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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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20161
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Subject: Genetics and Plant Breeding × End date: 2016 × Start date: 2016 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Studies on genetic diversity among genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
    (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2016) Rajshree; Singh, S. K.
    A study was conducted at Research Farm of Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar during rabi 2015-16 to evaluate the 33 genotypes of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) for yield attributing traits. Investigation was carried out on variability, character association, path analysis and genetic divergence for yield attributing traits viz., plant height, number of tillers per plant, flag leaf area, days to fifty per cent flowering, chlorophyll content, canopy temperature, relative water content, spike length, number of grains per spike, days to maturity, 1000 Grain weight, grain yield per plot, harvest Index. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant variation among the genotypes for all the characters studied under present investigation. The variability study indicated high to moderate phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation accompanied by high heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean for traits like plant height, number of tillers per plant, flag leaf area, chlorophyll content, canopy temperature, spike length, grains per spike, grain yield per plot, and harvest index indicating their importance in selection for yield improvement. This study indicates preponderance of additive gene effect, which will help to make selection in early segregating generation. The genetic advance as per cent mean suggesting still there is scope for further improvement of genotypes for these characters. Correlation studies indicated that grain yield per plot exhibited significant positive association with harvest index, chlorophyll content, and relative water content. This indicated that harvest index, chlorophyll content, and relative water content may be an important traits for predicting grain yield. Path analysis revealed that highest positive direct effect was exhibited by chlorophyll content at both phenotypic and genotypic level. Thus, this traits may be used as selection criteria. The 33 genotypes of bread wheat were grouped into six clusters using Tocher method. The genotypes in cluster III and cluster VI, due to maximum inter cluster distance between them, exhibited high degree of genetic diversity and thus may be utilized under inter varietal hybridization programme (transgressive breeding) for getting high yielding recombinants. Similar inter varietal crosses may be attempted between genotypes in cluster V and VI and cluster II and IV. Cluster I was suitable for spike length, flag leaf area, grains per spike, thousand grain weight, and grain yield per plot, Therefore, selection of parents from this cluster for these traits would be effective. Days to fifty per cent flowering and harvest index contributed maximum towards genetic divergence.