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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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ThesisItem Open Access Studies on spot blotch of wheat caused by Bipolaris Sorokiniana (SACC.) Shoem(DRPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Kumar, Paritosh; Rai, R. C.Studies on spot blotch of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was carried out to ascertain the status of spot blotch disease of wheat in Bihar, to find out the variability of pathogen in Bihar and to find out a suitable culture media for growth and sporulation of the pathogen. Attempts were also made to estimate the yield losses; and to manage the disease by agronomical manipulations and through fungicides and botanicals. Bipolaris sorokiniana was mainly responsible for causing spot blotch of wheat in Bihar. The disease appeared 5 to 8 weeks after wheat sowing and the symptoms advanced after heading and spreaded very fast. The dark brown necrotic spots (boat shaped) occured on the leaves, crowns and stems with or without yellow halo around these. Lesions on the leaves in the start were few mm in size and extended as elongated dark brown spots and later on coalesced resulting into blight. In severe cases, at flowering stage 60 to 80 per cent leaf areas was turned into necrotic lesions. Intensity of spotting increased with the increase in the age of plants and reached maximum between boot to maturity stage of the crop. Minute spots were also observed on leaf sheaths, nodes, internodes and the glumes. The conidiophores of Bipolaris sorokiniana were light olivaceous brown in colour and emerged both singly or in a group of 2 to 6 from stomatal opening or directly through the epidermal cells of the host, bearing conidia on well defined geniculations and measured 81 to 193 μm long (average 155.20 μm), 6 to 8 μm wide (average 6.70 μm) having 2 to 9 septa (average 6.40). Conidia were formed singly at the tip of conidiophores and were dark olivaceous brown in colour, straight to slightly curved, widest at or near the middle, tapering towards both the abruptly rounded ends and measured 39 to 112 μm long (average 73.90 μm), 13 to 21 μm wide (average 16.70 μm) having 2 to 6 septa (average 3.70). Six groups of B. sorokiniana could be differentiated on the basis of colony colour, colony characteristics and colony diameter establishing the variability in Bipolaris sorokiniana. Remarkable variation in length, width, number of septa in spore and shape of spore were present. Oat meal agar medium and oat meal medium were best suited medium for radial growth and biomass production of Bipolaris sorokiniana, respectively. However, potato dextrose agar was best suited for sporulation of Bipolaris sorokiniana. Yield loss due to spot blotch varied between 7 to 30 per cent and loss in 1000-grain weight between 3 to 23 per cent, depending upon the levels of disease. Delayed sowing favoured incidence of spot blotch irrespective of nitrogen level and more disease developed at higher nitrogen level in all the three date of sowing. Higher levels of nitrogen at all the three date of sowing increased yield and 1000-grain weight and with delay in sowing, yield and 1000-grain weight decreased significantly at all the three nitrogen level. Propiconazole, Hexaconazole and Difenaconazole + Propiconazole at 250 ppm completely inhibited the mycelial growth of B. sorokiniana. Carbendazim and Copper oxychloride also produced cent per cent inhibition but at 500 and 1000 ppm, respectively. Mancozeb could not produce complete inhibition even at 1000 ppm. Spot blotch of wheat could be effectively and economically controlled by two foliar sprays of either Propiconazole or Hexaconazole @ 0.1 per cent at fifteen days interval but on the basis of cost- benefit ratio Hexaconazole had an edge over Propiconazole. Among botanicals eucalyptus leaf extract was highly effective in inhibiting the growth of B. sorokiniana. Garlic clove extract was second best plant extract in inhibiting the growth of B. sorokiniana. All the six plant extracts (garlic clove, eucalyptus leaf, neem leaf, onion bulb, ginger rhizome and black cumin) could significantly reduce PDI when compared with untreated check. Two sprays of garlic clove and eucalyptus leaf extracts @ five per cent were equally effective in reducing disease to 50 per cent and increasing grain yield. Two spray of Propiconazole (0.1 %) at 15 days interval under timely sown condition was best in controlling spot blotch of wheat with significant increase in yield over unsprayed crop. With the delayed sowing (26th December) there was significant decrease in disease control with significantly less yield. Hexaconazole was equally effective and on the basis of cost- benefit ratio, had an edge over Propiconazole.ThesisItem Open Access Integrated disease management of Chickpea Fusarium wilt(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Kumar, Sanjeev; Sahni, SangitaChickpea (Cicer arietinum) is one of the world’s major legume crops and suffers substantial damage from wilt disease incited by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri (Padwick) with yield loss over 60 per cent. Itis an important soil borne plant pathogen and is difficult to manage by application of chemical. Moreover, the chemical control is costly and leads to residual effect. In the present study, an integrated approach using host plant resistance and integration of three components i.e., cultural (vermicompost amendment), chemical (ZnSO4 and Salicylic acid) and biological (seed bacterization with Pseudomonas spp.) were contemplatedto manage this disease more effectively. A total 55 chickpea genotypes were screened against Fusarium wilt, only one genotype was found to be resistant, however, twelve were found to be moderately resistance (10.1-20 per cent), nineteen were moderately susceptible (20.1-30 per cent), and nineteen genotypes were showed susceptible reaction for wilt disease and recorded more than 30 % wilt incidence and four genotypes showed highly susceptible reaction exhibited more than 50% wilt incidence. The pathogen associated with wilt of chickpea was isolated from the infected plant samples and identified as Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris based on standard mycological keys. A total of nine pseudomonad isolates were screened for their antagonistic activities against F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceri. All nine isolates exhibited the ammonification property, produced HCN (Cyanide) and IAA (Indole acetic acid) and positive for phosphorus solubilization, except PGPR-Pl, this found to be negative for HCN production. Among the nine isolates, pseudomonad isolates PGPR-WS were best in exhibiting multiple PGPR traits like ammonification, HCN production, IAA production (26.08 mgl-1), and phosphate solubilization (306.51 mgl-1) as well as best in antagonistic activity against F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceri, showed 75.00 % inhibition of growth of mycelia over control and caused total lysis of mycelia in advanced stages of antagonism. Thus screening and identification of novel bioagent PGPR-WS with multifarious activities vividly reflects its potential to suppress F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceriand suggest usefulness of this super bioinoculant as component of IDM of F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceri Among the three control methods, viz., vermicompost amendment, foliar spray with non-conventional chemicals and seed bacterization with PGPR-WS, when used singly, seed bacterization with PGPR-WS was found to be the most effective one among all against F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceri. It is also evident that the biocontrol efficiency against wilt pathogen could be improved by proper combination of vermicompost amendment as well as non-conventional chemicals, as they possess different modes of action against F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceri. Our findings indicated that the high antagonistic activity of PGPR-WS permitted the combination of chemical (non-conventional chemicals like Salicylic acid andZnSO4) and cultural (vermicompost amendment) measures, leading to improved control of the wilt pathogen of chickpea. The combination of all the three control methods was more effective than the lone treatment of the non-conventional chemicals, PGPR-WS, and vermicompost amendment. However, combined application of 15 % vermicompost and seed bacterization with PGPR-WS along with pre-inoculation foliar spray of salicylic acid showed complete protection against F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceri. Among the chemicals tested, Salicylic acid (40 ppm) was usually the most effective one in reducing wilt incidence of chickpea, compared to ZnSO4 (50ppm).ThesisItem Open Access Studies of Grain Discolouration on Rice(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Shekhar, Varsha; Rai, BimlaRice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important crop of the world both in terms of areas (433.8 mha) and production (481.54mt) (USDA, 2016). One out of the three people depends on rice for more than half of their daily diet. Rice is the most important staple food in Asia. More than 90% of the world’s rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where 60% of the world’s population lives. Rice accounts for between 35-60 percent of the caloric intake of three billion Asians. Grain discoloration of rice is a complex disease which deteriorates quality of grains. In the present investigation fungi, associated with discoloration of grains were identified as Fusariumsp., Aspergillus sp., Trichoderma sp.,Helminthosporium sp., Rhizhopussp., Curvulariasp. and Altenariasp. In the present study, per cent grain discolouration varied from 36.75 to 69.00. The maximum discolored grain (69 %) was recorded in Rajshree followed by BPT-5204 (57.00%) and RAU-1-16-48 (48 %). The least discolouration was observed in Boro-3 (36.75 %) variety. Detection of mycoflora was done by blotter method, agar plate method and paper towel method. Rajendra Bhagawati recorded (58%) incidence of grain discoloration while Prabhat registered minimum seed infection (30 %) in paper towel method. Santosh and Satyam recorded (83%) and (30%) of seed mycoflora in blotter paper method. In agar plate method Turanta and Gautamrecorded seed mycoflora maximum (60 %) and minimum (21%) respectively. The most wide spread seed mycoflora were Fusariumsp., Helminthosporiumsp.&Aspergillussp. found associated with almost all varieties. Sprint (Carbendazim + Mancozeb) was found highly effective (100 %) against all pathogenic seed mycoflora in-vitro. Effective seed Treatment with neem oil and Trichoderma was also effective.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on resident mycoflora and their effect on crop health of Sarpgandha (Rauwolfia serpentina).(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Kumar, Prakash Mani; Jha, P. K.In course of investigation rhizosphere of Sarpgandha showed the presence of Fusarium sp., Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma sp., Penicillium sp. and Rhizopus stolonifer. The phylloplane recorded the presence of Nigrospora sp., Trichoderma sp., Aspergillus niger and Fusarium sp. When they are evaluated for their effect on plant in pot condition most of the rhizosphere isolates showed growth promoting effect on plant except Aspergillus niger which caused black discoloration of root. The Trichoderma isolate was found most efficient in promoting the plant growth and root development. Among phylloplane isolates Nigrospora sp. showed pathogenic effect and resulted in development of reddish-brownish lesion on the leaves. The phylloplane isolate Trichoderma sp. was also found to promote the plant growth. Among various rhizosphere isolate tested for their antagonistic effect against pathogenic isolate Nigrospora, Trichoderma was found more efficient in suppressing the growth of Nigrospora likewise phylloplane isolate of Trichoderma was also very efficient in checking the growth of target pathogen. All the rhiosphere and phylloplane isolates when evaluated for their effect on disease development caused by Nigrospora sp., Trichoderma was found to completely supress the pathogenic effect and promoted healthy growth of plant likewise phylloplane isolate of Trichoderma also favored the healthy growth of plant and suppress the effect of Nigrospora in causing disease. Both Trichoderma isolate was obtained from rhizosphere and phyllopalne may be further studied for their potential in management of leaf spot disease in sarpgandha caused by Nigrospora sp.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of Tricholoma giganteum mushroom strain for yield potential in Bihar(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Akhtar, Nudrat Sanzida; Ram, DayaPresent study entitled “Evaluation of Tricholoma giganteum mushroom strain for yield potential in Bihar” was carried out in the Department of Plant Pathology, DRPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar regarding different aspects of T. giganteum cultivation. Radial growth of different strains of T. giganteum was studied on different media and temperature to know the suitable medium and temperature for its growth and development. Among all the tested media and temperatures, the maximum radial growth was observed in strain CIP-19 (72.33 mm) and all strain except CIP-20 (90.00 mm) on PDA medium and strain CIP-19 (72.66 mm) and all strain except CIP-20 (90.00 mm) at 32±2 0C temperature after 7 and 14 days of inoculation respectively was found to be superior for radial growth. Spawn production of different strains of T. giganteum on wheat and maize grain was also studied, wheat grain took significantly less time for spawn production with strain CIP-19 and CIP-20 (13 days) followed by CIP-18 (14 days). The minimum time required for spawn run in strain CIP-19 (12 days) and primordial initiation in strain CIP-20 (31 days) with wheat grain based spawn. Higher yield was recorded in strain CIP-20 (76.4 kg) with wheat grain based spawn followed by maize grain based spawn. Wheat straw alone was found suitable substrate, gave maximum yield in strain CIP-18 (59.4 kg) followed by strain CIP-19. The combination of soil + sand (3:1) was found to be best casing material which took minimum case run days and pin head initiation days and maximum yield (72.8 kg) for cultivation of T. giganteum. During present study, Trichodermasp., Aspergillusniger and Aspergillusflavus were frequently occur on cultures of T. giganteum and only one Coprinussp was frequently occur during the cultivation of T. giganteum.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) Sterility Mosaic Disease(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2018) Roy, Abhay Nath; Kumar, BirendraPigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) is one of the most important pulse of India. It is known to be affected by several pests and diseases. However among these sterility mosaic disease is one of the devastating disease and has become a major limiting factor for Pigeonpea cultivation. The present investigation were carried out on various aspects viz., screening of the promising pigeonpea genotypes for sterility mosaic disease by leaf stapling technique, symptomatology of sterility mosaic disease on host differentials, effect of sowing dates on incidence of Pigeonpea sterility mosaic disease and Production of dsRNA against Pigeonpea sterility mosaic virus1. Seventy four Pigeonpea genotypes were screened against sterility mosaic disease by leaf stapling technique. Only 3 genotypes viz., BRG 16-1, NTL 30 and ML 31 showed resistant reaction towards the disease whereas 12 genotypes viz., BRG 16-2, ICP 7119, ICPL 15084, BDAH 2013-41, BDN 711, PT 711-1-1-2, CO-6, WRG 255, VRG 06-003, NTL 873, MAL 47 and BSMR 736 were found to be moderately resistant on PDI basis while on the basis of AUDPC, out of 74 genotypes screened, 4 genotypes viz., BRG 16-1, NTL 30, BDAH 2013-41 and ML 31 showed resistant reaction towards the disease Whereas, 12 genotypes viz., BRG 16-2, ICP 7119, ICPL 15084, ICPL 15036, BDN 711, PT 711-1-1-2, CO-6, WRG 255, VRG 06-003, NTL 873, MAL 47 and BSMR 736 were found to be moderately resistant against sterility mosaic disease. Considerable differences were observed in disease severity and AUDPC in different genotypes indicating the presence of different level of resistance. Sterility mosaic disease infection produced the symptoms like stunting of plant, reduction in size of leaf, profuse branching results in bushy appearance, pale green leaf colour, mild to severe mosaic on leaflets, cessation of flowering whereas ringspots symptoms was particularly observed on variety ICP 2376. However, Bahar, BRG 1, ICP 7035, IPA 8 F & ICP 2376 showed immune to resistant reaction for sterility mosaic disease and remaining genotypes i. e., BDN 1, BSMR736, BRG 2, Purple – 1and ICP 8863 exhibited susceptible reaction towards sterility mosaic virus. The progress of disease was found to be highly influenced by weather variables prevalent under field condition.Maximum periodical increase was observed during last week of September to first week of October when maximum temperature ranging from 29.3 – 32.9 °C, minimum temperature ranging from 19.8 – 26.1 °C, relative humidity morning more than 90 percent, relative humidity evening more than 70 percent, wind speed between 1.62 – 6.11 km/h and rainfall 31 mm in one rainy day were recorded. The incidence of disease reached upto 100 per cent during last week of November in all sowing dates. The shifting of dates of sowing from normal to early or late has no significant effect on the total development of sterility mosaic disease. A negative and significantly correlation of maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed and rainfall whereas relative humidity morning were found positive and significantly correlated with sterility mosaic disease incidence in all five dates of sowing during the crop season in 2016 – 17. The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that temperature, relative humidity and wind speed had significant role in development of sterility mosaic disease. Regression equations have been developed with different weather factor interaction on the progress of disease variation could be explained between 58 – 94 percent. As plant viruses infect their host systematically they require consistent counter defence mechanism which exhibit RNAi. For this purpose plant viruses evolved a very strong armaments designates as RNA silencing suppressors. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) which are homologous to a particular mRNA, induce the endogenous RNA silencing. RNAi is an RNA-dependent gene silencing process that is controlled by RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and is initiated by short-double stranded RNA molecules in the cytoplasm of cell where they interact with the catalytic RISC component Argonaute. When the double stranded RNA is exogenous (coming from infection by a virus with an RNA genome or laboratory manipulations), the RNA is imported directly in to the cytoplasm and cleaved to short fragments by Dicer. The initiating dsRNA can also be endogenous (originating in the cell), as in ore-micro RNAs expressed from RNA-coding gene in the genome. The primary transcripts from such gene are first processed to form the characteristic stem-loop structure of pre-miRNA in the nucleus, then exported to the cytoplasm. Thus, the two dsRNA pathways, exogenous and endogenous, converge at the RISC.ThesisItem Open Access Studies of Pokkahboeng disease in sugarcane caused by Fusariummoniliforme(Sheldon) and its management(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2018) Ranjan, Abhay; Minnatullah, Md.Sugarcane is cultivated in tropical and subtropical zone of the countryand it has commercially important crop with many agricultural and industrial uses. Every year, sugarcane contributes nearly 70 per cent of world sugar production. In sugarcane, heavy losses in cane and sugar yields are caused due to incidence of a number of disease viz., red rot, smut, wilt, grassy shoot, ratoon stunting and pokkah boeng. Among diseases, Pokkah boeng is going to be major of them. During survey, Pokkah boeng disease was observed which was ranged in between 1.1 to 21.2 per cent under sugarcane growing areas of Bihar. In initial stage, the disease showed whitish, curling, twisting symptoms and bending of leaves from the top portion. Isolated mycelium were dense in appearance initially white and little dark. Size of conidia varied from 7.2 to 20.3 µm in length and 0-3 septations were observed in micro conidia. Two varieties namely CoSe92423 and CoSe95422 were recorded highly susceptible to Pokkahboeng disease out of twenty two varieties were evaluated against this disease. The disease were prevalent during rainy season, after that recovered trend of the disease was observed. The minimum temperature, relative humidity and rainfall were the congenial weather factors for the development of disease. Setts treated and sprayed with carbendazim 50 WP @ 0.1% was found to be significantly superior over all the treatments applied for the management of disease. Besides, this treatment has also achieved higher return of Rs.2,23,039/- per hectare.ThesisItem Open Access Management of Maydis leaf blight caused by Helminthosporium maydis(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2018) Kumar, Chandan; Chand, PhoolMaize (Zea mays L.) popularly known as queen of cereals because of its high genetic yield efficiency, important human nutrient, element for animal feed etc. Maydis leaf blight disease of maize causes considerable losses to the maize crop. The present investigations on “Management of Maydis leaf blight caused by Helminthosporium maydis” were undertaken to explore the possibilities of fungicides in vitro and in vivo for the management of Maydis leaf blight disease of maize. Out of the 224 genotypes including 3 sus. check for each maize hybrid were screened under artificial inoculated conditions, 1 genotype appeared resistant, 37 genotypes were moderately resistant to Maydis leaf blight, 87 genotypes were rated as moderately susceptible and 102 genotypes were found susceptible. Among nine fungicides evaluated at different concentrations (50, 100, 150, 200, 250) in vitro against H. maydis by poisoned food technique, Propiconazole showed 100 per cent inhibition of mycelia growth were recorded at 150, 200 and 250 ppm followed by Mancozeb which caused 93.88 per cent inhibition at 250 ppm and minimum inhibition was recorded in copper Oxychloride at all the concentrations except 200 ppm . All fungicides screened under in vitro, were further evaluated under field conditions against Maydis leaf blight disease. Propiconazole 25 EC @ 0.1% and Mancozeb 75%WP@0.2% were found most effective in reducing the Maydis leaf blight (PDI of 18.51% and 29.62% respectively), as compared to control (85.17% PDI). Effect of date of sowing and plant spacing on maydis leaf blight disease were also observed and recorded. Among all the treatments D2S3 (Sowing date 15 July with 70 cm. row spacing), D3S3 (Sowing date 25 July with 70 cm. row spacing) and D2S2 (Sowing date 15 July with 60 cm. row spacing) were found most effective in reducing the Maydis leaf blight (PDI of 33.33%, 40.73% and 44.44% respectively).