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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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  • ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of drainage plan for waterlogged areas of Darbhanga district using remote sensing and GIS approach
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) D, Sudhakar Raj; Bhagat, I. B.
    In India, rainfall is variable which causes flood and drought frequently. In Bihar, out of 38 districts, 28 districts will become flooded and 15 districts among them will get extremely affected in every consecutive year. Nearly, 73.63% of the geographical area of North Bihar is considered to be prone to floods. Next to flood, congestion in drainage of surface water resulting into water-logging is another major serious problem in the Bihar state. The combined use of remotely-sensed images and GIS based environmental applications in this work is needed for systematic ideas and scientific planning in the Darbhanga district of Bihar. Image processing and water-logged area assessment was done using ArcGIS and eCognition software. The index-based classification method was followed in an ArcGIS software and as a result, various indices such as NDVI, NDWI, MNDWI (Esri), MNDWI (IHS) had been obtained to assess the water-logged portions. Among the various indices used in different months False Colour Composite image, it was found that the month of September (2017) is the best month to indicate, assess and delineate the water-logged areas. Comparison with the other indices, MNDWI was highlighting the water-logged portions in the better way. The object-based classification was carried out in eCognition software which will convert the pixels into objects. The water-logged boundary layer was extracted by using the threshold value of -0.175 in the September month MNDWI raster. The total area subjected to water-logging in the Darbhanga district was found to be 42,282 ha. The area of water-logging was found in the two sub-divisions of the Darbhanga district. The blocks of Darbhanga and Biraul sub-division, holding the water-logging area of 21,899 ha and 20,383 ha respectively. The maximum expected rainfall at 60 per cent, 70 per cent and 80 per cent probability levels were found using Weibull’s formula and 70 percent maximum rainfall of consecutive days was considered for the drainage characteristics which have been analysed with the formula of volume-balance method. The average pan evaporation loss was estimated as 0.385 cm per day. The average percolation loss was found based on the previous research works and considered for analysis of drainage characteristics. The drainage coefficient of consecutive days i.e., 1-,2-,3-,4-,5-,6- and 7- days for the blocks of Darbhanga sub-division was found to be 27.71, 16.93, 12.57, 10.42, 9.19, 8.35 and 1.60 cm per day respectively and for the blocks of Biraul sub-division it was computed as 18.12, 10.94, 8.07, 6.66, 5.85, 5.31 and 4.79 cm per day respectively. The surface drainage plan for the blocks of Darbhanga and Biraul sub-divisions have been expressed by showing the main drain lines and outlets which was based on the comparison of different thematic maps. The useful measures also have been suggested to execute the drainage plan in an active manner.
  • ThesisItemOpen Access
    Standardization of Irrigation and fertigation schedule for Tomato cultivation under soil less media
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Umashanker; Nirala, S. K.
    The research work entitled “Standardization of Irrigation and Fertigation schedule for Tomato cultivation under Soil Less Media” was conducted with eighteen treatments. The treatments comprised with different soil less media like Cocopeat, Perlite,Vermiculite,Vermicompost and sand along with three levels of RDF and two levels of irrigation. The tomato plants planted in grow bags irrigation and fertigation applied with drip irrigation system. Tomato crop of variety Avinash-2 was selected for experiment. The field layout done by using CRD with three replications. The seasonal crop water requirement of tomato plants in soilless media in grow bages cultivation varies from 12.72 to 15.90 cm under irrigation level 80% and 100% Etc.The best growing media was foundCocopeat + Perlite + Vermicompost (3:1:1). The composite effect of growing media, irrigation and fertigation on vegetative growth and yield parameters (fruit length, fruit diameter, numbers of fruit per plant, fruit weight, yield per plant) was found better in treatment M1I2F1 (Cocopeat + Perlite + Vermicompost + 0.80 ETc + 125 % RDF). The maximum average vegetative growth was recorded as 102.12 cm, fruit length 5.55 cm, maximum diameter 5.29 cm, average numbers of fruit per plant 63.73, average fruit weight 90.82 g, and maximum yield 5.23 kg per plant was recorded. However, the minimum yield was (2.88 Kg) under M1F3I2 treatment. The B: C ratio of 3.12 and maximum net income of Rs 211211/- per 1000 m2 in treatment M1I2F1 and minimum B: C ratio of 1.46 in treatment M1F3I2 (control).