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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
    PHENOTYPING AND DEEPWATER RESPONSE RELATED GENOTYPING OF ADVANCED BREEDING LINES OF RICE
    (RPCAU, Pusa, 2023) KUMAR, LALAN; Singh, Mithilesh Kumar
    The current research project, titled “Phenotyping and Deepwater Response Related Genotyping of Advanced Breeding Lines of Rice.” encompassed a collection of 25 genotypes. This study was executed at the RPCAU Research Farm located in Pusa, Bihar utilizing randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two replications during the Kharif season - (2022). The primary objectives of the study were to assess variations in yield and yield components, specifically focusing on grain yield in deepwater conditions. Data were recorded on the parameters like plant height, days to 50% flowering, panicle length, number of tillers per plant, leaf length, number of grains per panicle, kernel breadth, kernel length, test weight, kernel L/B ratio, and grain yield per plant in the field. The investigation involved assessing the level of genetic variability, the relationship among different parameters studied, direct and indirect effects and molecular diversity with respect to trait specific SSR markers. The materials were grown in pots to obtain genomic DNA from young seedlings. The extracted DNA was then subjected to targeted amplification using a set of six SSR primer pairs. The molecular investigations were carried out in the Rice Molecular Breeding Laboratory, situated in the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding at Pusa. Analysis of Variance revealed that significant differences existed for all the studied traits among the genotypes. PCV was higher than GCV for all the traits, albeit of low difference indicating meagre influence of environment on trait expression. High heritability (h²bs) coupled with high genetic advance was recorded for days to 50% flowering, number of grains per panicle, leaf length, number of tillers per plant, test weight, kernel length, kernel length to breadth ratio and grain yield per plant. Therefore, direct selection for these traits could be rewarding to modify the trait mean in the direction of selection. Correlation and path coefficient analysis revealed that the trait test weight, number of grains per panicle and panicle length had significant positive correlation with grain yield as well as high direct effect on grain yield. Therefore, direct selection for these could be exercised to improve the grain yield. Six simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers were used for estimation of molecular diversity in relation to deepwater response related traits. These markers produced distinct and scorable bands for the genotypes used. All the 25 genotypes were accommodated into 4 clusters, with cluster III having maximum genotypes i.e., 9 and cluster 2 and 4 containing minimum genotypes i.e.,5, each. The markers were polymorphic with PIC value ranging from 0.608 (RM 20562) to 0.825 (RM3769). Genotypes viz. RAU1538-16-5 and RAU1538-16-6 showed minimum genetic divergence with respect to all the SSR markers studied.