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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: Biotechnology and molecular Biology × Author: AMBADAS, DHANORKAR ADITYA ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Investigating plausible role of AHL gene-family in drought stress tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
    (RPCAU, Pusa, 2023) AMBADAS, DHANORKAR ADITYA; Singh, Ashutosh
    The transcription factor AHL (AT-hook motif nuclear localized) are one of the largest and most conserved gene families in plants and they play critical roles in abiotic stress response. However very limited information available about the AHL family of genes in rice. In this context, a genome wide survey, was done to identify the AHL genes in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and total 20 members AHL family of genes were identified. The distribution of these 20 genes were on the 9 chromosome of rice. Mostly AHL genes transcription factors were located in nucleus. The phylogenetic analysis conducted for these 20 genes of AHL TFs and it divided into two major groups and four subgroups. To study the role of AHL group of genes in drought and salt stress at seedling stage of rice. The two genotypes IR64 & NL44 were chosen for gene expression study. The genotypes were grown in pot. The fourteen days old seedlings were exposed to 20 % PEG (2 hours and 4 hours) and 200 Mm NaCL (2 hours and 4 hours) for drought and salt treatments respectively. The mRNA of each treatment of 14 days old seedlings extracted in the replication and cDNA synthesized. Quantitative real time PCR based expression analysis of AHL genes in IR64 genotype of rice under drought and salinity stresses. The expression pattern of AHL family of genes was compared by one-way ANOVA in IR64 genotype. The result clearly showed that the OsAHL group of genes in drought and salt stress tolerance. Further, differential expression of AHL family gene was studied in IR64 and NL44 under drought and salt stress conditions. Total 8 genes (OsAHL1, OsAHL2, OsAHL3, OsAHL10, OsAHL14, OsAHL17, OsAHL18 and OsAHL19) were showed significantly more expression in NL44 as compared to IR64 after 2 hours of drought treatment. Similarly, all total 7 genes (OsAHL7, OsAHL10, OsAHL13, OsAHL14, OsAHL17, OsAHL18 and OsAHL20) showed significantly more expression in NL44 as compared to IR64 after 4hours drought treatment. Total 3 genes (OsAHL10, OsAHL13 and OsAHL20) showed significantly up-regulated after 4hours salinity treatment in cultivar NL44 as compare to IR64. Overall, these findings indicate that AHL genes might be involved in mediating drought and salt signaling transduction pathways when plants are exposed to drought and salt stress. The NL44 could be used as a potential donor for drought and salt stress tolerance.