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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 and Water Engineering × Author: DAS, RIMA × Start date: 2014 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Evaluation of infiltration rate on various compaction levels in climate smart villages adopted by RPCAU
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2022) DAS, RIMA; Kumar, Ambrish
    The current study entitled "Evaluation of infiltration rate on various compaction levels in climate smart villages adopted by RPCAU" was conducted in the farmer's villages of Samastipur district, Bihar, in the year 2022. In this research, an overall 40 soil samples from different villages were collected for laboratory analysis at 0 to 60 cm soil depth. The soil texture of the study area ranged from loam soil to sandy loam soil to sandy clay loam soil under various cropping systems. The sand, silt, and clay content varied from 47.20 to 65 %, 8.25 to 50 %, and 10 to 40 %, respectively. Bulk density ranged from 1.05 to 1.42 g cm-3. At 0.3 bar suction, FC ranged from 15.10 to 34.58 %, and at 15 bar suction, PWP of soil ranged from 12.33 to 23.41 %. The WHC of soils ranged from 32.09 to 84 %, and OC ranged from 0.15 to 0.89 %, generally decreasing with depth and the percentage of water holding capacity also decreased. A field study was carried out to establish the infiltration rate using an instrument called double-ring infiltrometer. The results showed that the values of initial infiltration rate (mm h-1) for Kalyanpur, Akbarpur, Tira, Rampura, Ladaura, Mirzapur, Basudeopur, Birsingpur, Kabargama, Phulhara were obtained as 12.99, 10.19, 10.11, 5.91, 9.77, 6.79, 6.96, 7.39, 9.73 and 7.13, respectively. Meanwhile, the values of final steady infiltration rate (mm h-1) were 0.18, 0.12, 0.12, 0.12, 0.10, 0.12, 0.12, 0.12, 0.10 and 0.12, respectively. The four infiltration equations, namely, the Green-Ampt equation, Philip equation, Kostiakov equation and Horton equation, were used in this study. The performance evaluation of all developed equations between observed and predicted infiltration rate were analyzed based on the highest values of r ranged from -0.59 to 0.99, R2 ranged from 0.52 to 0.99, and NSE ranged from -28579.30 to 0.99, with WI ranging from 0 to 0.99 and the lowest values of RMSE ranged from 0.1 to 441.08, MAE ranged from 0.08 to 281.43. The results showed that the Green Ampt, Kostiakov, and Philip equations were more appropriate than the Horton equations. The results reveal that Horton's parameters do not fit the conditions for given locations. The average values of penetration resistance for given locations were observed 2067.20, 121290, 1859.68, 1904.32, 109681, 80863, 2432.83, 2196.45, 1524.75 and 1642.65 kPa at 0 to 60 cm depths, respectively. Linear relationship between (weightage mean of PR and constant infiltration rate) shows the value of R2 was 0.45 and significant correlations were obtained. A graphical nomograph was framed to represent three interrelating variables viz. soil texture, final infiltration rate and weighted mean of penetration resistance. A regression analysis was done between infiltration rate as dependent variables and soil parameters as independent variables including soil strength data in developing Pedotransfer Function (PTF). A regression equation had generated to show good relationship between them as R2 = 0.91.