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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: Soil Science × Author: Nand, Mani Mesha × End date: 2018 × Start date: 2018 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Potassium Partitioning at Different Growth Stages of Rice in Calcareous Soil of North Bihar
    (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2018) Nand, Mani Mesha; Singh, S. P.
    Ignorance of balanced nutrition with potash is diminishing crop yield and mining the potassium (K) from the soil. The knowledge on periodic uptake, accumulation and allocation of potassium to different parts of a rice plant should receive urgent attention in order to implement K management practices for sustainable rice production. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted in calcareous soil (medium in available K) in split-plot design with two rice varieties (Inbred and Hybrid) in main plot and six combinations of potassium management [control, NP (-K); NP+K(100 % basal); NP+K(50% basal + 50% tillering); NP+K(50% basal + 50% panicle) and NP+K(50% basal + 25% tillering + 25% panicle)] in sub-plot at Experimental Farm, RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, during kharif - 2017. Dry weight, potassium content and uptake by different parts of rice (root, shoot and leaves) and availability of potassium (K) in soil were determined at different growth stages (tillering, panicle, milking and maturity) of rice. Initial and post-harvest soils (0-15 cm) were analyzed for physico-chemical properties, viz., pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon (OC) and different forms of potassium (available K, water soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable K, lattice K and total K). The results revealed that the growth parameters (dry weight, plant height, panicle length, number of tillers m-2, number of panicles m-2), potassium content and uptake, grain yield and test weight increased significantly with the application of potassium in three splits (50% basal + 25% tillering + 25% panicle) as compared to the treatment where potassium was applied only as basal dose (recommended practice). The availability of K in the soil at different growth stages of rice was found to improve with split applications of potassium over basal application. At tillering stage, available K was highest in the plots receiving split applications of K i.e. 50% basal + 50% tillering, while, at panicle and milking stage, available K was highest in plots with split application of K i.e. 50% basal + 50% panicle. At maturity, it was highest in the plots with three split applications of K (50% basal + 25% tillering + 25% panicle). The effect of potassium application on changes in different forms of potassium at harvest was not significant except water soluble K which increased significantly by three split applications of potassium. Negative potassium balance in soil was recorded under all the treatments and it was more pronounced in hybrid rice than the inbred rice grown soils. Thus, it can be concluded that synchronization of split applications of potassium (50% basal + 50% panicle or 50% basal + 25% tillering + 25% panicle) with nitrogen can result in significantly higher yield of rice and K uptake compared to basal application. Although, the K rates for fertilizer recommendation need to be revised to account for the negative K balance in soil.