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

20191
Reset filters
Subject: Plant Breeding × Author: Govindbhai, Zala Rakesh × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2017 ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Genetic diversity in elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) of Bihar
    (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur (Bihar), 2019) Govindbhai, Zala Rakesh; Narayan, Ashish
    The present study was undertaken with twenty-one germplasm accessions of elephant foot yam, which was obtained from germplasm collections at T.C.A., Dholi, including one released variety Gajendra. The experiment was carried out at T.C.A., Dholi Research Farm of Dr. R.P.C.A.U., Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, in a completely Randomized Block Design with two replications during 2018 for study of Genetic diversity in elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) of Bihar. Data were collected for ten characters viz., days to sprouting, pseudostem length (cm), pseudostem girth (cm), leaf canopy diameter (cm), chlorophyll content (SPAD), calcium oxalate (mg/100gm), dry matter (%), days to maturity, no. of cormels per plant and corm weight per plant (Kg.). Statistical analysis carried out were, analysis of variance, genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation, heritability, genetic advance, correlation coefficient analysis, path analysis and genetic diversity. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the germplasm for all the ten characters under study. Maximum range was found for the characters like pseudostem length followed by leaf canopy diameter, days to sprouting, days to maturity, chlorophyll content, pseudostem girth and no. of cormels per plant. The phenotypic coefficient of variance was greater than genotypic coefficient of variance for all the characters under study and high magnitude of PCV and GCV were observed for traits like no. of cormels per plant followed by corm weight per plant, pseudostem length, days to sprouting, pseudostem girth, calcium oxalate, chlorophyll content and leaf canopy diameter indicating that these traits could be used for corm yield improvement. High estimates of heritability coupled with high genetic advance expressed as percentage of mean were observed for characters like days to sprouting, pseudostem length, pseudostem girth, leaf canopy diameter, chlorophyll content, calcium oxalate, no. of cormels per plant and corm weight per plant indicating effectiveness of selection due to preponderance of additive gene action for these traits and direct selection may be effective for these traits. The characters like pseudostem girth, pseudostem length, chlorophyll content and leaf canopy diameter had highly significant and positive correlation with corm weight per plant. Such correlation indicates true relationship and thus assists in predicting corm yield. Path analysis revealed that chlorophyll content had high positive direct effect on corm weight per plant. While, psuedostem length and calcium oxalate had moderate positive direct effect on corm weight per plant. Thus, these characters have to be given importance in selection process for improvement in corm yield. All the twenty one germplasm were grouped into five clusters using D2 statistics following clustering suggested by Tocher. Highest inter cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and V (238.93) followed by cluster I and IV (229.41) and cluster III and V (172.38) on the basis of their genetic distances. Germplasm from these clusters may be utilized under inter varietal hybridization programme for getting superior recombinants. Cluster IV showed maximum cluster mean values for corm weight per plant (1.61) and attributing characters like pseudostem girth (14.50), leaf canopy diameter (117.40), chlorophyll content (36.15), calcium oxalate (10.93), dry matter (22.60) and days to maturity (208.00), while cluster II showed maximum cluster mean values for pseudostem length (67.19). Therefore, selection of parents from different clusters might be done for desired traits on the basis of higher cluster mean values. Calcium oxalate followed by corm weight per plant, days to sprouting and no. of cormels per plant were having maximum contribution towards total divergence.