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Author: Beena, S ×

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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Varietal response to rhisobium inoculation in cowpea under field conditions
    (Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1983) Beena, S; KAU; James Mathew
    An investigation was undertaken at the Research Station, Kayamkulam during the summer season of 1981-82 to study the varietal response to Rhizobium inoculation in cowpea under field conditions. Ten varieties of cowpea C-152, ptb-1, Pusa-2, Hg-22, 522, 533, 534,551, 779 and V-37 were used in this experiment. The rhizobius strain 6050 was used for the innoculation.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Standardisation of top working in nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1994) Beena, S; KAU; Alice, Kurian
    The present investigations on “Standardisation of top working in nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)” were conducted at the Department of plantation Crops and spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Thrissur during 1991-1993. For the purpose of the study nutmeg trees available at state seed Farm, Mannuthy and farmers’ field at Mannuthy and Ettumuna in Thrissur district as well as Neduvannur in Ernakulam district were utilized. The presence of two type of buds on the bud stick could be distinguished by the bud scare at the inner side of the bark for the viable buds and absence of scar and browning in the non- viable buds. Among the difference methods tried, in situ budding on hard trunk proved to be most successful. Forkert method with bud selected from brown bud wood with fallen leaves and the buds inserted by leaving space on all the four sides gave maximum success. In order to achieve a quicker bud burst stumping the plants two months after budding was most effective. Budding on hard trunk could be done with maximum success in three year old plants and July was found to be the best season. Trials on topping of male trees indicated that heading back the tree above the first tier during August was found to be the best with regard to sprout production and reducing the time for sprouting. Forkert budding on new sprouts gave only initial success which failed to sprout even with physical and chemical treatments. Grafting on new sprouts showed least response among the method tried. Successful graft union was obtained during March with scion shoots having mature leaf and full green stem and stock having two months growth. The anatomical studies revealed low callus development and sparse differentiation of vascular tissues in the bud shield, presence of necrotic tissues hindering the formation of callus and the lack of union between old and new callus as the probable reasons for bud failure.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Performance and potential of gramasabhas in crop production in Athiyanoor block of Thiruvananthapuram district
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2002) Beena, S; KAU; Sherief, A K
    The study entitled 'Performance and potential of gramasabhas in crop production. in Athiyanoor block of Thiruvananthapuram district was undertaken to study the effectiveness, attitude and perception and to identify the constraints as perceived by the farmers, officials and people's representatives regarding the functioning of gramasabhas. The study was conducted in Venganoor, Vizhinjam, Athiyanoor and Kottukal panchayats of Athiyanoor block. A sample of 200 respondents were selected using multistage random sampling technique. Data were collected through well structured and pre-tested interview schedule. Sixty per cent of the farmers, fifty five per cent of the officials and sixty per cent of the people's representatives perceive the gramasabhas as effective in planning and implanting agricultural development programmes. Regarding the attitude towards gramasabhas, 58.43 per cent of the farmers and 87.50 per cent of the people's representatives possessed a very favourable attitude. Among the officials, 65 per cent were favourable towards gramasabhas. Eighty per cent of the people's representatives had very good perception about the functioning of gramasabhas. The study revealed that 57.50 per cent of the officials and 61.67 per cent of the farmers belonged to high group with respect to perception. Majority of the farmers had education upto high school level with farming as the main occupation. Most of the farmers expressed a high level of political orientation, cosmopoliteness, social participation and extension participation. Information source utilisation and orientation of the farmers towards incentives were also found to be high for majority of the respondents. Personal, socio-psychological variables viz., education, political orientation, cosmopoliteness, social participation, information source utilisation, leadership propensity, attitude towards people's plan and orientation towards incentives had shown a positive and significant relationship with effectiveness. Annual income had negatively significant relationship with effectiveness. Education, main occupation, political orientation, social participation, attitude towards people's plan, economic motivation and orientation towards incentives had shown a positive and significant relation with attitude of the farmers towards gramasabhas. Annual income was found to be negatively correlated with attitude. Education, main occupation, political orientation, social participation, attitude towards people's plan, economic motivation and orientation towards incentives had shown a 'positively significant relationship with perception of the farmers about. the functioning of gramasabhas. Annual income had negatively significant relation with perception. Venganoor and Kottukal panchayats differed significantly with respect to leadership propensity. The respondents of Venganoor panchayat had high level of leadership propensity as compared to those in Kottukal panchayat. Venganoor and Kottukal panchayats differed significantly with respect to perceived effectiveness. The respondents in Venganoor panchayat perceived the gramasabhas as highly effective in planning and implementing agricultural development progarammes. There was no significant difference among Venganoor, Vizhinjam, Athiyanoor and Kottukal panchayats with respect to attitude and perception about the gramasabhas. The officials and the people's representatives exhibited non- significant relationship regarding the perceived effectiveness of gramasabhas in planning and implementing agricultural development programmes. . As far as attitude towards gramasabhas is concerned, the officials and the people's representatives differed significantly. It was observed that the people's representatives had a more favourable attitude towards gramasabhas than the officials. Significant difference was observed between the officials and the people's representatives regarding the perception about the functioning of gramasabhas. As compared to officials, people's representatives possessed a better perception about the functioning of gramasabhas. Lack of active group discussions was perceived as the most important constraint by the farmers, officials and people's representatives.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Interaction between VA mycorrhiza and bradyrhizobium in cowpea
    (Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1999) Beena, S; KAU; Rajendran Pillai, M V
    An investigation . I. on Interaction between VA mycorrhiza and Bradyrhizobium in cowpea was carried out at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during the period 1994-97. The main objectives of the study were to explore the beneficial effects of dual. inoculation of VA mycorrhiza and Bradyrhizobium in enhancing the uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus and to evolve specific recommendation on the use of these inoculants together in reducing the use of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers. The results of this investigation revealed the following conclusions. The survey on the natural occurrence of VAM in cowpea showed a fairly good VAM colonisation in all the plant samples collected from the five locations. VAM colonisation was found more in lateral roots than in tap root. The VAM colonisation and spore count were more during rainy season compared to summer. The predominant spores present in all the survey locations were identical to that of Glomus sp. After the screening of V AM, the local isolate from farmer's field at Nadathara was selected for further studies based on its performance. Observation of cowpea plants at 10 days after sowing showed the presence of nodules and VAM colonisation in the roots of inoculated plants. Both the nodulation and VAM colonisation were found to reach a peak at 40th day after sowing. Dual inoculation was found to have a synergistic effect in nodulation and VAM colonisation. Light microscopy of VAM infected roots showed both 'H' and 'V' shaped branching of hyphae, arbuscules and vesicles of VAM fungus. : j Electron microscopy revealed two types of fungal penetrations into the roots. It also showed the terminal attachment of oval shaped vesicles and highly branched arbuscules with short twisted branches with bulged tips in the root cortex. Electron microscopic study of nodules revealed that the nodule surface was free of V AM hypha, but the inner tissues of nodules had the hyphal presence. The pot culture experiment recorded synergistic effect in dual inoculation with VAM and Bradyrhizobium in enhancing five biometric characters, viz. number of leaves, fresh and dry weights of plant, number of nodules and fresh weight of nodules. : i Among the inoculant-fertilizer interactions, eventhough all observations except fresh weight of plant recorded non significance between treatments, those in I which VAM was a partner, recorded the maximum values for all the observations except root length. Dual inoculation with VAM and Bradyrhizobium improved the level of six nutrients, viz. nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, zinc and manganese in cowpea. The result of interaction with microsymbionts and fertilizer levels recorded inconsistent values. Treatment with VAM + B + 1/4 N + P + K recorded maximum nitrogen, VAM + ½ N + P + K and N + ½ P + K alone recorded maximum phosphorus and dual inoculation along with ½ N+P+K recorded maximum magnesium and calcium content of plant. Inoculation of VAM + Bradyrhizobium along with ½ N + P + K ranked top III increasing the soil nitrogen to the maximum. There were no significant differences among treatments and its combinations in influencing the phosphorus J status of soil. The application of either VAM or Bradyrhizobium or its combinations reduced the potassium content of soil. The results of the field experiment revealed that the treatment T 10 (VAM+B+ ½ N+ ½ P+K) out perform other treatments in five characters, viz. plant height, fresh and dry weights of plant, nodule number and fresh weight of nodules at 50 per cent flowering. At harvest this treatment recorded the maximum values in fresh and dry weights of plant, nodule number and fresh and dry weights of nodules. Treatment T 10 increased nodulation to 180 per cent over Bradyrhizobium inoculation alone. Bradyrhizobium+ ½ N+P+K was found to be the best treatment in improving the nitrogen content of plant, whereas VAM+B+ ½ N+ ½ P+K was the best for improving the phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and zinc content of plant. Another finding was that the different treatments involving microsymbionts and different fertilizer doses were not able to influence the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of soil to a significant level. The percentage of V AM colonisation was not significantly affected by dual inoculation and also by the application of different levels of fertilizers. Dual inoculation had no influence on the spore count of V AM. 'The high level of phosphorus in soil had some negative influence on the spore count. Treatment B+ ½ N+ P+K was the best in increasing the yield to the maximum, which was on par with T 10. The overall results showed that T10 (VAM+B+ ½ N+ ½ P+K) where dual inoculation was done and nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers were reduced to half of the recommended dose, was the best treatment in improving the biometric characters and nutrient status and yield of cowpea. Thus a judicious treatment would be VAM+B+ ½ N+ ½ P+K to get the best performance of cowpea. The percentage of V AM colonisation recorded a significant positive correlation with nodule number and fresh and dry weights of nodule. There was a significant positive correlation between nodule number and plant dry weight and also with yield. The percentage of VAM colonisation had a significant positive correlation with calcium content and significant negative correlation with manganese content of plant.