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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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20121
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Subject: Agronomy × Author: Kumar, Rajan × End date: 2020 × Start date: 2010 × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Effect of irrigation and mechanical weeding on growth, yield and quality of rice under system of rice intensification.
    (Rajendra Agricultural University, 2012) Kumar, Rajan; Kumar, Vinod
    A field experiment was carried out during Kharif season of 2008 and 2010 in Split Plot Design with three replications at Rajendra Agricultural University Farm, Pusa, Bihar to find out the “Effect of irrigation and mechanical weeding on growth, yield and quality of rice under system of rice intensification”with four irrigation levels consisting of continuous submergence to 2.5 cm, submergence to 2.5 cm 1 DAD, 3 DAD and 5 DAD of ponded water and three levels of mechanical weeding i.e. rotary weeding at 20 and 40 DAT, rotary weeding at 20, 30 and 40 DAT and rotary weeding at 10, 20, 30 and 40 DAT . The test variety was Proagro (Arize)-6444 of medium duration maturity. The soil of the experimental plot was sandy loam in texture, low in available N, P and medium in K with pH of 8.2. Results of two year experiment revealed that growth and yield attributes like plant height, number of tillers/hill, leaf area index, plant dry weight, crop growth rate, root volume, root dry weight, number of panicles/m2, number of spikelets/panicle, number of grains/panicle, length of panicle, grain weight/panicle, grain and straw yields, total NPK-uptake and gross return were found to be maximum under the treatment continuous submergence to 2.5 cm and were found significantly superior over submergence to 2.5 cm 5 DAD but were at par with 1 DAD and 3 DAD. Relative growth rate, 1000 grain weight, grain : straw ratio, harvest index, NPK content in grain and straw, crudeprotein content in grain and final soil fertility status of soil were not influenced by irrigation levels. Water use efficiency, water productivity, weed population and dry weight of weed were affected significantly due to different level of irrigation. The minimum water use efficiency, water productivity weed population and weed dry weight were observed with irrigation level ofcontinuous submergence to 2.5 cm. The values of these traits were increased with decrease in number of irrigation. Net return was not affected significantly due to different levels of irrigation in either of the years. However, maximum net return was obtained with submergence to 2.5 cm 3 DAD followed by 1 DAD, continuous submergence and submergence to 2.5 cm 5 DAD. Net return per rupee of investment was significantly influenced by irrigation levels. The maximum net return per rupee of investment was fetched with submergence to 2.5 cm which was significantly superior to continuous submergence to 2.5 cm 5 DAD and submergence to 2.5 cm 1 DAD but was statistically at par with submergence to 2.5 cm 3 DAD. Growth and yield attributes like plant height, number of tillers/hill, leaf area index, plant dry weight, crop growth rate, root volume, root dry weight number of panicles/m2, number of spikelets/panicle, number of grains/panicle, length of panicle, grain weight/panicle, grain and straw yields, total NPK-uptake, gross and net return were found maximum with the rotary weeding at 10, 20, 30 and 40 DATwhich in turn were significantly superior overrotary weeding at 20 and 40 DATbut statistically were at par with rotary weeding at 20, 30 and 40 DAT. Relative growth rate, 1000 grain weight, grain straw ratio, harvest index, NPK content in grain and straw, crude protein content in grain and final soil fertility status of soil were not affected significantly due to mechanical weeding treatments. Water use efficiency, water productivity, weed population and weed dry weight were significantly influenced by different levels of mechanical weeding during both the years of experimentation. The maximum water use efficiency and water productivity were recorded with four rotary weedings at 10, 20, 30 and 40 DAT which was significantly superior over two rotary weedings at 20, and 40 DAT but was statistically at par with three rotary weedings at 20, 30 and 40 DAT. The minimum weed population and weed dry weight were observed with four rotary weedings at 10, 20, 30 and 40 DAT. These were increased with decrease in number of rotary weeding. Net return per rupee of investment was not influenced by mechanical weeding. The maximum net return per rupee of investment was recorded with four rotary weedings at 10, 20, 30 and 40 DAT which was closely followed by three rotary weedings at 20, 30 and 40 DAT and the minimum net return per rupee of investment was recorded with two rotary weedings at 20 and 40 DAT.