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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: DASH, CHANDAN KUMAR × Start date: 2019 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    SELECTION OF ELITE EARLY MATURING SUGARCANE CLONE AND THEIR MOLECULAR CHACTERIZATION
    (RPCAU, Pusa, 2023) DASH, CHANDAN KUMAR; Kumar, Balwant
    The current study entitled “Selection of elite early maturing sugarcane clones and their molecular characterization” conducted during the year 2022-23 at Research Farm, R.P.C.A.U., Pusa, Bihar with seventeen sugarcane clones in randomized block design with two replications was to select elite genotypes through assessment of variability, association among characters, and the effects of attributing traits on cane yield. Molecular characterizations were performed using SSR markers to complement our understanding on sugarcane genetic diversity. Sixteen traits were recorded, including germination percentage at 45 days, plant height at harvest, cane diameter at harvest, brix % and pol % in juice at 8 and 10 months stages, purity % at 8 and 10 months stages, extraction % at harvest, single cane weight, number of shoots at 120 DAP, number of millable cane at harvest, cane yield, and CCS (t/ha). The analysis of variance indicated significant variation among the sugarcane clones for all sixteen traits, highlighting their potential for improvement. Clones X 20034, CoX 20069 and CoX 20246 exhibited superior performance for most of the traits, including cane yield. Phenotypic variance was higher than genotypic variance for all traits, indicating the influence of environmental factors. Heritability estimates were high for most of the traits. Besides high heritability, traits such as single cane weight and number of millable cane showed the highest genetic advance, suggesting simple phenotype selection for improvement of these traits. Correlation analysis revealed several traits had highly significant positive associations with cane yield, such as germination % at 45 DAP, plant height at harvest, number of millable cane at harvest, and CCS (t/ha). Further path coefficient analysis showed the direct and indirect effects of these traits on cane yield, with CCS (t/ha) having the highest positive direct effect while brix % at 10 months stage showing the highest negative direct effect. Genetic characterization using SSR markers demonstrated a substantial level of genetic diversity among the seventeen sugarcane clones, enabling unique genotyping. The markers showed 123 allelic variations, with an average of 7.23 alleles per primer, and primer pairs NKS 1, NKS 34, NKS 57, and NKS 61 displayed a higher number of alleles. The PIC values ranged from 0.63 to 0.92, indicating the genotypes' allelic diversity and frequency. The study employed a selection procedure based on pooled ranking of sucrose % in juice at 10 months stage and cane yield, along with natural disease tolerance, insect infestation, and morphological appearance. Based on ranking of cane yield and sucrose % three genotypes namely CoX 20398, CoX 2069 and CoX 20164 were selected as elite early maturing clones with tolerance against natural incidence of diseases and pests. These elite early maturing clones will be helpful in further breeding programme.