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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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20102
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Subject: Agronomy × End date: 2010 × Start date: 2010 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Effect of different organic sources on growth, yield and quality of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) varieties
    (Rajendra Agricultural University, 2010) Prasad, Kamlesh Kumar; Kumar, Vinod
    An experiment was conducted in the year 2006-07 and 2007-08 on potato with seven nutrient sources [F1- crop residue incorporation (Previous crop moong) @ 2 t/ha, F2 - F1 + microbial culture to decompose crop residue (Trichoderma viride) @ 2.50 kg/ha, F3 - F2 + Biofertilizer (Azotobacter + Phosphobacteria) @ 250 ml/ha each, F4 - F3 + Biodynamics (BD- 500 @ 75 g/ha as soil surface spray in 40 l of water; BD-501 @ 250 g/ha with 35 l of water as spray at 2 leaves stage and Urja @ 1.25 kg/ha in 800 l. of water, 3 spray at interval of 20 days starting from 30 DAP), F5 - F4 + FYM @ 20 t/ha, F6 - FYM 30 t/ha and F7 - RDF ( N-150, P2O5-90 and K2O-100 kg/ha) and three potato varieties (V¬1 - Rajendra Alu-1, V2 - Kufri Pushkar and V3 - Kufri Jawahar) at Tirhut College of Agriculture Farm, Dholi (Muzaffarpur), Bihar during Rabi season. The soil of the experimental plot was Entisol, sandy loam in texture and low in available NPK with a pH of 8.31. It has semi-arid, sub-tropical climate, which is greatly influenced by South-West monsoon with an average annual rainfall of 1270 mm. The experiment was carried out in randomized block design (factorial) with twenty one treatments and were replicated thrice. All the growth parameters like plant height, shoots per plant, leaves per plant, leaf area index, dry matter accumulation, bulking rate and all yield attributing characters got their maximum reflection to the treatment F7 (inorganic nutrient source) which was comparable with F5 (organic nutrient source). An interaction effect was found significant in terms of LAI observed by the treatment F7 with variety Kufri Pushkar at 90 DAP which was at par with treatment F5 with same variety. The treatment F5 produced significantly higher fresh tuber yield over F1, F2, F3 and F4. Treatment F5 produced 31.41 per cent and 31.93 per cent more fresh tuber yield over treatment F1 (organic nutrient source) in 2006-07 and 2007-08, respectively. Whereas, for shelf life of potato tubers, treatment F5 recorded significantly lower rotting, weight loss and reducing sugar percentage in comparison to F7 at different growth stages. While in qualitative observations, the maximum starch production, nitrogen content, crude protein content was recorded by treatment F7 which was at par with F5. The gross return, net return and B : C ratio was recorded significantly higher by the treatment F7 over all other treatments except F5.¬ Among the varieties, Kufri Pushkar recorded significantly superior in all growth parameters, yield attributing characters except tuber : vine ratio and harvest index during both the years. Kufri Pushkar showed an early emergence at 15 days after planting than other varieties. It was also observed that Kufri Pushkar produced significantly higher number of tubers per plant, weight of tubers per plant and grade wise yield in the categories of 20-40 g and > 40 g over rest of the varieties. The variety Kufri Pushkar produced 13.05 per cent and 13.18 per cent higher during 2006-07 and 24.05 per cent and 23.89 per cent higher fresh tuber yield during 2007-08 over Kufri Jawahar and Rajendra Alu-1, respectively. Regarding shelf life of potato, Kufri Pushkar recorded significantly lower rotting, weight loss and reducing sugar percentage, while this variety had significantly higher production of starch, nitrogen content and crude protein during both the years. Kufri Pushkar fetched maximum gross return (Rs. 103324 and Rs. 105793/ha), net return (Rs. 60564 and Rs. 63033/ha) and benefit : cost ratio (1.40 and 1.46), respectively.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.)
    (Rajendra Agricultural University, 2010) Kumar, Pankaj; Kumar, Vinod
    A field experiment was carried out during two consecutive kharif season of 2008 and 2009 at Crop Research Centre of Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa to find out the "Effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.)". Twelve treatments T1-100% recommended dose of fertilizers (100 kg N + 40 kg P2O5 + 20 kg K2O ha-1), T2-100% recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost, T3-100% recommended dose of nitrogen through FYM, T4-75% recommended dose of nitrogen through inorganic source + 25% recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost, T5-50% recommended dose of nitrogen through inorganic source + 50% recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost, T6-25% recommended dose of nitrogen through inorganic source + 75% recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost, T7-75% recommended dose of nitrogen through inorganic source + 25% recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost, T8-50% recommended dose of nitrogen through inorganic source + 50% recommended dose of nitrogen through FYM, T9-25% recommended dose of nitrogen through inorganic source + 75% recommended dose of nitrogen through FYM, T10-100% recommended dose of fertilizer + 25% recommended dose of nitrogen through vermicompost, T11-100% recommended dose of fertilizer + 25% recommended dose of nitrogen through FYM, T12-100 kg N + 60 kg P2O5 + 40 kg K2O ha-1 were tested in Randomized Block Design replicated thrice. Growth parameters such as number of tillers m-2 and dry matter accumulation per square metre were found maximum in the treatments getting 25 per cent additional N through vermicompost or FYM over and above 100 per cent RDF. The treatment T1-100 per cent recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) and T12-N100 P60 K40 were found to be equally well. LAI was comparatively greater in the treatments receiving higher proportion of organic manures especially in later stages of growth. Plant height was not affected significantly. CGR, RGR and NAR were also better in the same set of treatments which showed higher tillering and dry matter accumulation. Number of effective tillers m-2, weight of panicle and number of grains per panicle were found highest under the treatment T10, T11 and T12. Length of panicle and 1000-grain weight were not affected significantly by the different treatments. Grain and straw yields were also better in the aforesaid set of four treatments. Harvest index did not vary significantly. NPK concentrations in grain and straw were not affected significantly due to different treatments. NPK uptake were again higher in treatments in which additional 25 per cent recommended dose of nitrogen was given as vermicompost or FYM over and above 100 per cent RDF, closely followed by N100 P60 K40 and RDF. Substitution of N through organics significantly influenced organic carbon and available nitrogen status of soil during both years of experimentations. Kernel length and kernel breadth before and after cooking were higher in treatments getting higher proportion of inorganic-N. Hulling and milling percentage and shape index before and after cooking were not affected markedly. Head rice recovery were higher in the treatment receiving higher proportion of organic-N. Net return was the highest in the treatment getting N100 P60 K40 kg ha-1 very closely followed by RDF (N100 P40 K20) but B : C ratio were the highest in RDF closely followed by N100 P60 K40. The treatments getting 25 per cent additional N as vermicompost or FYM fell far behind in respect of net return and B : C ratio. Thus, on the basis of two years experimentation the recommended dose of fertilizer (100 kg N 40 kg P2O5 and 20 kg K2O ha-1) appear to be adequate for aromatic rice. Benefit of organic manure comes through changes in soil properties for which a minimum of four to five years application would be essential.