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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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20221
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Subject: Agronomy × Author: PAZHANISAMY, S. × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Effect of boron and molybdenum under different tillage and irrigation practices on growth and yield of chickpea in Sesbania- chickpea - sesame cropping system under riverine (Diara) area
    (Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2022) PAZHANISAMY, S.; Singh, Devendra
    The present investigation was conducted at the Bairiya dhab research farm of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, India, for two successive winter (rabi) seasons of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 to study the effect of boron and molybdenum under different tillage and irrigation practices on growth and yield of chickpea in Sesbania- chickpea - sesame cropping system under riverine (Diara) area. The experiment was laid out in split- split plot design and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of two different tillage practices, viz. conventional tillage and conservation tillage, allocated in the main plot with two irrigation methods, viz. conventional irrigation and sprinkler irrigation, allocated in the subplot and six methods of micronutrient application, viz. boron basal (1 kg/ha), boron foliar (0.25%), molybdenum seed treatment (1g/kg of seed), molybdenum foliar (333g/ha), boron basal (1 kg/ha) + molybdenum seed treatment (1g/ kg of seed) and boron basal (1 kg/ha) + molybdenum foliar (333g/ha) allocated in sub-sub plot. The basal dose of boron was applied at the sowing, the seed treatment of molybdenum was done three days before sowing, and foliar spray was given at 50 DAS. The chickpea variety of Sabour Chana-1 was taken as a test variety for the experiment. Applied N (urea), P (SSP) K (MOP) as basal dressing in every treatment equally. The crop was sown in rows at 30 cm spacing with seed rate 80 kg/ha. The irrigation was given before flowering as per the treatments of the study, and weed management has done with help of herbicides and wheel hoes. The soil of the experimental plot was sandy loam in texture with alkaline pH, normal EC, medium in organic carbon (0.69%), low in available nitrogen, medium in phosphorus, low in potassium, high in Fe, Mn, and Cu, low in Zn and boron and medium in molybdenum. The data on various growth attributes, physiological indices, yield attributes, nutrient availability in the soil, nutrient uptake of the crop, economics, direct weather parameters and indirect weather parameters were collected and analysed with the recommended tool. Conventional tillage practice significantly enhanced plant height, the no. of branches, dry matter production (DMP), root nodules, root length, root dry weight plant population, CGR, RGR, NAR and chlorophyll content (SPAD value) and yield attributes, viz., days to flowering, the number of seeds plant-1, seeds pod-1 and seed index (100-seed weight) than the conservation tillage practices. The result indicated that conventional tillage produced a greatly higher grain yield (1531.9 and 1688.8), stover yield (2475.8 and 2575.3) and harvest index (38.1 and 38.4) than the conservation tillage during both consecutive years. Likewise, crop uptake of NPK, gross return (87,058 and 93,874), net return (50,229 and 52,562), and B: C ratio (1.36 and 1.27) was also pointedly more in conventional tillage practices than the conservation tillage practices. Higher infiltration rates and lower bulk densities and higher boron and copper were recorded in conventional tillage. In contrast, soil moisture content, water holding capacity, porosity, SOC (soil organic carbon), available N, P, K and Zn were greatly higher in the conservation tillage in the cropping season of 2019-20 and 2020-21. Method of sprinkler irrigation recorded the maximum plant height, no. of branches, dry matter production (DMP), root nodules, root length, root dry weight, plant population stand, CGR, RGR, NAR and chlorophyll content (SPAD value) days to flowering, no. of seeds plant-1, seeds pod-1 and seed index (100- seed weight), grain yield (1487.3 and 1652.0), stover yield (2439.6 and 2556.3) and harvest index (37.7 and 38.0), crop uptake of NPK (stover and grain), total gross return (84,704 and 91,933), net return (49,319 and 53,201), B: C ratio (1.39 and 1.37) which was significantly surpassed over conventional irrigation. Regarding the soil properties, sprinkler irrigation recorded a higher infiltration rate, lower soil moisture content, higher EC, and higher available nitrogen in the cropping season of 2019-20 and 2020-21. With respect to micronutrient application methods, boron basal + molybdenum seed treatment recorded significantly higher plant height, no. of branches, dry matter production (DMP), root nodules, root length, root dry weight plant population, CGR, RGR, NAR and chlorophyll content (SPAD value) days to flowering, days to maturity, number of seeds plant-1, seeds pod-1 and seed index (100- seed weight), grain yield (1652.2 and 1826.0), stover yield (2499.9 and 2617.1) and harvest index (39.7 and 40.2), NPK uptake by crop, gross return (93,045 and 1,01,114), net return (57,137 and 61,717), B: C ratio (1.59 and 1.57) and it was at par with boron basal + molybdenum foliar. Micronutrient application methods showed no variation in soil physical, chemical and biological properties except boron and rhizobium colonies during two experimental years. The interaction between tillage practices, irrigation methods and methods of micronutrient application turned out to be significant in grain yield. Combined practices of sprinkler irrigation with boron basal + molybdenum seed treatment application under conventional tillage produced the highest grain yield (1901.7 and 2114.4) significantly among the interaction of micronutrient application method, irrigation methods and tillage practices, which was followed by a combination of boron basal + molybdenum foliar in sprinkler irrigation under conventional tillage practice (1778.5 and 1979.5). However, the application of boron as a foliar method in conventional irrigation under conservation tillage practice produced the lowest grain yield (1148.8 and 1235.1) significantly among the other combination of treatment in the first year.