were found in which 33 were unique and rest 79 were found shared alleles in 13 inbred lines. Based on complementary banding pattern between hybrids and their parents, the six microsatellite markers viz. umc1222, umc1161, umc1196, umc1367, umc1403 and nc133 were found effective marker to distinguish F1 hybrids from its parental lines. These markers were utilized to analyse genetic purity of inbred lines and hybrids.