Thumbnail Image

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.

Browse

20211
Reset filters
Subject: Microbiology × Author: S, AGILA × End date: 2021 × Start date: 2021 ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    MICROBIAL BIOCONVERSION OF AGRI-WASTE INTO COMPOST: AN ECO-ENTERPRISING MODEL
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2021) S, AGILA; Meena, Khem Raj
    Bacterial isolates were collected from Department of Microbiology, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa. Total 28 isolates were collected and then subculturing were done in different media and broth. Based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis VC2, VC4, VC6, VC7, VC12, C10 and CC6 were identified as Bacillus sonorensis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus inaquosorum, Bacillus cabrialesii, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus paramycoides and Bacillus stercoris. Out of 28 isolates, 27 isolates showed cellulose hydrolysing ability indicated by the formation of clearance zone in the range of 12.62 mm to 32.05 mm and the highest activity was shown by VC2 (32.05 mm). In the case of hemicellulose, 18 isolates showed positive results with hydrolysing zone formation in the range of 12.4 mm to 33.5 mm and the highest activity was shown by M18 (33.51 mm). As the enzyme activity concerned, cellulase production ability was reported by 16 isolates. Among them isolate VC2 had highest enzyme activity of 0.5428 U/ml with specific activity of 0.0037 U/mg and the lowest activity was indicated by C10 was 0.0668 U/ml with specific activity 0.0009 U/mg. Xylanase production ability was reported by 10 isolates, isolate VC7 showed highest enzyme activity 8.2479 U/ml with specific activity 0.0341 U/mg and the lowest activity was reported by C8 was 0.0368 U/ml. Bacterial strains that were observed with high enzymatic activity further tested for antagonistic activity. All the isolates were compatible with each other without showing any antagonistic behaviour. Compatible cultures were grown separately in enrichment media then they were mixed to produce bacterial consortia which was used for preparation of formulations. Formulations of different concentrations were prepared using various substrates like wheat straw (2g), glucose (6g), lime (3%), Urea (2%), microbial consortia and distilled water of varying quantities but final volume was made to 200 ml. 18 formulations were prepared with 3 replications. Further analysis of wheat straw for degradation was done using different formulations. There was observed that the pH of the formulations varies related to various concentrations of different substrates. Highest pH was observed in formulation containing lime and glucose it is because lime increases pH of the solution. A15 formulation showed showed highest pH (11.13) followed by A3 (10.67) then the lowest pH was shown by A16 (2.54). It was observed that all the formulations at the initial showed decreased pH until 14 days then increased upto 42 days then decreased to attain pH constant (56 days). pH at the initial stage was high (>7.5) found to have less amount of nitrogen. At the next stage (i.e., after 20- 24 days) there occurs sharp increase in nitrogen content due to reduced pH (<6.5) causes increased accumulation of N and at the end of composting, pH again starts increasing slightly to maintain optimum level (i.e.,6.5 - 7) but N content slightly decreased or increased based on nutrient availability and decomposition rate. High N content was reported in formulation containing microbial consortia with pH in optimum level (i.e., 6.5-8). Formulations maintaining pH range 6.5 to 8 were observed to produce optimum N content and the formulations containing pH in the too acidic or alkaline range leads to contain very less or no N content.