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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: Kanwar, Arjun × End date: 2022 × Start date: 2020 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Divergence and character association study in potato (Solanum Tuberosum L.)
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Kanwar, Arjun; Yadav, L.M.
    The present investigation was carried out with twenty five diverse genotypes of potato entitled “DIVERGENCE AND CHARACTER ASSOCIATION STUDY IN POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.)” at the experimental field of All India Coordinated Research Project on Potato at Tirthut college of Agriculture, Dholi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar of DRPCAU in Randomized block design with three replication during the Rabi season of 2019-2020. Different quantitative characters studied includes days to 50% emergence, plant height, number of shoots per plant, number of compound leaves per plant, number of tubers per plant, tuber dry matter, harvest index, specific gravity, yield per plant, unmarketable tuber yield, marketable tuber yield and total tuber yield. Statistical analysis was performed to study analysis of variance, genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation, heritability, genetic advance, correlation coefficient analysis, path analysis and genetic diversity. Analysis of variance for twelve quantitative characters shows that there exist the highly significant differences among the genotypes. Indicating ample amount of genetic variability among the genotypes. In general the PCV values were slightly higher than the GCV values which revealed the meagre effect of environment on these traits. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was recorded for number of tubers per plant, unmarketable tuber yield, marketable tuber yield and total tuber yield suggesting preponderance of additive gene action thus paving the way for direct selection. Total tuber yield showed positive and significant correlation with plant height, number of compound leaves per plant, number of tubers per plant, marketable tuber yield, yield per plant, harvest index and specific gravity suggesting these traits as prime traits which would be considered for selection to increase the tuber yield. Characters number of tubers per plant, harvest index, yield per plant and marketable tuber yield exhibited positive and significant correlation with total tuber yield comprising their positive and direct effect hence during the selection importance should be given to these characters for improvement of the yield Twenty five genotypes were grouped into six clusters. Genotypes grouped into cluster III and II were more diverse and hence selecting these genotypes will be beneficial for getting heterotic recombinant. Genotype grouped in cluster VI (J-13-136) can be used as a donor parent in hybridization scheme for increasing the tuber yield of potato. From the present investigation some superior genotypes were reported based on the mean performance of the genotypes for tuber yield and its associate traits viz., KP 15/C-5, J-14-195 and J-13-96.