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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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20201
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Subject: Food Technology × Author: Harshvardhani, Baddam × Start date: 1977 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Osmotic dehydration of mushroom
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Harshvardhani, Baddam; Sharma, P.D.
    Fresh and good quality Button mushrooms were procured from the Mushroom Research Unit Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, and were washed thoroughly under running water and followed by cutting into slices of 5 mm thickness before cutting ends. Osmotic dehydration experiments were conducted by employing CCR design for three independent variables at five levels [Salt Concentration (SC) - 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 %; Solution Temperature (ST) - 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 oC; Immersion Time (IT) - 60, 120, 180, 240, 300 min.]. A total 20 combinations of these independent variables were formed to see their effect on different dependent variables like Water Loss (WL, %), Solute Gain (SG, %) and Weight Reduction (WR %) of osmo-dehydrated product. Out of total 20 experiments, the best combination was selected on the basis of optimization by Response Surface Methodology. Second order multiple regression equations were developed for all the dependent variables to know the effect of independent variables. Osmotic dehydration treatment facilitates better results with optimum solution of SC-10.21 %, ST- 50℃ and IT - 120 minutes with an optimized yield as WL- 52.585 %, SG- 5.946 % and WR of osmo-dehydrated sample- 47.023 % with desirability 0.878. A laboratory model tray dryer was used for drying of Button Mushroom. Three different samples of Button Mushroom Slices viz. untreated, blanched and optimized osmosed samples were taken for drying experiment at each level of drying air temperature (50, 60 and 70oC). Drying time, drying rate and moisture reduction were calculated later on the basis of observed data. Drying of osmosed Button Mushroom slices at 70oC drying air temperature provided shortest drying time to produce best quality dried product as compared to blanched and untreated Button Mushroom samples. The drying time of osmosed sample was reduced to 480 minutes as compared to 600 and 660 minutes taken by blanched and untreated button mushroom samples. The dehydrated and dried button mushroom slices were taken for quality evaluation by sensory method, rehydration and proximate composition analysis. The above osmotically dehydrated button mushroom samples showed best rehydration characteristics like Rehydration ratio of 4.98 and coefficient of rehydration of 0.493 to yield good quality rehydrated sample which can be preserved and used during off-season. Key Words: Button Mushroom, Osmotic dehydration, CCR Design, Response Surface Methodology, Salt concentration, Solution temperature, Immersion time, Water loss, Salt gain, Drying air temperature, Drying rate, Quality evaluation, Rehydration, Sensory evaluation, Proximate composition analysis.