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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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20201
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Subject: Microbiology × Author: Akhila, Pole × Start date: 2000 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Prospecting of multitasking strain with potential of biofertilization, biostimulation and biocontrol of Turcicum leaf blight of maize
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Akhila, Pole; Jaiswal, Aman
    Rhizobacteria have vital role in agriculture as they enhance the plant growth, biomass, yield, nutrient content and suppress the phytopathogens. These multitasking abilities of rhizobacteria were exploited to see their role in maize crop. A total 48 rhizobacterial isolates were isolated from soil samples collected from different regions of Bihar and were screened for various biofertilizing, biostimulating and biocontrolactivities viz., nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization, potassium solubilisation, Zn solubilization, Siderophore production, HCN production, Ammonia production, IAA production, chitinase production and antagonistic ability against Turcicum leaf blight i.e., Exserohilum turcicum. Out of 48 rhizobacterial isolates,10 isolates showed nitrogen fixation, 37 were positive for P-solubulization, 22 were positive for K-solubulization, 33 were positive for Zn-solubulization, 29 showed siderophore production, 27 showed IAA production, 11 showed HCN production, 17 showed ammonia production, 19 showed chitinase production and 9 isolates showed antagonistic ability against Exserohilum turcicum. Among all these screened isolates, only two isolates i.e., AK-9 and AK-21were positive for all the activities. So, these two isolates were selected as multitasking strains and further used in pot experiments against maize crop. Two pot experiments were conducted. First pot experiment was conducted in maize variety-Shaktiman-5 to evaluate the biofertilization and biostimulation ability of these multitasking strains along with different levels of chemical fertilizers (N, P, K, Fe, Zn) on plant growth parameters (shoot length, root length, shoot fresh and dry weights, root fresh and dry weights), yield parameters (Number of grains per cob, 100 seed weight and yield per pot) and nutrient contents (N, P, K, Fe and Zn) of grain and plant. All these parameters were enhanced when multitasking strains were used in combination with different dosages of chemical fertilizer as compared to control and 100% RDF. Maximum enhancement was recorded in treatments containing 100%RDF+Fe+Zn+AK-9 followed by treatment containing 100%RDF+Fe+Zn+AK-21. Second pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the biocontrol ability of these multitasking strains along with different levels of fungicide in maize variety-Shaktiman-5 along with one susceptible variety CML-186 and plant growth and yield parameters, nutrient content and disease severity index were analysed. It was observed that there was enhancement in the crop growth, yield and nutrient contents and decrease in disease severity index in both the maize varieties when multitasking strains along with fungicide were applied as compared to control and 100 % fungicide.Disease severity index of the treatment containing Pathogen inoculation+50% Fungicide+AK-9/ AK-21was on par with the treatment containing Pathogen inoculation+100% Fungicide.Therefore, these two isolates AK-9 and AK-21, having multitasking ability, can play a significant role in biofertilization, biostimulation and biological control of maize crop against Turcicum leaf blight disease.