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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: Fruit Science × Author: BANSAL, RITU × Start date: 2017 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    STUDIES ON PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF PUMMELO (Citrus grandis L.) GENOTYPES
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2022) BANSAL, RITU; Mukhim, C.
    The present experiment entitled “Studies on physico-chemical and molecular characterization of pummelo (Citrus grandis L.) genotypes” was conducted at RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar on pummelo during October 2021 to June 2022 to assess the variation in pummelo genotypes based on physico-biochemical characters and to characterize the pummelo genotypes using SSR markers. Diversity was analyzed by using principal component analysis and cluster analysis in thirty physico-biochemical characters of twenty-five genotypes. Physical characters of fruit, seed, peel and biochemical characters such as TSS, titrable acidity, ascorbic acid content, total sugar content, reducing and non-reducing sugar of the fruits were recorded. The highest fruit weight (1583.33 g) and fruit diameter (18.26 cm) were recorded in PC 5, however, maximum fruit length (15.96 cm) was observed in PC 14 whereas, minimum (9.03 cm) in PC 3. Different fruit shapes such as spheroid, obolid, ellipsoid and oblique were recorded in twenty-five genotypes. Shape of fruit base in pummelo genotypes were observed such as concave, truncate and convex. Most of genotypes were exhibited semi-solid and solid fruit axis with irregular cross section of fruit axis shape. Eighteen genotypes displayed low oil gland density. Red and pink color pulp were observed in most of genotypes while other genotypes exhibited cream, yellow, pinkish cream and pinkish yellow color pulp. Seed shape among different genotypes showed a lot of variation such as semi-deltoid, ovoid, spheroid and clavate. Six genotypes viz., PC 6, PC 7, PC 11, PC 12, PC 16 and PC 20 were found to be seedless. A significant variation in biochemical content was found among different genotypes. The total soluble solids, titrable acidity and ascorbic acid content were found in the range of 4.2-10 ºBrix, 0.43-1.04 per cent and 23.46- 47.77 mg/100ml juice respectively. The total sugar, reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar content varied from 5.66-9.28 %, 2.23-4.73 % and 2.65-4.56 %, respectively. Principal Component 1 alone exhibited 89.67 per cent of the total variation present among the 25 pummelo genotypes. First two Principal Components described more than 96 per cent variability in different genotypes. Among the primers, fifteen of them exhibited amplifications. The highest PIC value (0.87) was found in M-57 whereas, lowest (0) in M-86 and M-45. The genetic diversity based on SSR markers showed less to moderate diversity present in the genotypes which was explained by Nei ‘s genetic diversity index (h) and Shannon ‘s information index (I) with a mean h value of 0.32 and I value of 0.48. Four major clusters were obtained based on dice dissimilarity index from 15 SSR data matrix of twenty-five pummelo genotypes, where cluster I comprised two genotypes viz., PC 13 and PC 11, cluster II consisted two sub-clusters and comprised 9 genotypes, cluster III further divided into two sub-clusters which comprised 9 genotypes and cluster IV comprised 5 genotypes. The principal co-ordinates analysis map showed that genotypes like PC 2, PC 14, PC 15 and PC 7 are closely related or similar and are diverse from remaining genotypes. These twenty-five genotypes were admixture of four genetic structures which was analyzed using STRUCTURE HARVESTER. The present research finding can be used for future breeding and crop improvement programme.