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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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Author: BISWAS, DEBANAND × Start date: 2020 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Studies on Impact of Bee Pollination on Yam Bean (Pachyrhizus erosus L.)
    (Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2023) BISWAS, DEBANAND; KUMAR, NEERAJ
    The current investigation titled “Studies on Impact of Bee Pollination on Yam bean (Pachyrhizus erosus L).” was executed at the experimental farm of TCA, Dholi (Muzaffarpur), RPCAU, Pusa during two consecutive Kharif seasons of 2020-21 and 2021-22 with Rajendra Mishrikand -1 variety of Yam bean. Findings related to bees and important insect visitors, their relative abundance and foraging behavior and impact of bee pollination on Yam bean seed yield and the results have been outlined below: A total of 6 important insect species visiting Yam bean flowers were recorded during the year 2020-21 and 2021-22 from Yam bean flowers. Collected insect species were killed and dried preserved properly labelled. Based on the number of insect visitors recorded, the most frequent and important insect visitors were in hymenoptera order and hence were counted for observations viz. Giant Honeybee (Apis dorsata Fabricius 1793), Eastern honeybee (Apis cerana Fabricius 1798), Dwarf honeybee (Apis florea Fabricius 1787), European honeybee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus 1758), Megachile sp. Fabricius 1781 and Carpenter bee (Xylocopa fenestrata Linnaeus 1758). Pooled mean population of Giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) was highest on 43rd SMW (15.50 insects/m2/10min) and during 13:00hrs (17.27 insects/m2/10min) of the day having Pooled mean population of 12.47 insects/m2/10min. Eastern honeybee (Apis cerana) population also attains peak on 43rd SMW (12.92 insects/m2/10min) and during 13:00hrs (13.94 insects/m2/10min) of the day with Pooled mean population of 10.79 insects/m2/10min. Dwarf honeybee (Apis florea) population attained peak on 44th SMW (10.52 insects/m2/10min) and at 13:00hrs (12.17 insects/m2/10min) of the day with mean population of 8.57 insects/m2/10min. European Honeybee (Apis mellifera) reaches peak on 43rd SMW (13.50 insects/m2/10min) and during 13:00hrs (14.30 insects/m2/10min) of the day and mean population of 11.31 insects/m2/10min. Population of Megachile sp. observed highest on 43rd SMW with mean population of 11.77 insects/m2/10min during 13:00hrs (12.67 insects/m2/10min) of the day with Pooled mean population of 9.28 insects/m2/10min. Carpenter bee (Xylocopa fenestrata) population was highest on 43rd SMW with mean population of 13.73 insects/m2/10min and during 13:00hrs (15.18 insects/m2/10min) of the with Pooled mean population 10.87 insects/m2/10min. Correlation and Regression studies of the Pooled data for all the observed bees and important insect visitors showed positive relation with average temperature and negatively related with average relative humidity. Apis dorsata showed positive and significantly correlation with average temperature and negatively non-significant with relative humidity in Pooled data (0.816* and -0.495), Apis cerana (0.894** and -0.608), Apis florea (0.817* and -0.367), Apis mellifera (0.792* and -0.434), Megachile sp. (0.837* and -0.483) and Xylocopa fenestrata (0.803* and -0.523) respectively. Regression coefficient (R2) recorded for Apis dorsata, Apis cerana, Apis florea, Apis mellifera, Megachile sp. and Xylocopa fenestrata for Pooled data (0.855, 0.918, 0.849, 0.895, 0.949, 0.772), respectively. Initiation time and Cessation time (Pooled mean) of Apis dorsata for both the season was 07:49hrs and 17:01hrs, respectively with duration of foraging (09:11hrs). Apis cerana (07:55hrs and 16:49hrs) with foraging duration (08:54hrs), Apis florea (07:58hrs and 16:45hrs) with duration of foraging (08:46hrs), Apis mellifera (07:51hrs and 16:49hrs), with duration of foraging (08:58hrs), Megachile sp. (08:06hrs and 16:33hrs), with foraging duration (08:26hrs). Xylocopa fenestrata (08:14hrs and 16:58hrs), with foraging duration (08:44hrs). The pollen load carried out by Apis mellifera (Pooled) was heaviest (11.68mg) at 07:00hrs and lightest (6.28mg) at 13:00hrs of the day. Also the mean pollen load by Apis mellifera during both the season was 9.20mg. Data on foraging rate (Pooled mean) reveals Apis dorsata on different dates was highest of 12.86 flowers/min with maximum during 11:00hrs (13.57flowers/min) and mean foraging rate (10.37flowers/min). Apis cerana attained peak of 10.50flowers/min with maximum during 13:00hrs (11.64 flowers/min) and mean foraging rate (8.22 flowers/min). Apis florea was attained highest of 10.23 flowers/min with maximum during 13:00hrs (11.86 flowers/min) and mean foraging rate (8.58flowers/min). Mean foraging rate of Apis mellifera attained highest of 10.14flowers/min with maximum during 11:00hrs (12.07flowers/min) and mean foraging rate (8.17flowers/min). Mean foraging rate of Megachile sp. attained peak of 9.66flowers/min with maximum during 13:00hrs (11.57flowers/min) and mean foraging rate (7.83 flowers/min). Mean foraging rate of Xylocopa fenestrata was highest of 13.18flowers/min with maximum during 13:00hrs (15.71flowers/min) and mean foraging rate (10.27 flowers/min). The Pooled mean Foraging speed of Apis dorsata during different dates was highest of 7.82 sec/flower with minimum at 13:00hrs (5.37sec/flower) and mean Foraging speed was 6.61 sec/flower. Apis cerana Foraging speed reached highest of 7.07 sec/flower with minimum at 11:00hrs (6.44sec/flower) with mean Foraging speed of Apis cerana (5.57 sec/flower). Apis florea Foraging speed was found minimum at 13:00hrs with mean Foraging speed of 4.39 sec/flower. Apis mellifera foraging speed reached highest of 7.22 sec/flower with minimum at 13:00hrs (5.40sec/flower) and mean Foraging speed of 5.65sec/flower. Megachile sp. reached highest of 7.45 sec/flower with minimum at 13:00hrs (6.49sec/flower) and mean Foraging speed of Megachile sp. (5.57 sec/flower). Xylocopa fenestrata Foraging speed reached highest of 5.35 sec/flower with minimum at 13:00hrs (4.22sec/flower) and mean Foraging speed of Xylocopa fenestrata was 3.41 sec/flower. Bees play a crucial role in seed production over the pollinator exclusion condition. Yield parameters of open pollination conditions are found to be superior over other pollination conditions. Pooled values showed that there is no relation between number of inflorescence/plant and number of flower/inflorescence and different pollination methods. Number of pod/inflorescence showed significant differences among the treatments i.e. open to all pollinators (8.45), pollinator exclusion (6.98) and bee pollination (7.45). Number of seeds/pod showed significant differences among the treatments i.e. open to all pollinators (8.02), pollinator exclusion (6.26) and bee pollination (6.94). Seed yield/plant observed maximum in open to all treatment (79.05kg/ha), followed by bee pollination treatment with 66.37kg/ha and pollinator exclusion treatment with 50.31kg/ha. All the treatments were significantly different and seed yield of Yam bean is highly influenced by different pollination methods. 100- Seed weight was observed maximum in open to all treatment (27.27g) and followed by bee pollination treatment with 26.71g and pollination exclusion treatment with 24.13g. Percent increase in seed yield was highest recorded in open to all treatment with 56.93%, and increase of 31.89% was observed in seed yield of bee pollination treatment over the pollinator exclusion treatment.