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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 Sciences × Author: Tagung, Techi × Start date: 2023 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS FOR ASSESSMENT ON SOIL EROSION AND FERTILITY STATUS OF MUZAFFARPUR DISTRICT OF BIHAR
    (Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2023) Tagung, Techi; Singh, Sanjay Kumar
    The research work on “Application of Remote Sensing and GIS for Assessment on Soil Erosion and Fertility Status of Muzaffarpur District of Bihar” was carried out during 2019 to 2021 at Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, India. The research area spans 3122.56 km2 geographical area and positioned on Survey of India 72 B, 72 C, 72 F, and 72 G degree sheets. It is located between 84.8836 and 85.7502 East Longitude and Latitude of 25.9002 to 26.3836 North. The region experiences 1187 mm of annual rainfall on average, with the monsoon season accounting for 85% of that total. For assessing the annual soil erosion loss from the study area, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model was used in RS and GIS framework with analysis of five major parameters viz., R (Rainfall Erosivity), K (Soil Erodibility), LS (Slope Length and Steepness), C (Cover and Management) and P (Support Practice) Factor. For assessing the soil fertility status of the study area, 280 surface soil (0-15 cm) samples were collected and subjected for analysis of various soil physico-chemical properties following standard methodology viz. soil pH, EC, OC and available nutrients (N, P, K, S, Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn). The results obtained from soil sample analysis were then used for thematic soil fertility map generation using GIS. Land suitability was examined by employing weighted overlay analysis tool using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in the ArcGIS software. Slope, rainfall, soil pH, Soil Organic Carbon, LULC and NDVI factor maps obtained from objective 1 and 2 were used as input factors for land suitability analysis. During 2019, Sahebganj tehsil recorded highest R-factor value of 503.61 MJ mm ha-1h-1yr-1 while Gaighat tehsil recorded the lowest annual mean R-factor of 341.08 MJ mm ha-1h-1yr-1. During 2020, the R-factor was recorded highest in Motipur tehsil (715.93 MJ mm ha-1h-1yr-1) while, lowest R-factor was recorded in Bandra tehsil (492.02 MJ mm ha-1h-1yr-1). Similarly, during the year 2021, highest R-factor recorded was identified in Musahari tehsil (695.15 MJ mm ha-1h-1yr-1) while the lowest was found in Katra tehsil (505.28 MJ mm ha-1h-1yr-1). Highest mean annual R-factor of Muzaffarpur district was obtained during the year 2021(610.25 MJ mm ha-1h-1yr-1) followed by the year 2020 (518.56) and 2019 (368.91). Lowest value of K- factor 0.212652 t h ha-1MJ-1mm-1 was noticed in Baruna soil series (mapping unit 37), whereas highest K-factor value of 0.560351 t h ha-1MJ-1mm-1 was recorded in Dhankaul soil series (Mapping unit 38). The value of K factor in the study area ranged from 0.210139 t h ha-1MJ-1mm-1 to 0.499983 t h ha-1MJ-1mm-1. The LS-factor ranging from 0 to 39.11 was noticed in river banks as well as steep slopes of high topograhy. The higher values of LS factors may attribute to the deterioration of river bank and absence of vegetative cover. The variability in elevation in the study area was measured from -116 to 46 (m), while slope (o) has been found from 0 to 89.99. The annual mean C-factors for the year 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 0.4618, 0.3495 and 0.3261 respectively. The minimum P factor reveals the more effective conservation practice to reduce soil erosion. Highest annual soil loss of 23.65 t ha-1yr-1 was occurred during the year 2020 followed by 15.76 t ha-1yr-1 during the year 2019 and 11.15 t ha-1yr-1 during the year and 2021. Among the tehsils, the lowest annual soil erosion was observed in Aurai tehsil in all the year while Paroo and Musahari tehsil recorded higher amount of soil loss as compared to other tehsils of Muzaffarpur district. The pH value of study area ranged between 7.4 and 9.6 with 7.8 as mean value. Around 91% and 9% soil samples were found neutral and alkaline in nature. The EC value ranged between 0.11 and 1.67 dS m-1 with 0.27 dS m-1 as mean value. Around 95.7% and 4.3% soil samples respectively were normal and slightly saline in nature. The OC content varied from 0.15 to 1.54% with 0.53% as mean value. It was found that 46.4, 39.6 and 14 % samples of OC respectively were low, medium and high. The available N content varied between 119.7 and 318.7 kg ha-1 with 230.9 as mean value. Around 7.5 and 92.5 % samples of available N respectively were in low and medium category. The available P content varied between 3.20 and 40.3 kg ha-1 with 13.06 as mean value. Around 81.4, 12.9 and 5.7 % soil samples were in low, medium and high range respectively. Around 31.4, 49.3 and 19.3 % of total samples of available K were in low, medium and high category respectively. Available K content varied between 68.54 and 805.06 kg ha-1 with 199.6 kg ha-1 as mean value. The content of available S categorised under low, medium and high was 32.9, 62.5 and 4.6 % of the total soil samples while its value varied between 6.15 and 25.73 kg ha-1 with 12.05 kg ha-1 as mean value. The available Zn content categorised under low and medium category was 78.9 and 21.9 % of the total soil samples while its value varied between 0.11 and 1.11 mg kg-1. Around 53.6, 45.0 and 1.4 % of total soil samples of available Fe was low, medium and high while value varied between 1.16 and 13.14 mg kg-1 with 6.62 mg kg-1 as mean value. The available Cu content categorised under low, medium and high category was 47.1, 51.8 and 1.1 % of the total soil samples while its value varied between 0.19 and 2.28 mgkg-1 with 0.66 mean value. The available Mn content categorised under low, medium and high category was 46.4, 46.8 and 6.8 % of the total soil samples while its value varied between 1.04 and 6.56 mgkg-1 with 3.14 mg kg-1 as average value. Study also outlined 69.3% area under suitable (S) and 30.7% under non-suitable (N) category. Largest area (68%) found under highly suitability class (S1) accompanied by 30% as permanently unsuitable (N2), 0.1% under moderately suitable (S2), 0.7% under currently unsuitability (N1) and 1.2% under marginally suitable (S3) class. All the thematic maps were prepared in ArcGIS software.