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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: Kumar, Amit × End date: 2012 × Start date: 2012 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Population dynamics and management strategies of rice yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas Walker)
    (Rajendra Agricultural University, 2012) Kumar, Amit; Misra, A. K.
    In order to determine the population fluctuation and to develop ecologically sound and economically viable strategies for the management of rice yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas Walker) for rice crop, different field experiments were conducted at the Research Farm, R.A.U., Pusa and in the Laboratory, Department of Entomology, R.A.U., Pusa during (kharif) 2010 and 2011. Results pertaining to different aspects of the study viz. to study the dynamics of pest species composition of rice stem borers, to ascertain the population dynamics and management of yellow stem borer with intervention of insect sex-pheromone trap, to study the effect of trap crop with main crop to minimize the damage caused by yellow stem borer, to evaluate the performance of different Integrated Pest Management (IPM) components for the management of yellow stem borer and to assess the efficacy of different insecticides against yellow stem borer have been abstracted below: All the four species of stem borer of rice viz. yellow stem borer, Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker), pink stem borer, Sesamia inferens (Walker), white stem borer, Scirpophaga innotata (Walker) and dark headed striped borer, Chilo polychrysus (Meyrick) were prevalent during the crop season. However, yellow stem borer was found to be dominant over other species of stem borer and showed consistency with higher population (87.00 to 93.00, 82.50 to 89.00 and 85.00 to 91.50%) at all the stages of the crop growth viz. tillering, maximum tillering and heading stage during kharif, 2010 and 2011, respectively. The yellow stem borer activity started from 30th standard week and continued upto 40th in the year 2010 and 41st standard week in the year 2011. In beginning, the moth population found to be low (1.25 in the year 2010 and 1.00 in the year 2011 moth catch per pheromone trap) which gradually increased and reached its first peak at 34th standard week (4th week of August) exhibited 6.25 in the year 2010 and 6.00 in the year 2011male moth catch per pheromone trap, which after short decline, again increased and attained its second peak at 37th standard week (2nd to 3rd week, September) with 10.75 to 11.00 male moth catch per pheromone trap in both the years, respectively. Finally, its population declined at 40th to 41st standard week with 0.50 to 1.25 moths per trap and thereafter, no population was recorded. With abiotic parameters the relative humidity (%) at 14 hrs showed significantly positive correlation (0.564) in kharif, 2010 and positive but non-significant correlation (0.478) in kharif, 2011 with respect to male moth population of yellow stem borer. However, relative humidity (%) at 7 hrs showed positive but non-significant correlation (0.380) during kharif, 2010 and significantly negative correlation (-0.490) in kharif, 2011 with respect to male moth population of yellow stem borer. The sunshine (hr) showed significantly negative correlation (-0.549) in kharif, 2010 and negative but non-significant correlation (-0.132) in kharif, 2011 to the corresponding population of male moth. However, during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011 maximum and minimum temperature (0C) and rainfall (mm) were positively correlated (0.077, 0.281; 0.458, 0.406 and 0.361, 0.249), respectively with the population of male moth of yellow stem borer while evaporation (mm) pronounced negative and positive correlation (-0.065 and 0.333) with the population of male moth catch of yellow stem borer during kharif, 2010 and 2011, respectively. The cumulative effect (R2) of all the weather parameters was accounted for 40.60 to 47.90 per cent male moth population of Scirpophaga incertulas during two consecutive years of the study. Further, the IPM package reduced the infestation to the tune of 4.14 to 4.26, 8.70 to 8.96, 9.23 to 9.39% DH and 9.40 to 9.44% WEH caused by rice yellow stem borer in respect to untreated control with 4.78 to 4.99, 23.55 to 23.97, 27.56 to 27.83% DH and 22.27 to 23.18% WEH at 15, 30, 50 and 90DAT, during kharif, 2010 and 2011 respectively. Moreover, IPM package gave higher yield (49.00 to 51.50 q/ha) as compared to the control (41.60 to 42.00 q/ha). It was also observed that net profit over the control was Rs. 8,200 to 15,450 with cost benefit ratio 1:1.88 to 1:2.66 with IPM package in both the years of study. The combination treatment of main crop with trap crop and application of carbofuran 3G plus monocrotophos 36SL was found superior over all other treatments (7.34 to 7.49, 7.74 to 7.95 % DH and 7.54 to 7.85% WEH) at 30, 50 and 90 days after transplanting, respectively during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011, while combination treatment of main crop with application of carbofuran 3G plus monocrotophos 36SL was found at par with combination treatment of main crop with trap crop and application of carbofuran 3G, followed by combination treatment of main crop with trap crop in comparison to the control (23.96 to 24.96, 27.67 to 28.89% DH and 23.67 to 24.26% WEH) at 30, 50 and 90 days after transplanting during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011, respectively. However, combination treatment of main crop with trap crop and application of carbofuran 3G plus monocrotophos 36SL was found superior (61.80 to 62.91 q/ha) to all other treatments, while combination treatment of main crop with application of carbofuran 3G plus monocrotophos 36SL was found at par with combination treatment of main crop with trap crop plus application of carbofuran 3G, followed by combination treatment of main crop with trap crop as against the control (42.50 to 43.34 q/ha) during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011. Moreover, the maximum net profit over the control was obtained in combination treatment of main crop with trap crop plus application of carbofuran 3G and monocrotophos 36SL (Rs. 38848 to 43723) followed by combination treatment of main crop with application of carbofuran 3G plus monocrotophos 36SL, combination treatment of main crop with trap crop and application of carbofuran 3G and combination treatment of main crop with trap crop during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011 respectively. The maximum cost benefit ratio was pronounced by combination treatment of main crop with trap crop (1:32.03 to 1:39.53) followed by combination treatment of main crop with trap crop and application of carbofuran 3G, combination treatment of main crop with trap crop and application of carbofuran 3G and monocrotophos 36SL and combination treatment of main crop with application of carbofuran 3G and monocrotophos 36SL during both the years (kharif, 2010 and 2011) of observation. The maximum protection was exhibited in treatment of chemical component (7.96 to 8.00, 8.37 to 8.39% DH and 7.93 to 8.00% WEH) followed by combination treatment of chemical and non-chemical component, farmer’s practice and treatment of non-chemical component as compared to the control (24.39 to 23.65, 27.80 to 28.16% DH and 22.17 to 22.60% WEH) at 30, 50 and 90 days after transplanting, respectively during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011. Further, with regard to higher yield production during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011, treatment of chemical component was found superior (54.00 to 54.60 q/ha) followed by combination treatment of chemical and non-chemical component, farmer’s practice and non-chemical component as against the control (42.00 to 42.60 q/ha). Moreover, the maximum net profit over the control was obtained from treatment of chemical component (Rs. 20780) followed by combination treatment of chemical and non-chemical component, farmer’s practice and treatment of non-chemical component during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011. However, the maximum cost benefit ratio was provided by treatment of chemical component (1:3.25) followed by farmer’s practice, combination treatment of chemical and non-chemical component and treatment of non-chemical component during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011 respectively. Among the tested insecticides, fipronil (5SC) @ 25.0 g a.i./ha was found to be the best with low infestation (7.57 and 8.84% DH and 7.50% WEH in 2010 and 7.64 and 8.81% DH and 7.47% WEH in 2011) followed by acephate (95SG) @ 592 g/ha, acephate (75SP) @ 667 g/ha and carbofuran (3G) @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha as compared to the control (25.78 and 30.19% DH and 25.55% WEH in 2010 and 23.47 and 27.55% DH and 24.21% WEH in 2011) at 30, 50 and 90 days after transplanting, respectively. Further, Fipronil (5SC) @ 25.0 g a.i./ha resulted the higher yield (54.40 to 55.34 q/ha) followed by acephate (95SG) @ 592 g/ha and carbofuran (3G) @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha against untreated control (41.20 to 41.47 q/ha) during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011. Moreover, the maximum net profit over the control was contributed by fipronil (5SC) @ 25.0 g a.i./ha (Rs. 31490 to 33165) followed by acephate (95SG) @ 592 g/ha and carbofuran (3G) @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha, while maximum cost benefit ratio was recorded with fipronil (5SC) @ 25.0 g a.i./ha (1:21.85 to 1:22.96) followed by acephate (95SG) @ 592 g/ha in both the years during kharif, 2010 and kharif, 2011.