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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: Plant Pathology × Author: Kuldeep × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2019 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Epidemiology on alternaria blight of oilseed Brassica
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, 2019) Kuldeep; Choudhary, C. S.
    Oilseed brassica is an important Cruciferae group of crops grown under the wide range of Agro-climatic conditions in India. Among the fungal diseases, Alternaria blight incited by Alternaria brassicicola (Schw) Wilt., considered to be a major disease earlier, is now becoming increasingly destructive and widely damaging in recent years. It is the most ubiquitous, omnivorous and destructive plant pathogen distributed worldwide. Survey conducted at different locations showed its prevalence in Bihar with variable magnitude of incidence ranging from 27.0 to 46.0 per cent. Symptoms appeared on the lower leaves of the plants. The initial symptoms appeared on the lower leaves started as minute brown to blackish lesions which multiply rapidly and later spread to the upper leaves and formed the concentric rings like target board and a zone of yellow halo around the lesions which is very prominent. Isolation of the pathogen was made on PDA medium and identified as Alternaria brassicicola (Schw) Wilt. It produces septate mycelium. The conidiophores are olivaceous, septate, branched, measuring 32-45 μm in length and 6-8 μm in width. Conidia was dark, cylindrical to oblong, muriform without beak measuring 41-54 μm in length and 8-20 μm in width with 5-8 transverse and 0-4 longitudinal septa. Conidia were solitary straight dark, cylindrical to oblong, muriform / ellipsoidal tapering towards end with small beak. The pathogenic behaviour of the fungus was also confirmed after test. Potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium were found most supportive for the growth and dry mycelial weight among both solid as well as liquid media. The temperature range of 20-25⁰C and pH range of 6.0 to 6.5 was most suitable for the growth and dry mycelial weight. Out of thirty-five entries evaluated, no any entries were found resistant and moderately resistant. This might be due to the reason that Dholi centre is hotspot of this disease. The crop sown on October 15, recorded lowest percent disease severity (PDS) of 45.92 per cent in cultivar Varuna and 64.44 per cent in cultivar 66-197-3. Crop sown on October 29, i.e. normal dates of sowing, favoured quick disease development and recorded highest disease intensity 57.03 and 80.74 in cultivar Varuna and 66-197-3, respectively. The 1000 seed weight of cultivar Varuna varied from 3.0 g to 4.0 g and 2.43 g to 3.20 g in cultivar 66-197-3 amongst the different dates of sowing. The cultivar 66-197-3 had smaller seeds than Varuna. Highest seed yield of Varuna (1440 kg/ha) and 66-197-3 (856.67 kg/ha) was recorded when crop was sown timely on 29th October. The temperature from 9.28 to 26.510C and relative humidity 84.19 to 99.61% during above mentioned seasons apparently favoured disease development. The combined effect of different weather variables favoured the disease development causing upto 81 per cent variation in the disease severity of cultivar Varuna and upto 84 per cent variation in cultivar 66-197-3. Both the cultivar, Varuna and 66-197-3 recorded higher disease severity after 50 to 60 DAS and which increased with higher degree at 70 DAS. Plant age had the relationship with development of Alternaria blight severity on leaves, and 50 to 70 days old plant were most susceptible. The cv. 66-197-3 had highest A-value i.e. 807.37 on 100 DAS as compared to the cv. Varuna where the value was 525.87 on 100 DAS in Oct. 29 sown crop. The r-value were varied from 0.190 to 0.230 in cv. Varuna and 0.209 to 0.230 in cv. 66-197-3.