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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: Genetics and Plant Breeding × Author: Kumar, Niraj × End date: 2018 × Start date: 2016 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Studies on divergence in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)
    (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Kumar, Niraj; Singh, U. K.
    The investigation entitled “STUDIES ON DIVERGENCE IN SESAME (Sesamum indicum L.)” was carried out with 21 genotypes including a check namely Krishna. The genotypes were grown in randomised block design with three replications during kharif 2017 at research farm of Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi. Genotypes varied significantly for all the morpho-physiological characters. The mean values shifted bidirectionaly significantly as compared to better check, thus provided scope of selection. A close proximity between PCV and GCV indicated strong base of genetic component in phenotypic expression of all the characters under study. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance for characters plant height, productive capsules per plant, 1000 seed weight, harvest index and seed yield per plant suggested the preponderance of additive gene effects in the expression of these characters. High phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients of harvest index, productive capsules per plant, number of seeds per capsule, number of branches per plant, productive branches per plant, biological yield and 1000 seed weight were observed. Path analysis indicated maximum direct effect of number of branches per plant, biological yield and harvest index on seed yield indicating the importance of these traits in determining seed yield. Study of genetic divergence confirmed that there was no parallelism between geographical and genetic diversity. Thus genotypes were grouped into five different clusters on the basis of genetic diversity. In cluster III maximum number of genotypes were found. The maximum and minimum inter cluster distance were observed in between cluster V and II and in between cluster II and I, respectively. Hence, the genotypes of cluster V and II may be utilized for further crop improvement programme. The character productive capsules per plant exhibited maximum contribution towards divergence. The cluster V had maximum cluster mean performance for all the characters except days to 50 per cent flowering, productive branches per plant and days to maturity. On the basis of outstanding mean performance and maximum inter cluster distance, Krishna and Pragati were identified as potential elite parent.