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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: CHATTOPADHYAY, SAYAN × Start date: 1994 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Impact of intensive use of nitrogenous fertilizer on nitrate contamination in groundwater, soil and sugarcane quality in Samastipur district of Bihar
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2022) CHATTOPADHYAY, SAYAN; Kumar, Ajeet
    A study was conducted to assess the potential of nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) leaching though soil profile and its contamination in ground water as a function of soil properties and agricultural activities in the sugarcane growing areas of Samastipur district in Bihar where, nitrogenous fertilizers were applied intensively years after years. The effects of heavy nitrogen application on sugarcane quality also estimated. Total 64 soil samples from four different depths (0-30, 30-60, 60-90 and 90-120 cm), 16 sugarcane samples and 24 groundwater samples and 8 surface water samples were collected from 8 selected villages in the study area. The soil samples were analysed for sand, silt, clay, bulk density, pH, EC available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and nitrate- nitrogen (NO3-N) while sugarcane juice were analysed for brix, sucrose, purity and commercial cane sugar and water samples were analysed for pH, EC, NO3- N load and major cations and anions concentration. Data on predominant cropping systems, fertilizer uses were also recorded for the study area. Nitrate content in soil layers below the root zone indicates significant nitrate leaching through soil profile. The NO3 -N content in soil had significant positive correlation with silt content at all the four depths of soil. Nitrate is also positively correlated with EC (r= 0.519* at 30 cm & 0.520* at 120 cm). It had also positive correlation with OC (r=0.505*) and available nitrogen (r= 0.701**) at 30 cm depth of the soils. The negative correlation of brix (%) with N- application rate in soil was highly significant (r = -0.843**). The correlation coefficient between nitrate and sucrose (r = -0.904**) indicates that sucrose concentration in juice is significantly reduced with increasing N- fertilization rate. Similarly, N- application rate was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with purity (%) and CCS (%) and their correlation coefficient values are found to be -0.821** and -0.912**, respectively. The NO3-N load in groundwater samples were low ranging from 1.14 to 4.69 mg L−1 with only 16.7 % of them contained greater than 4.0 mg L−1 well below the 10 mg L−1, the threshold limit fixed by WHO for drinking purpose. The content increased with increasing rate of nitrogenous fertilizer application. The NO3-N load in ground water also decreased with clay content (r=-0.745*) but increased with increasing nitrate content (r= 0.909**) of soils. Results thus indicated that the groundwater of the study area is presently safe for drinking purpose but some anthropogenic activities associated with intensive cultivation had a positive influence on its loading with NO3-N.