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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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20221
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Subject: Soil Sciences × Author: KUDI, BABITA × End date: 2022 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Impact of sugarcane cultivation on soil carbon pools and soil health in Samastipur district of Bihar
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2022) KUDI, BABITA; MEENA, SUNITA KUMARI
    A Study entitled “Impact of sugarcane cultivation on soil carbon pools and soil health in Samastipur district of Bihar’’ was carried out at Department of Soil Science, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar with the objective to establish the relationship between soil carbon pools and soil health parameters. Soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory for different physical, chemical and biological properties by Cornell Soil Health Laboratory Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health (CASH) standard operating procedures. Sugarcane is a long duration, heavy feeder and nutrient exhaustive crop. The excessive and imbalanced use of chemical fertilizer has deterioration of soil health. The soil organic carbon content is continuously declining due to the non-addition of organic matter and to continuous cultivation of sugarcane crop which is extensive in nature. Restoration of organic matter is thus, needed for maintaining soil health and improving productivity through breakdown of continuous cultivation of sugarcane and the addition of organic amendments. A wide variation was observed for soil quality parameters which included pH mean value was 8.35±0.14 in 0-15 cm soil depth and 8.20±0.15 in 15-30 cm; electrical conductivity (EC) mean 0.59±0.18 dS m-1 in 0-15 cm and 0.48 ± 0.18 dS m-1 in 15 - 30 cm; bulk density (BD) mean 1.49 ± 0.10 g cm-3 in 0-15 cm and 1.58±0.08 g cm-3 in 15-30 cm; Wet Aggregate Stability (WAS) mean 26.9±6.6 % in 0-15 cm and 24.67±9.93 % in 15-30 cm. Among the major soil nutrients, the mean value of available N was 192±14 kg ha-1 in 0-15 cm and 187±14 kg ha-1 in 15-30 cm; mean value of available P2O5 was 29.2±5.4 kg ha-1 in 0-15 cm and 25.8±5.2 kg ha-1 in 15-30 cm soil depth; mean value of available K2O was 161±24 kg ha-1 in 0-15 cm and 154±24 kg ha-1 in 15-30 cm soil depth and available S was 8.52±1.40 mg kg-1 at 0-15 cm and 7.30±1.38 mg kg-1 in 15-30 cm soil depth. The variation in available soil micronutrients were as follows: Zn mean value was 0.57 ± 0.21 mg kg-1 in 0- 15 cm and 0.44 ± 0.22 mg kg-1 in 15-30 cm soil depth; Cu mean value was 1.24±0.58 mg kg-1 in 0-15 cm and 1.11±0.59 mg kg-1 in 15-30 cm soil depth; Fe mean value was 9.83±2.58 mg kg-1 in 0-15 cm soil and 8.44±2.52 mg kg-1 in 15-30 cm soil depth; Mn average value was 4.50±0.93 mg kg-1 in 0-15 cm soil and 3.36±0.89 mg kg-1 in 15-30 cm soil depth. Among the soil biological properties, soil protein (autoclaved citrate extractable protein), soil respiration, dehydrogenase activity and MBC mean values were 1.59±0.55 g kg-1, 0.72 ± 0.22 mg CO2 g-1 96 hrs-1, 4.86 ± 0.78 μg TPF hr-1 g-1, 113±15 mg kg-1in 0-15 cm soil and 1.19 ± 0.55 g kg-1 ,0.58 ± 0.23 mg CO2 g-1 96 hrs-1 , 3.59 ± 0.80 μg TPF hr-1 g-1 , 96.63 ± 16.90 mg kg-1in 15-30 cm soil respectively. The mean value of different soil carbon pools were as follows: Walkley-Black carbon was 5.23±1.06 g kg -1 in 0-15 cm soil and 4.56±0.96 g kg -1 in 15-30 cm soil; total organic carbon was 7.64 ± 1.20 g kg-1 in 0-15 cm soil and 7.10±1.49 g kg-1 in 15-30 cm soil; KMNO4 –C was 263±55 mg kg-1 in 0-15 cm soil and 235±54 mg kg-1 in 15-30 cm soil. Percent contribution of different SOC pools to the total SOC followed as: Non labile (32%) > Less labile (28%) > Very Labile (20%) > labile (19.7%) in 0-15 cm of soil and Non labile (35.6%) > Less labile (28.6 %) >Very Labile (18.6%) > labile (17.1%) in 15-30 cm depth of soil. Correlation coefficient of oxidisable organic carbon (0-15 cm soil) with various fractions of carbon and soil biological parameters ranged from 0.846 to 0.974. For 15-30 cm soil depth, correlation coefficient of OC was found significantly positive with TOC (0.925) and VL-C, L-C, LL-C (0.875, 0.899, 0.924, respectively). Therefore, it was recommended that the inclusion of other crops in a crop rotation leads to a build-up of active fractions of carbon, thus the biological activity that will support soil sustainability.