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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: Bharty, Archana × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2016 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Molecular Characterization of Bipolaris sorokiniana Isolates Collected from Wheat by SSR Markers
    (Rajendra Agriculrural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2016) Bharty, Archana; Kumar, Harsh
    Spot blotch of wheat caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana is one of the most important fungal diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum). The pathogen is seed and soil borne. Pusa in Bihar is considered as a hot spot for the disease. 36 fungal isolates were collected from infected leaves and seeds of different wheat genotypes grown at the research farms of RAU, BISA, IARI Regional Station at Pusa and from Patna, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Madhepura, Mahua and Jamaui. They were characterized morphologically on the basis of colony colour, growth pattern and exudation, and molecularly through SSR markers. The isolates were tested on two wheat cultivars, susceptible Sonalika and resistant Chirya-3 for disease severity, AUDPC and aggressiveness under natural condition in field and controlled condition in polyhouse. The isolates were divided into five morphological groups on the basis of their colony colour namely black, grey, grey cottony knot, grey white and whitish black, among which the frequency of black was the maximum and showed high aggressiveness. To examine the molecular genotypic variability among the isolates, their genomic DNA was isolated and amplified using 10 Bipolaris specific SSR (microsatellite) primer pairs. A total of 110 allelic variants were detected including 35 unique alleles, 75 shared alleles (including 7 null alleles) at 18 loci with an average number of 6.11 alleles per locus during the amplification reaction conducted with the thirty six entries. The primer pairs BSO96 and BS065 appeared to be highly polymorphic and comparatively more informative primers for molecular characterization and differentiation of thirty six Bipolaris sorokiniana isolates. The dendrogram was generated following UPGMA and the clusters were identified at appropriate pennon level. There were nine clusters A to I at eighty five similarity units. Entries R.G.T-78 and R.G.T-79 were relatively more closely related with the highest similarity coefficient amongst the thirty six entries evaluated. Analysis of divergence pattern based on amplification profile allowed differentiation of thirty six isolates. The different clusters of isolates showed differentiation for aggressiveness. Bipolaris sorokiniana of cluster A were the highly aggressive and of clusters B, C, D, F and G were moderately aggressive. Those of clusters E, H and I were the least aggressive. Thus molecular marker can differentiate the Bipolaris sorokiniana fungal isolates in general and for their relative aggressiveness.