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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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ThesisItem Open Access NUTRIENT DYNAMICS IN DIFFERENT DENSITY PLANTATIONS OF SEMAL (Bombax ceiba L.) WITH SESAMUM-LENTIL CROPPING SYSTEM(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) DEVI, RODDA CHANDANA; Das, Dipty KumarThe present investigation was carried out at agro forestry research area of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur) in calciorthent of the north-west alluvial plain of north Bihar. Yield performance of sesamum-lentil cropping system during Kharif and Rabi season of 2020-21, changes in physicochemical properties of soil, litterfall, nutrient return, litter decomposition, and nutrient release pattern were studied under different densities of 6-year-old Bombax ceiba plantations. The experiment was in randomized block design comprising five treatments (5 × 2 m, 5 × 3 m, 5 × 4 m, 5 × 5 m, and treeless control) replicated 4 times. The soil texture of the research area is sandy loam with a pH of 8.5, low level of organic carbon (0.36%), available N (169 kg ha-1), P2O5 (24.2 kg ha-1) and K2O (132.3 kg ha-1) with the higher percentage of free calcium carbonate (36%). The carbon storage and carbon sequestration potential of the plantations have been also estimated. In Kharif season sesamum (Sesamum orientale var. Krishna) and in Rabi season lentil (Lens culinaris var. HUL 57) were grown as intercrops applied with the recommended doses of fertilizers. The crop yield, tree growth, biomass yield, and carbon sequestration potential were tested by one-way analysis, whereas soil physicochemical properties and soil carbon stock was tested by two-way analysis of variance, where agroforestry systems were considered as the first factor and soil depth as the second factor. The yield parameters were measured after the harvest of each crop and soil properties were measured before sowing and after harvesting of each crop. The yield of intercrops decreased under the agroforestry systems. Yield decrement was 14.0 to 46.2% and 9.81 to 34.5% in grain and straw of sesamum, whereas 17.8 to 37.7% and 13.5 to 23.7% in grain and straw of lentil, respectively. The nutrient content in grain and straw of sesamum and lentil was found higher in the agroforestry system and uptake was found higher in sole cropping. The relative light intensity was recorded higher in the Kharif season and among the treatments, sole crops received maximum light intensity. There was a noticeable improvement in soil properties (pH, EC, and BD), nutrient status (N, P2O5, and K2O), soil organic carbon (SOC), SOC stock, and active carbon. Availability of plant nutrients was higher in the upper (0 - 15 cm) soil layer than the lower soil layer (15 - 30 cm). The yield of the crops, nutrient uptake by grain and straw, and average light intensity were found lower in higher density (5 × 2 and 5 × 3 m), whereas nutrient content in grain and straw, soil properties improvement found maximum in higher density. There was a 24.79 to 41.81% increase in SOC stock after harvest of lentil crop up to 0-30 cm soil depth. In the winter and rainy seasons, there were 54.38 to 59.81% and 41.44 to 49.73% litterfall occurred, respectively. The nutrients returned by litterfall was in the sequence of Ca > N > K > Mg > P and the higher litterfall and nutrient return occurred in lower spacings. For the total decomposition of leaf litter, it took 11 and 12 months in higher and lower density, respectively and it took 71 to 86 days for half decay of litter. The widest spacings (5 × 4 and 5 × 5 m) had height and diameter at breast height on average 19 % and 26 % higher. The volume of the tree was significantly superior under the plantations in higher spacings. The total biomass (26.5 Mg ha-1) was maximum in the higher density (5 × 2 m) plantations, followed by 5 × 4 m (25.8 Mg ha-1). Total carbon storage varied from 10.0 to 12.6 Mg ha-1 in 5 × 3 and 5 × 2 m spacing respectively. The maximum carbon sequestration rate was 1.53 Mg C ha-1 year-1 in both 5 × 2 and 5 × 4 m spacing.ThesisItem Open Access IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON AGRICULTURE AND STATUS OF DECISION MAKING OF WOMEN IN BIHAR(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) KUMARI, KALPANA; Singh, K.M.The present study was carried out to assess the Impact of Migration on Agriculture and Status of Decision Making of Women in Bihar. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 360 households comprising of 180 migrant and non-migrant households each from 12 villages of Samastipur, Darbhanga and Madhubani districts of North Bihar. The assessment of impact of male migration in empowering left behind women in various domains of household decisions revealed that the migration of male member have adequately empowered only 29.44 per cent of women. Larger proportion of women respondents (43.89 per cent) were moderately empowered and 29.67 per cent fell under low empowerment group. Women had enough power to make decisions about their health, education, and agricultural production. Women's decision-making in all farm activities, such as crop selection, input purchasing, labour management, and farm produce sales, indicated a fairly moderate level of empowerment. The yield of paddy was observed to be at par (27.49 q/ha) for migrant‟s households and (27.36 q/ha) for non-migrant farms. Similar trend was observed in case of wheat crop except machine labour charges which was found to be comparatively high in case of non-migrant households. The yield gap was more pronounced in the case of wheat, where the mean yield for migrant was found to be 30.21q/ha compared to 26.88q/ha for non-migrants. The Cobb-Douglas method was used to estimate the efficiencies of production parameters such as area, capital, human labour, machine labour, and irrigation cost for each crop from each group of respondents. Area under paddy (0.417), material costs (seed, fertilizers, and manure) (0.941), and machine labour (0.017) were found to have positive and statistically significant regression coefficients. The irrigation charge coefficient was found to be positive but statistically insignificant. Paddy cultivation in Bihar is generally done during the monsoon season, so external irrigation is less commonly used for paddy cultivation. Coefficient of human labour was negative in case of migrant farmers, showing excess use of human labours. In case of non-migrant, land and human labour coefficients were estimated positive and statistically significant. In case of wheat production, that migrant‟s households are required to use their land and human labour judiciously in cultivation of paddy crop. The regression coefficient of human labour under wheat cultivation (-0.027) was negative and insignificant that indicated that non-migrant farms use labour more judiciously. For wheat cultivation, regression coefficients of all the parameters of production are positive and significant except machine labour in case of migrants‟ households. For maize cultivation, migrant farms have used capital and human labour in more precise ways. The logistic regression model was used to determine the factors that causes migration revealed that young people from low-income families and those living in substandard housing were more likely to migrate. It may be observed that, education levels, land holding size, and marital status were all strongly associated with migration. Migration has significantly empowered left-behind women in numerous household and livelihood tasks. Migration had a good influence on migrants' households in terms of resource use efficiency, which helped to boost agricultural productivity. There is a positive relationship between migration and educational attainment, but a negative relationship between migration and migrants‟ age. Migrants' households spent most of their remittances on food (51 per cent). The most common destinations were mostly metropolitan and industrialised areas, where major portion of migrants were absorbed into construction work. It was also discovered that the main cause for their return migration was their desire to work at their native place.ThesisItem Open Access TRADE AND DOMESTIC MARKET: AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SUGAR IN INDIA(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) PRAMOD, GAWARE UTKARSHA; Mishra, R.R.Sugar is an essential commodity derived largely from sugarcane which is an agricultural produce. It is the most preferred source of energy required for proper functioning of human brain and body. It acts as a sweetener in food and beverages. Apart from these, it has many non-food and beverages. Apart from these, it has many non-food applications. Because of these properties, there is a great demand for sugar in domestic and international markets. Looking at its importance, the present study was conducted with the main objective of estimating the growth and instability in production of sugarcane and examining the performance of Indian sugar trade over time. The study is based on both primary data and secondary data. Primary data were collected from randomly selected sugar exporters located all over India by conducting telephonic interviews. Secondary data were collected from various published and unpublished sources. The time-series data so collected pertained to a 30- year period spanning from 1989-90 to 2018-19. The entire period under consideration was further divided into three sub-periods- period I (1989-90 to 1998-99), period II (1999-2000 to 2008-09) and period III (2009-10 to 2018-19) for detailed analysis. Various statistical and econometric methods and tools and techniques like CAGR, CV and CII, Index number, Trend analysis, EPR, NPC, Markov Chain Analysis, Cobb Douglas Function, HHI, TEI, CEI, Rank Based Quotient and Garrett’s Ranking Technique were used to arrive at a meaningful conclusion. The area under sugarcane, its production and productivity increased at the rate of 1.20 per cent, 1.54 per cent and 0.34 per cent per annum, respectively in the period under study. Production of sugar increased at the rate of 3.15 per cent per annum whereas, consumption of sugar increased at 3.63 per cent per annum in the entire period. The export of sugar had positive growth of 11.13 per cent per annum. The value of exported sugar witnessed a growth of 12.72 per cent per annum while, there was 1.43 per cent annual growth in unit price of exported sugar. On the other hand quantum of imported sugar recorded a positive growth of 25.86 per cent per annum, value of imported sugar grew at the rate of 28.68 per cent per annum while unit price of imported sugar recorded a positive growth of 2.08 per cent per annum. The growth in area, production and productivity of sugarcane along with production and consumption of sugar in India was found to be relatively stable. The growth in trade of sugar showed high instability. The Indian sugar faced comparative disadvantage and non- competitiveness in the international market. Myanmar was the only loyal market for Indian sugar among the six major Indian sugar importing countries. Among all the factors undertaken, only exchange rate had a significantly negative influence on the sugar export from India. Myanmar had the lowest share of market in the initial years of study which increased gradually and became the highest shareholder of Indian sugar market at the end of study period. The Indian sugar was highly concentrated in a handful of countries. The major problems identified by the Indian sugar exporters were marketing problems, infrastructural problems, Governmental interventions, packaging problems, financial problems and time management. The main conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that steps have to be taken for quality improvement of Indian sugar which includes setting up of storage and grading facilities for sugar. This will help Indian sugar to penetrate new overseas markets leading to higher returns to the exporters and to the country at large.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on Variability and Management strategies of Maydis leaf blight disease of maize caused by Helminthosporium maydis Nisik.(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) KUMAR,CHANDAN; Chand, PhoolMaydis leaf blight (MLB) caused by Helminthosporium maydis (Nisikado and Miyake) Shoemaker is one of the major disease of maize. The disease is present in almost all maize growing areas and is a major limiting factor in increasing yield. Therefore, in vitro and field studies were conducted to elucidate different aspects of pathogen biology, disease progress and effective management of disease. Pathogen produced grey to dark grey conidial colonies and the mycelium was fluffy, cottony, grey to olivaceous in colour. Conidia were 5-11 septate olivaceous brown, spindle-shaped with tapering to round ends and bipolar germination. Conidia originated on straight to flexous, pale to dark brown conidiophores, appearing as single or in small groups. At, the base of conidia a small, protruding, slightly papillate hilum was observed Potato Dextrose agar media and Richard‘s agar media, 2 C temperature, pH 8, were found best for growth and sporulation of H. maydis. In vitro evaluation studies revealed that among the fungicides Propiconazole, Carboxim, Thiram and Mancozeb were found most effective in inhibiting growth of pathogen. While in non-chemical methods of management, Turmeric, Garlic and Neem extract and RT-6 isolate of Trichoderma harzianum, were found most effective. Under field conditions, observations on loss estimation revealed that lower disease index resulted in increased grain yield in T5 (Carbendazim+Mancozeb ST + Propiconazole spray) treated plants. The study on effect of spacing and nitrogen doses on the disease also conducted. Under glass house and field conditions, sixty five days old plants were found most vulnerable to infection. In biochemical studies for elucidation of defence induction, biochemical markers reached maximum on third day after pathogen inoculation and INA treatments were found most effective.ThesisItem Open Access EFFECT OF LONG-TERM CROP ESTABLISHMENT AND RESIDUE MANAGEMENT ON N, P, K, S TRANSFORMATIONS AND SOIL HEALTH UNDER RICE-WHEAT CROPPING SYSTEM(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) BORPATRAGOHAIN, BIDISHA; Kumar, VipinThe dominant agricultural system prevailing in the Indo-Gangetic Plain is the cereal based cropping system comprising of rice-wheat. Soil quality and health is in the limelight and considered as a vital component of conservation agriculture towards agricultural sustainability. The main challenges confronted by the farming community of Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) in Bihar under intensive conventional tillage rice-wheat based cropping system are shortage of manpower, water, energy; high cost of production, diminishing farm returns and unpredictable climatic conditions. To address these loopholes of conventional system, conservation agriculture management systems of crop production are being established. The implementation of conservation agriculture centered on least soil manipulation, surface crop residues retention with practical crop rotation is the need of the hour. The goal of our research was to study how crop establishment and residue management affected soil health indicators, and yield as well as different fractions of the macronutrients (N, P, K and S) through various crop establishment, tillage practices and crop residue combinations in the cropping system of rice-wheat. A long term experiment was established in collaboration with CIMMYT, India, since Monsoon, 2006 with eight different tillage, crop setup, and residue management combinations. The study was performed during 10th June 2019 to 12th October 2019 and 14th November 2019 to 25th March 2020 (two seasons). The site experiences hot and humid summers and has cold winters. The average rainfall of 1344 mm, 89.7 % (1107.8 mm) of which receives throughout the time of monsoon (mid-June to mid-September) while, the winter North-East monsoon rains are scanty and received during January-February. The soil of the experimental site belongs to order Entisol, texture being sandy loam with alkaline pH (8.86), medium SOC (0.48 %) and soil available N, P, K (205.62, 9.35, 136.10 kg ha-1). The trial was set up Randomized Block Design having eight treatment details replicated thrice within a block. The treatments were: puddled transplanted rice-conventional tillage wheat (T1); Puddled transplanted rice-zero tillage wheat (T2); Zero tillage rice-zero tillage wheat on permanent beds having 100 % crop residues (T3); Zero tillage rice-conventional tillage wheat without residues (T4); Zero tillage rice-zero tillage wheat on permanent bed (without residues) (T5); Zero tillage rice-Zero tillage wheat having 100% crop residues (T6); Direct seeded broadcasted rice-Zero tillage wheat (only rice residue in wheat cycle) (T7); Zero tillage rice with brown manuring-zero tillage wheat (without residues) (T8). The study aimed to assess how treatments affected yield, nutrient absorption, and the transformation of various pools of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur, as well as measure soil health in a rice-wheat system. The following are the findings of the present study which revealed that the adoption of zero tillage and crop residue amplified grain yield of rice by 3.91-15.49% although; treatment T8 showed the greatest improvement (by 15.49 percent) as compared to T1's standard procedures. While, in wheat, of zero tillage and residue retention practices increased the grain yield by 34.13- 63.94% over T1 and highest increment (by 63.94%) was established with T3. Treatments T6, T8, T3, T7, and T5 showed a significant increase in system yield by 33.12%, 32.46%, 31.78%, 22.64% and 21.96%, respectively over conventional practices. The nutrient uptake followed similar trend of yield with rice and wheat. The adoption of zero tillage and residue retention practices T3, T5, T6, T7 and T8 revealed higher total N, P, K, S uptake by rice crop by 38.39-26.00%, 10.25-26.64%, 11.05-31.29% and 10.04-37.70%, respectively over the conventional practice (T1). The total uptake of N, P, K and S by wheat crop was to the tune of 27.33-72.13%, 30.13-73.79%, 27.10-79.72% and 41.63-117.92% over conventional practices (T1) by T3, T4, T5, T6, T7 and T8, respectively. Similarly, total micronutrient uptake cations (Iron, manganese, copper and zinc) by rice crop were boosted with the involvement of zero tillage and residue retention to the tune of 11.12-34.83%, 12.73-37.56%, 9.91-41.77% and 10.04-37.71% over conventional practices for T3, T5, T6, T7 and T8, respectively. Likewise, the total uptake of iron, copper and zinc by wheat crop was to tune of 34.67%, 33.48%, 38.44% and 41.00%, respectively over conventional practices (T1). Different N-fractions in soil were ranked in order of dominance: Total N > Total hydrolysable-N > Non-hydrolysable-N > Hydrolysable ammonical-N > Exchangeable ammonical-N > Amino acid-N > Unidentified-N > Hexoseamine-N > Nitrate-N. The treatment ZTR-ZTW+ R showed the highest forms among most of the N fractions, along with ZTR-ZTW (B) + R and ZTR-ZTW (B) + R and ZTR+BM-ZTW being at par. The major pool of P in the soil was organic-P. Excluding Al-P and Fe-P, all the other forms of P was increased with zero tillage, residue management and brown manuring. The following was the average order of various fractions status of P: Organic-P > Ca-P > Mineral-P > Saloid-P > Fe-P > Al-P. The total-K ranged between 14800.2 mg kg-1 to 15643.0 mg kg-1 due to different treatments. Lattice-K contributed the major fraction of K in soil. Retaining residues on soil surface and zero tillage had increased the amount of all forms of K. The order of the availability of different K forms in the soil is as follows: Total-K > Lattice-K > Non-exchangeable-K > Exchangeable-K > Water soluble-K. The total-S varied from 225.27 to 294.43 mg kg-1 due to different treatments. Organically bound-S contributed the major fraction of S in soil. Retaining residues on soil surface and zero tillage had increased the amount of all form of S except residual-S. The availability of different S pools was in the order: total-S > organically bound-S > residual-S > inorganically bound-S > distilled water soluble-S > sulphate-S. The correlation coefficient study specified that all the fractions of N, P, K and S were in dynamic equilibrium showing positive significant relationship with the majority of plant and soil attributes. The pH and EC content at the commencement of the experiment in 2006 were higher as compared to values obtained under conservation agriculture plots. However, when conservation techniques were used, available macro and micronutrients were enhanced compared to their baseline data which were obtained before the trial began in 2006. Involvement of CA practices significantly altered the soil health parameters viz. soil physico-chemical and biological properties. After one cycle of rice-wheat, conservation agriculture increased the wet aggregate stability (%). The CA (ZTR-ZTW (B)+R, ZTR-ZTW(B)-R, ZTR-ZTW+R, DSR-ZTW+R.R and ZTR+BM-ZTW) practices recorded increase to the tune of 38.15%, 17.24%, 34.48%, 28.87% and 32.75%, respectively over the control. The CA practices increased the soil organic carbon with time as the increment in SOC (0- 15 cm soil depth) with conservation agriculture adoption (T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7 and T8) was by 16.37- 86.04% over conventional practices. The active carbon varied between 165.0 mg kg-1 in conventional plot to 373.3 mg kg−1 in ZTR-ZTW (B) +R. The treatment ZTR-ZTW (B) +R was significantly superior and at par with ZTR-ZTW+R (62.4 mg kg−1) and ZTR+BM-ZTW (61.6 mg kg−1). The magnitude of increase in active carbon was 4.36%, 15.57%, 46.66%, 95.81%, 97.87%, 106.06% and 126.24% over control. Soil respiration varied between 1.53 CO2 mg g−1soil in control plot to 1.88 CO2 mg g−1soil in ZTR-ZTW (B) +R. The magnitude of increase in soil respiration was 1.30%, 4.57%, 7.84%, 10.45%, 16.33%, 18.30% and 22.87% over control in treatments ZTR-CTW-R, PTR-ZTW, ZTR-ZTW(B)-R, DSR-ZTW+R.R, ZTR+BM-ZTW, ZTR-ZTW+R and ZTR-ZTW(B)+R, respectively. The magnitude of increase in ACE protein was 6.37%, 9.96%, 12.75%, 19.92%, 23.90%, 26.69% and 28.29 % over control in PTR-ZTW, ZTR-CTW-R, ZTR-ZTW(B)-R, DSR-ZTW+R.R, ZTR-ZTW+R, ZTR-ZTW(B)+R and ZTR+BM-ZTW, respectively. Hence, conservational agricultural system contributed to higher production of ACE protein. The ZT with residue retention was found to be superior over CT due to congenial crop-soil environment. Thus, long term effect of crop establishment with varying degrees of residue retention improved different pools of soil nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur; soil health parameters and thereby, enhanced the soil health in the long run.ThesisItem Open Access VALIDATION OF SSR MARKERS ASSOCIATED WITH RESISTANCE TO BROWN SPOT DISEASE IN RICE(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) BANSHIDHAR; KUMAR, RAJESHRice is cultivated in a wide range of agro-climatic and agro-ecological areas under dry to semi dry conditions and/or wet conditions. On account of its extensive cultivation it is adversely affected by a number of insect-pest and diseases. Among, these brown spot of rice caused by Cochliobolus miyabeanus is a disease of economic significance in the locale of study since it is the hotspot for the disease.The pathogen infects the crop on almost all above ground parts, from nursury to maturity stages and form small dark brown to purplish-brown spots on leaves that later enlarge into oval lesions with brown necrotic centers that are frequently surrounded by chlorotic halo. These spots appear even on seeds resulting in significant economic losses both in grain quality and yield. An immediate and judicious solution to these problem lies in breeding of high yielding resistant cultivars that could be strategically employed for disease management. Keeping this in view the present investigation entitled “Validation of SSR markers associated with resistance to brown spot disease in rice’’ was undertaken to phenotypically screen 300 genotypes of rice along with three checks for two consecutive season in Kharif 2019 and 2020 in controlled condition (glasshouse of department of Plant Pathology) as well as in field (Rice research farm, RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar) to identify resistant sources that could be either utilised directly as a resistant variety or as a parent in hybridisation programme to develop resistant varieties. These genotypes were also evaluated for eight morphological traits related with yield in Kharif 2019 and 2020 in field in augmented design to detect an association between disease resistance and morphological traits under study. Further, 15 most resistant and 15 most susceptible genotypes selected on the basis of AUDPC values were subjected to molecular characteristaion to support the phenotypic screening through genotypic evaluation using 18 SSR markers linked with brown spot disease in rice. The findings of molecular characterization were analysed for validation of these SSR markers in the selected population and to identify a significant marker trait association for the validated linked SSR markers. On the basis of phenotypic screening 18 genotypes were categorised as resistant, 90 genotypes were categorised as moderately resistant, 149 genotypes were categorised as moderately susceptible and 46 genotypes were categorised as susceptible. The mean values for various disease estimating parameters and morphological traits were utilized in various statistical analysis to derive all other complex statistics viz. standard deviation, coefficient of variation, genetic advance as percentage of mean, etc. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among all genotypes for all the traits. This indicates that there is ample scope for selection of promising lines from the present gene pool for yield and disease resistance. The phenotypic coefficient of variation was slightly greater than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all traits under study which reveals lower influence of environment on inherent potential of a trait and higher genetic inherent potential which is a prerequisite in any crop improvement programme. High estimates of heritability in broad sense and genetic advance as percent of mean was observed for each trait under study which inferred that selection for these traits promises improvement in desired direction of selection. From the association studies, it was observed that days to 50% flowering, days to physiological maturity and plant height had positive correlation with AUDPC while negative correlation with yield per plant. In contrary to this, panicle length, number of effective tillers per plant, number of grains per panicle and test weight had negative correlation with AUDPC while positive correlation with yield per plant. Number of grains per panicle, number of effective tillers per plant and test weight showed high direct positive effect on grain yield while days to physiological maturity showed the high direct negative effect on yield. Molecular characterization of selected genotypes showed that the amplified product of resistant genotypes with most of the primer pair were in accordance to the expected band size for a primer pair as per Gramene data base for SSR markers. Total of 6 primer pairs out of 18 primer pairs included in the study were validated and showed moderate to highly significant marker trait association. Thus, these markers could be used to differentiate the resistant lines from the susceptible one and could be used for marker assisted selection of brown spot resistance lines. The conclusive findings of present investigation pave the way for high ends breeding programmes aimed at long lasting field resistance against brown spot pathogen. The genotypes which were reported to be resistant can be used as donor in various resistance breeding programmes. Findings from the molecular characterisation and validation of primer pairs will precisely guide the further research activities in selection of markers for brown spot resistance genotyping. In a nutshell, the reported findings from present investigation will be quite helpful for students, breeders, farmers and others who are in academic and research activities as a good source of information in selecting improved genotypes for various breeding programmes.ThesisItem Open Access CANDIDATE GENE BASED MICROSATELLITE PROFILING IN RELATION TO FRAGRANCE OF LAND RACES AND IMPROVED VARIETIES OF AROMATIC RICE(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) Kumar, Abhay; SHARMA, V.K.A study was performed to evaluate the genetic polymorphism using candidate gene based microsatellite specific reported and designed primers and to validate them in relation to fragrance in 18 rice genotypes. Molecular-level genetic divergence along with the importance of candidate genes based microsatellite markers was assessed in relation to fragrance in these landraces and improved varieties of aromatic rice used as experimental material during molecular profiling. The experimental materials were grown in aluminum containers to extract genomic DNA from young seedlings. The targeted amplification of genomic DNA was achieved using candidate genes based microsatellite specific 24 reported primer pairs and candidate genes based microsatellite specific 38 designed primer pairs. Based on the information available in the literature, a total of eleven genes, namely, Os03g0327600, Os04g0352400, Os04g0434800, Os04g0401700, Os04g0438300, Os04g0445700, Os04g0468600, Os04g0474800, Os04g046970, Os08g0424500 and OsNPB_0504555500, which are known to be associated with aroma in aromatic rice, were searched through the internet. The fragrance related these 11 candidate genes are located on the short arm of four different chromosomes (3, 4, 8 and 5) existing in the rice genome. A total of 47 SSR sequences were detected for all eleven candidate genes by using BatchPrimer3 v1.0 software under investigation. Most of the SSRs were tri-nucleotides followed by di-nucleotides; only few were tetra- nucleotides. As a result, altogether investigated 38 microsatellites contained 10, 22, and 06 microsatellites with di-nucleotide, tri-nucleotide and tetra-nucleotide repeat motifs, respectively. The gene Os08g0424500 possessed the highest number of SSRs, while gene Os04g0445700 and Os04g0474800 were not observed to possess any SSR. Differential amplification profile was ascertained amongst the genotypes subjected to molecular characterization by employing 24 reported and 38 designed microsatellite specific primer pairs. The migration of amplicons resulted in appearance of bands representing amplification products localized at different positions on the gel, reflecting the variation in product length derived by primer directed amplification of genomic templates. By using 24 reported primers, a survey of the molecular profiles generated on the basis of the evaluation of the amplified products clearly indicated that a total of 160 alleles were detected with an average number of 6.66 alleles per primer. Similarly, by using 38 designed primers, a total of 248 allelic variants were detected with an average number of 6.52 alleles per primer. Null allele was also noticed in the specific combinations between genotypes and primers. Statistical measure of polymorphic information content (PIC) of the 24 reported microsatellite primer pairs, which reflected allelic diversity and frequency among the genotypes, varied from 0.638 to 0.870. Similarly, for the 38 designed primers, polymorphic information content (PIC) varied from 0.692 to 0.880. Polymorphism per cent generated by these 24 reported primer pairs varied from 0.00 to 62.50 with an average of 24.26 per primer. Similarly, by using 38 designed primers, polymorphism per cent varied from the 0.00 to 66.66. The reported primers CHR 8_34, CHR 3_20, CHR 3_24, CHR 4_3, CHR 8_10, CHR 3_10 and CHR 8_5 appeared to be highly informative primers with above average polymorphism per cent and polymorphic information content. Similarly, the designed primers, CHR4.1_1, CHR4.1_5, CHR4.1_6, CHR4.1_10, CHR4.1_11, CHR4.1_13, CHR8.1_4, CHR8.1_6, CHR8.1_9, CHR8.1_10, CHR8.1_11, CHR8.1_12, and CHR8.1_21 appeared to be highly informative primers with above average polymorphism per cent and polymorphic information content. The results indicated a relatively higher magnitude of discrimination coefficient for the reported primer pairs CHR3_16, CHR3_10, CHR3_20, CHR3_24, CHR4_3, CHR4_25, CHR4_26, CHR8_29, CHR8_6, CHR8_49, CHR8_10, and CHR8_5. Similarly, for the designed primers the relatively higher magnitude was found for the primers CHR3.1_2, CHR4.1_1, CHR4.1_5, CHR4.1_6, CHR4.1_8, CHR4.1_10, CHR4.1_11, CHR4.1_12, CHR4.1_13, CHR8.1_4, CHR8.1_7, CHR8.1_9, CHR8.1_10, CHR8.1_11, CHR8.1_13, CHR8.1_15, CHR8.1_17, CHR8.1_20, CHR8.1_21, and CHR8.1_22. Differential amplification pattern revealing molecular level genetic polymorphism among the genotypes subjected to molecular characterization provided a basis for deducting that the sequence length variation observed in candidate genes may be a role player in differential fragrance in landraces and improved varieties of aromatic rice. Sizable variation was clearly recognized in the molecular size of the genomic region targeted by the primer pairs. The values of similarity coefficient ranged from 0.00 to 0.641, 0.024 to 0.481 and 0.015 to 0.545 for pair-wise combinations of genotypes by using 24 reported primers, 38 designed primers and 62 combined (reported and designed) primers based binary matrices data. Wide genetic differentiation and divergence at the molecular level was revealed among the genotypes. Hierarchical pattern of classification based on similarity coefficient matrix of pair-wise combinations of genotypes was in extremely good agreement with principal coordinated analysis based spatial distribution pattern of genetic profiles of genotypes. Hierarchical cluster analysis, as well as principal coordinate analysis using microsatellite-specific markers derived from candidate genes made it possible to differentiate aromatic landraces and improved varieties of rice. The landraces were discriminated from improved aromatic varieties and accommodated into different cluster. The computational analysis of the genetic structure of the aromatic landraces and improved varieties unambiguously reflected that the genotypes subjected to fragrance related molecular characterization are the admixture of three ancestral components present in different combinations in different genotypes. The Practical utility of the fragrance related candidate gene specific designed primers in discrimination of aromatic landraces and improved varieties was amply demonstrated. The results led to validation of designed primers by amply demonstrating their efficiency to discriminate aromatic landraces from improved varieties of aromatic rice. These reported and designed candidate genes based SSR primers could be utilized for molecular characterization, identification, genetic divergence analysis, parental selection and biological individuation in relation to fragrance of landraces and improved varieties of aromatic rice.ThesisItem Open Access “MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY AS A TOOL FOR ASSESSMENT OF SOIL QUALITY IN CALCAREOUS SOILS(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) Kumari, Vandana; Laik, RanjanA study entitled “MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY AS A TOOL FOR ASSESSMENT OF SOIL QUALITY IN CALCAREOUS SOILS” was carried out at Department of Soil Science, Dr, Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa with the objective to evaluate the variability in soil quality parameters, soil quality index and feasibility of mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy for prediction of soil quality indicators under rice-wheat system in 275 soil samples collected from West Champaran, East Champaran, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts of Bihar which are calcareous in nature. Soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory for different physical, chemical and biological properties by Cornell Soil Health Laboratory Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health (CASH) standard operating procedures. Soil textural class of the samples varied from clay to sand with most frequent textural class of silt loam. A wide variation was observed for soil quality parameters which included Wet Aggregate Stability (WAS) (0.24-88.93 %) with mean 24.78 %; pH (5.76-9.67) with mean 8.39 (±0.53); electrical conductivity (EC) (0.11-2.77 dSm-1) with mean 0.41 dSm-1 (±0.27); free calcium carbonate (CaCO3) (0.04-54.1%) with mean 18.78 % (±12.64) and soil organic carbon (SOC) (0.14-1.26 %) with mean 0.63 % (±0.20). Among the soil major nutrients, the variation of available N was between 120.35-315.30 kg ha-1 with mean 204.5 kg ha-1 (±34.24); available P2O5 was between 0.90- 422.62 kg ha-1 with mean 103.73 kg ha-1 (±91.77); available K2O was between 31.05-1471.01 kg ha-1 with mean 204.98 kg ha-1 (±146.35) and available S was between 0.37-538.44 ppm with mean 39.3 ppm (±61.41). The variation in available soil micronutrients were as follows: Zn between 0.04-3.30 ppm with mean 0.77 ppm (±0.66); Cu between 0.00-5.18 ppm with mean 1.45 ppm (±0.75); Fe between 2.42-31.65 ppm with mean 10.5 ppm (±5.13); Mn between 0.00-13.82 ppm with mean 4.14 ppm (±2.74); and B between 0.00-7.6 ppm with mean 0.52 ppm (±0.67). Among the soil biological properties, active C, autoclaved citrate extractable protein (ACE), and respiration varied between 6.96-731.38 mg kg-1, 0.32-4.26 g kg-1 and 0.05-4.25 mg CO2 g-1 respectively and their mean values were 256.46 mg kg-1 (±193.4), 1.72 g kg-1 (±0.80) and 0.54 mg CO2 g-1 (±0.34) respectively. The first seven principal components (PCs) factors obtained with principal component analysis (PCA) of twenty soil quality parameters with eigenvalues >1 explained that CaCO3, pH, sand, protein, Fe, S, EC, silt, SOC, N, clay, B and K2O contributed 67.86 % of the soil variability in calcareous soil of Bihar. The soil quality index (SQI) values of all the 275 samples of calcareous soils of Bihar lied between 0.29-0.64 with a mean 0.47, which belongs to a low class of SQ. In the MIR spectroscopy study, principal component regression (PCR) and partial least square regression (PLSR) algorithm in OPUS software were used for understanding the quality of prediction level of the soil studies. Best models for residual prediction deviation (RPD) values with ―MIR-PLSR‖ were obtained for SOC, available N, free CaCO3, sand, silt and clay. Prediction for pH, EC, micronutrients (except B), WAS, active C, protein and respiration were observed as fair models. This indicated that MIR spectroscopy has great potential for simultaneous estimation of a number of soil properties in larger soil sample size and is useful for the prediction of soil quality parameters.ThesisItem Open Access PHYSIOLOGY OF CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum L.) UNDER SALT AND HIGH TEMPERATURE STRESS CONDITION(Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, 2021) SINHA, TRISHA; Kumar, ShaileshChickpea is the third most important legume crop after pea and soybean. India ranks first in terms of area and production of chickpea globally. Chickpea is a source of high-quality protein along with essential nutrients like iron, zinc and phosphorus among others. Chickpea being a legume crop is a potent contributor in improvement of soil fertility by having the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in plant-available form through developing interaction with symbiotic micro-organisms like Rhizobium in their root. Thus, chickpea has a great potential in attainment of the most important talk of the hour- agricultural sustainability. Despite of having so much importance in agriculture and also great nutritional value, chickpea production has not been growing since decades as per the demand. There may be a number of factors relying behind this fact. Plants have to go through many stressful situations throughout their life cycle. Some of these stress factors are biotic and some are abiotic. All these stress factors bring a number of deteriorative effects on plants. Among the abiotic stress factors, salinity and high temperature are very important. Nowadays, these two stresses are highly being discussed for their negative impacts on crops. Chickpea is highly sensitive to both salinity and high temperature at seedling and reproductive stage. A number of previously done research works is available denoting the harmful effects of salinity and high temperature in individual condition on crops, but the effects of combined salinity and high temperature stress on crops are hardly available, especially on chickpea. So, keeping this view in mind, an experiment was undergone with thirty chickpea genotypes with the purpose of screening and identifying contrasting sets of chickpea genotypes against combined salt and high temperature stress based on physiological traits in laboratory condition. In this objective, three most tolerant (KPG-59, IPC-2013-74 and NDG-15-6) and three most susceptible genotypes (KWR-108, BG-3075 and BG-3076) were selected based on growth parameters viz. germination percentage (GP), germination relative index (GRI), seedling length (SL), vigour index-I (VI-I), seedling dry weight (SDW), vigour index-II (VI-II); and stress tolerance indices such as tolerance index (TOL) and yield stability index (YSI) in 10-day-old seedlings. The next objective was to further study physiological and biochemical changes occurring in those six screened genotypes (in leaf) at pod formation stage; and nutritional parameters (Na, K, Zn and Fe) in seed after harvesting for those six screened genotypes sown in pots at normal soil (0.40 dSm-1) for control, saline soil (4.20 dSm-1) for salt stress, at normal soil (EC = 0.40 dSm-1 and ECe = 1.50 dSm-1) with delayed sowing for high temperature stress, and at saline soil (EC = 4.20 dSm-1 and ECe = 7.40 dSm-1) with delayed sowing for combined stress in two experimental years 2019-20 and 2020-21. From this experiment, it was observed that H2O2 content MDA content increased while MSI decreased. Other physiological parameters such as RWC, photosynthetic pigments (chl a, chl b, total chl content and carotenoids content), CSI and SPAD unit decreased with stress over control; however, relatively lesser percentage decrease was observed for the tolerant genotypes as compared to the susceptible genotypes for both the experimental years 2019-20 and 2020-21. Among biochemical parameters starch content, total soluble sugar content and total soluble protein content decreased; while proline content, total amino acids content, phenol content increased in response to individual and combined salt and high temperature stress. Antioxidant enzymes determined in this experiment viz. SOD, POX and CAT increased broadly for all the genotypes when exposed to stress treatments, especially under combined stress. Nutritional parameters also expressed a wide genotypic range over the treatments. Sodium and potassium contents increased as opposed to zinc and iron contents in chickpea seeds. The last experiment was based on determination of yield and yield attributes. Days to 50% flowering decreased widely along with the number of branches plant-1. Number of pods plant-1, number of seeds pod-1, seed yield, seed test weight and harvest index severely decreased under all the stress treatments, with more pronounced effects under combined stress denoting the fact that plants when come under more than a single stress at a time, get affected at a greater rate. Increase in lipid peroxidation represented the effect of stress on chickpea plants for which plants have recorded with decline in physio-biochemical parameters. The decrease in starch content, total soluble sugar content, reducing sugar content and non-reducing sugar content could be related with lesser photosynthetic rate in chickpea plants under different stress treatments as compared to the control condition. Chickpea genotypes responded in counter with developed tolerance to salt and high temperature stress by increased proline and amino acid content; and improved activities of antioxidant enzymes viz. SOD, POX and CAT. The reduction in yield and yield attributes under salinity and high temperature could be attributed to the stress-induced retarded reproductive growth resulting in reduced pod numbers in individual plant, reduced seed numbers in each pod, and decreased seed yield due to reduced seed size. Seed yield was compared with other physiological, biochemical and yield governing traits through Pearson’s Correlation Matrix. A number of physiological traits like MSI, RWC and total chlorophyll were found to be positively correlated; and MDA was found negatively correlated with seed yield under various treatments used in this experiment. Significant correlation with biochemical parameters was also observed among which starch, total soluble sugar and total soluble protein built up positive correlation; and phenol, amino acids and proline built up negative correlation. Yield attributing traits such as number of pods plant-1, seeds pod-1, seed test weight and HI were highly significant and in positive correlation with seed yield.
