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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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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Post-harvest Quality Evaluation of Banana Cultivars
    (RPCAU, Pusa, 2023) ANKIT; Prasad , K.
    The present experiment entitled “Post-harvest Quality Evaluation of Banana Cultivars” was undertaken on 30 banana cultivars. Since most of the cultivars of banana in Bihar has not been assessed for nutritional profiling and postharvest quality attributes, hence, this study was conducted with two objectives. Under objective-I research was conducted for assessment of banana flour of 30 cultivars for physical (moisture content), biochemical, and sensory evaluation. Under the objective-II the selected 30 banana cultivars were assessed for nutritional quality of 30 banana cultivars at peak ripening stage for physical, physiological parameters, biochemical, sensory and enzymatic activities. Under objective-I the moisture content was found highest in “Grand Naine” (9.72 %), starch content was found highest in “Popoulu” (81.12 %), fiber content was found maximum in “Malbhog” (2.61 g/100g), ascorbic acid content was found highest in “Rubasta” (9.87 mg/100g), total lipids were found highest in “Popoulu” (1.22 mg/100g), carbohydrate content was found highest in “Popoulu” (25.89 g/100g), energy was found highest in “Saba” (346 kcal), protein content was found highest in “B.B Batisa” (3.98 g/100), highest folic acid was recorded in “Poovan” (24.72 µg/100g), highest phosphorous content was found in “P-B Batisa” (42.56 mg/100g), potassium content was recorded highest in “Yangambi km” (512 mg/100g), and overall acceptability of sensory evaluation value was found highest in “Malbhog” (8.85). Under the objective-II of cultivars moisture content was found to be highest in “Nepali-Chinia” (84.63 %), fruit firmness was found highest in “B.B Batisa” (14.72 N). Under physiological attributes PLW and respiration rate was observed highest in “Rubasta” (18.48 %) and (126.33 ml CO2 kg-1 h-1) respectively. Under the biochemical attributes energy was found to be highest in “B. B. Batisa” (118 kcal), fiber content was found highest in “Malbhog” (16.89 g/100), highest TSS content was found in “Rasthali” (25.46 Brix), ascorbic acid was found highest in “Poovan” (13.56 mg/100g), highest lipid content was found in “Popoulu” (1.29 g/100g), highest carbohydrate was found in “P-B Batisa” (31.64 g/100g), the maximum protein content and highest folic acid was found in “Kunnan” (1.85g/100g) respectively, sugar content was found highest in “Rasthali” (26.98 %) and titratable acidity was highest in “Popoulu” (1.23 %). In determination of m ineral content potassium content was found highest in “Grand Naine” (448.59 mg/100g) and phosphorous content was highest in “P-B Batisa” (48.83 mg/100g). Under the functional attributes the total phenol content was found to be highest in “Yangambi km” (307.60 mg GAE/100g), total flavonoids content was found highest in “Alpan” (10.26 mg/100g), total carotenoids content was found highest in “Serimanthi” (6.89 mg/100g) and total antioxidant content was found maximum in “Serimanthi” (6.91 µmolTE/g). In sensory evaluation overall acceptability value was found highest in “Malbhog” (8.86). Under enzymatic activity the polygalactouronase activity was found highest in “Rubasta” (60.98 µg galacturonic acid/g/h), Pectin methylesterase enzymatic activity (PME) content, the Lipoxygenase enzymatic activity (6.99 µmol/min/g FW) and the poly phenol oxidase (927.84 µg GAE/g) was found maximum in” Bhose”. The Pearson Correlation analysis provided the insights into the relationships between the nutritional composition, physical, physiological, biochemical, minerals, sensory and enzymatic activity of banana at peak ripening stage. PCA analysis showed that the moisture content was suggested to be positively correlated with fiber, TSS, ascorbic acid, sugar, phosphorous, phenol, carotenoid and antioxidant. The principal component analysis revealed that PC1 had significant properties in “Robasta”, “Nepali-Chinia”, Martman (Nemopor), “Poovan” and PC2 was primarily determined by “Grand Naine”, “Robasta”, “Yangambi-km” and “Serimanthi”. The clustering analysis showed that there were two major clusters among the selected cultivars and cluster two was also divided into two sub-clusters.