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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: Choubey, Anup Kumar × End date: 2018 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Effect of summer legumes on growth and yield of succeeding direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) under different nitrogen levels
    (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2018) Choubey, Anup Kumar; Sinha, K. K.
    A field experiment was carried out during the two consecutive kharif season of 2014 and 2015 at research farm of Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar to study the effect of summer legumes on growth and yield of succeeding direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) under different nitrogen levels. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of three summer legumes viz. dhaincha, mungbean, urdbean and summer fallow was kept in main plot and four nitrogen levels viz. 0% RDN (recommended dose of nitrogen), 50% RDN, 100% RDN and 150% RDN in sub-plot. All the treatments received an uniform application of 60 kg P2O5, 40 kg K2O and 25 kg ZnSO4 per hectare as basal dressing. Nitrogen was applied in three equal splits i.e. 1/3rd as basal, 1/3rd at the active tillering stage and rest 1/3rd at panicle initiation stage. The crop was sown in rows 20 cm apart using the seed rate of 30 kg/ha. The soil of the experimentation plot was sandy loam in texture and low in OC, available Nitrogen, Potassium and medium Phosphorus. Rice crop sown after incorporation of summer legumes significantly influenced the growth, yield attributes and yield during both the years. Significantly higher plant height (85.15 & 86.03 cm), number of tillers (291.25 and 302.50 m-2), dry matter production (872.19 and 891.36 g m-2) and leaf area index (4.00 and 4.14) were recorded when crop was sown after incorporation of dhaincha than summer fallow. Rice crop was sown after incorporation of dhaincha recorded maximum number of panicles (275.00 and 285.12 m-2), panicle length, number of spikelets/panicle, number of fertile spikelets/panicle being at par with preceding mungbean and both recorded significantly higher value over summer fallow. The crop sown after incorporation of dhaincha produced significantly higher grain yield (38.74 & 39.59 q ha-1) than mungbean, urdbean and summer fallow. Nutrient uptake, net return (`32813 & 38960 ha-1) and B: C ratio (1.10 & 1.36) of rice were also highest in dhaincha incorporated plot which was significantly higher over mungbean, urdbean and summer fallow. Similarly, incorporation of mungbean and urdbean statistically at par in respect to yield indices, grain yield, net return and B: C ratio and both recorded significantly higher values than summer fallow. Application of 100% RDN in dhaincha incorporated plot recorded significantly higher grain yield, net return and B: C ratio than the application of 150% RDN in rice followed by urdbean and summer fallow. Application of 150 per cent recommended dose of nitrogen registered maximum plant height (87.90 and 88.88 cm), number of tillers (309.58 and 318.33 m-2), dry matter production (877.78 and 896.95 g m-2) and leaf area index (4.20 and 4.37) which was statistically at par with 100% RDN and booth significantly scored over 50% RDN and control. The maximum yield attributing parameters, grain yield (40.07 & 41.46 q ha-1), net return (` 34259 & 39880 ha-1) and B: C ratio (1.12 & 1.35) were also recorded at 150% RDN which was found at par with 100% RDN and both significantly scored over lower levels of nitrogen. The N, P and K uptake by rice increased significantly with increasing levels of nitrogen and recorded significantly higher uptake at 150% RDN than lower levels of nitrogen.