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Anand Agricultural University, Anand
Anand Agricultural University (AAU) was established in 2004 at Anand with the support of the Government of Gujarat, Act No.(Guj 5 of 2004) dated April 29, 2004. Caved out of the erstwhile Gujarat Agricultural University (GAU), the dream institution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. K. M. Munshi, the AAU was set up to provide support to the farming community in three facets namely education, research and extension activities in Agriculture, Horticulture Engineering, product Processing and Home Science. At present there seven Colleges, seventeen Research Centers and six Extension Education Institute working in nine districts of Gujarat namely Ahmedabad, Anand, Dahod, Kheda, Panchmahal, Vadodara, Mahisagar, Botad and Chhotaudepur
AAU's activities have expanded to span newer commodity sectors such as soil health card, bio-diesel, medicinal plants apart from the mandatory ones like rice, maize, tobacco, vegetable crops, fruit crops, forage crops, animal breeding, nutrition and dairy products etc. the core of AAU's operating philosophy however, continues to create the partnership between the rural people and committed academic as the basic for sustainable rural development. In pursuing its various programmes AAU's overall mission is to promote sustainable growth and economic independence in rural society. AAU aims to do this through education, research and extension education. Thus, AAU works towards the empowerment of the farmers.
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ThesisItem Open Access DEVELOPMENT OF DIGESTIVE ENZYMES IN PANCREATIC JUICE AND DUODENAL FLUID OF COW CALVES AND BUFFALO CALVES FROM BERTH TO EARLY RUMINANT STAGE(AAU, Anand, 1996) Christi, K. S.; VADODARIA, V. P.Healthy 22 calves (10 cow calves; 12 buffalo calves) maintained at Veterinary college, Anand, with an objective of establishing physico-biochemical profile of pancreatic juice and duodenal fluid from birth to fifteen week of age were studied in relation to different physiological factors like age, feeding and diurnal variations. There is no report of research work carried out simultaneously both in cow calves and buffalo calves as well as on panoreatic juice and duodenal fluid at same age, feeding schedule and for diurnal variations in various parameters. The research data were classified and tested with the help of standard statistical procedures. Work on buffalo calves has not been found reported fluid, therefore the present work provides the basic informations for future research endeavor.ThesisItem Open Access COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GROSS, HISTOLOGICAL, HISTOCHEMICAL AND BIOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LOCOMOTORY APPARATUS OF THE BUFFALO AND THE OX(AAU, Anand, 1996) DUBAL, SUBHASH C.; Vyas, K. N.The present study was carried out to investigate and compare the anatomical and the biomechanical characteristics of bones and muscles of forelimbs and hindlimbs of male of Surti buffalo and Kankrej ox (5 to 10 months old calves and 5 years or more old adults, six in number, in each age group of each species). Study on walking gait characteristics were made from the videographs of six live adult animals of each species. The forelimbs of the buffalo were found to bear significantly (P < 0.05) more body weight (57.89 ± 0.82 %) than those of the ox (55.96 ± 1.05 % ). The cortical thickness, bone density and elastic modulus of the bones of the forelimbs, did not differ significantly (P < 0.05) from those of the hindlimbs of the animals of both the species within the same age groups. The pooled mean values of the cortical thickness,the bone density and the elastic modulus of the bones of the calves, were significantly (P < 0.05) lower (0.18 ± 0.001 cm; 2281.27 ± 14.21 - 2 kg/cm and 118.37 ± 0.11 kg/cm2, respectively) than those of the adult animals (0.54 ± 0.002 cm, 2510.54 ± 9.28 kg/cm2 and 166.33 ± 0.17 kg/cm2 , respectively). The ultimate compressive and tensile stresses, and ttie strength and stiffness economics, increased significantly with the advancement of the age. Most of the gross anatomical and the biomechanical characteristics of the bones and the muscles studied, increased significantly (P < 0.05) from the calfhood to the adulthood in both the species.ThesisItem Open Access SEROEPIDEMIOLOGY, ISOLATION AND PATHOGENICITY OF BLUETONGUE VIRUS(AAU, Anand, 1996) Chandel, Bharat Singh; Kher, H. N.Bluetongue (BT) is an infectious, non contagious disease of domestic and wild ruminants. Bluetongue virus ( BTV ) causes severe disease in sheep, which i s transmitted by insect vectors (Culicoides spp.) . The ability of BTVs to inflict pathological changes in susceptible sheep depends on the virulence of a particular viral isolate , susceptibility of the host and a number of environmental factors related to climatic conditions. The present study was aimed at the seroepidemiology, prevalence of BTV serotypes in sheep, isolation, propagation and identification of local isolates and pathogenicity of BTV in natural and experimental cases of sheep. This study also covered the seroprevalence of epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) in cattle and buffaloes as it is related to orbivirus group. A seroepidentiological survey of BTV precipitating antibodies was carried out by agar gel immunodiffusicm ( AGID ) test in different species of livestock in Gujarat. Out of 1623 sera tested, 407 (25.07%) were found to be positive for BTV antibodies.ThesisItem Open Access Bioecological studies on Geocoris ochropterus Fieber (Hemiptera : Lygaeidae) , an important predator in cotton ecosystem(AAU, Anand, 1996) SHARMA, URMILA; Yadav, D. N.Bioecological studies on the big eyed bug, Geocoris ochropterus Fieber, an drnportant predator in the cotton ecosystem, were made during 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons at the Anand Campus of Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand. Biological observations revealed that the predator laid yellowish white eggs singly on the plant parts which took 8.33 ± 0.27 days at varying temperature of 29.62 ± 0.38 to 30.36 ± 0.12°C, RH 84.26 + 1.25 % and L : D, 12:12 to hatch. Maximum hatching (82 %) was observed when the temperature tanged between 21.61 ± 0.23 to 23.5 + 0.76°C and RH 71.03 + 2.38 %. The predator passed through five nyraphal instars. The duration of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth instar was 5.5 + ©.22, 5.6 ± 0 . 20 , 5.6 + 0.20, 5.9 + 0.33 and 9.25 ± 0.23 days respectively. Total nymphal duration was 29.7 + 1.43 days. Nymphal mortality was high in the fifth instar (39.21 % ). Sexes can be differentiated from their size. Males are usually smaller. The sex ratio in the laboratory population and field population was 1:1.10 (male : female) and 1.29 :1 (male : female) respectively. Mating accomplished easily and lasted for 15m to 4h in the laboratory. The preoviposition, oviposition and postoviposition periods averaged 3.4 ± 0.47, 19.2 ± 2.84 and 3.6 ± 0.69 days respectively of the mated female. Fecundity, when reared on A. gossypii averaged 42.4 + 5.09 eggs. The daily rate of oviposition of laboratory reared female was 1.21 eggs/day and that of field collected female was 0.91 eggs/day. Daily rate of oviposition was greatly affected (6.2 eggs/day) when the females were fed on eggs of Earias vitirella + cotton leaf. Longevity of male and female was 19.9 ±3.68 and 29.5 ± 3.55 days respectively. The female lived longer when fed on eggs of Spodoptera litura + fresh cotton leaves and A. gossypii nymphs + fresh cotton leaves studies on predatory potential showed that maximum consumption was observed during fifth instar. The nymphs consumed an average 1 05 + 4.33 aphid nymphs before reaching maturity. The male and female consumed on an average 530.28 ± 61.74 and 634.14 ± 71.02 nymphs of A. gossypii respectively in their life span. Further, female of G. ochropterus consumed on an average 32.60 and 19.80 eggs of H. armigera and E. vitiella respectively per day. The predator was found to prey on twenty one species of pests occurring on thirteen crops and two weeds but there were about eight species of plants with which it was not found associated. Cannibalism, phytophagy and necrophagy was also observed. G. ochropterus was found fairly well distributed in cotton growing areas of Gujarat. The predator was found relatively free from natural enemies. Only in one case, egg parasitisation by an unidentified eulophid was recorded. The adult was predated upon by an unidentified reduviid bug and a spider. Insecticides such as Methyl-o-demeton, endosulfan, quinalphos, monocrotophos, fenvalerate and cypermethrin, normally used in cotton were found to have detrimental affect on the natural population of the bug. A large population of G. ochropterus survived and flourished on relay crops like maize and sunnhemp and was able to shift to cotton crop which was sown early. The predator appeared to exhibit habitat preference. In nature the predator occurred in the first fortnight of September during 1994-95 and in the second fortnight of August during 1995-96. The predator population reached its peak during the first fortnight of December. The activity of G. ochropterus was found negatively correlated with relative humidity. They remained active until the crop was removed. Off season survival of the predator was recorded on crops ajid weeds like ratoon cotton, maize, sunnhemp, mungbean, okra, brinjal, potato, summer groundnut, cowpea, Chenopodium album and Gyanandropsis spp. Greater population was observed on ratoon cotton, maize, sunnhemp, okra, brinjal, cowpea and lucerne. Developing effective mass rearing techniques and efficient relay cropping system and other methods to conserve the predator in nature are suggested.ThesisItem Open Access PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND SMOKE CHARACTERISTICS OF BIDl TOBACCO AS INFLUENCED BY NITROGEN, TOPPING AND SUCKERICIDE(AAU, Anand, 1996) Patel, A. M.; Patel, B. K.An experiment was conducted under middle Gujarat agro-climatic conditions at the Bidi Tobacco Research Station, Anand, during 1993-94 and 1994-95 with a view to knowing the differences in the physico-chemical and smoke characteristics of bidi tobacco (cv A 119) as affected by nitrogen, topping and suckericide. The experiment comprised combinations of three levels of nitrogen (200 (Ni), 300 (N2 ) and 400 (N3) kg ha-1 Mand two topping stages (topping at button stage (Ti) and at bald sucker stage (T2) alongwith three concentrations of suckericide (0.60 (Si), 0.75 (S2) and 0.90 (S3) per cent pendimethalin) alongwith hand desuckering (So) as a control. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with four replications, wherein nitrogen levels were embedded in the main plot, while combinations of topping stages and suckericide levels were assigned to the sub plots. The nitrogen application showed significant progressive improvement in the growth attributes viz., leaf length, width, area, LAI, RGR-I and plant height with the concomitant increase in the levels of applied nitrogen from 200 to 400 kg N ha-1 . But the increase in dry weight per unit area was observed upto N2, which in turn had significantly increased yield at N2 over N1, The difference between N2 and N3 was not significant, but lower yield was noticed at Na possibly due to significantly higher weight of suckers under Na than N2 and N1 treatments. The spangle score was the highest under N3 , however,N1 and N2 did. not differ significantly. The produce from N2 treatment fetched the highest price (Rs. 16.0 kg-1), net realization (Rs. 51050/- ha-M and gave maximum CBR (1:3.82) followed by N1 and N3 levels of nitrogen. The chemical quality parameters viz., nitrogenous constituents, total and non volatile carbonyls, volatile acids, and hexane extractives were in favour of N2, while reducing sugar and chloride contents were the highest under Ni. The inorganic constituents viz., total ash, P, K, Ca and Mg were also maximum under N2 treatment. In case of smoke constituents also N2 recorded the highest values for NFDPM, smoke nicotine, smoke phenols with intermediate number of puffs bidi-1.ThesisItem Open Access GENETIC STUDIES FOR VARIOUS BIOLOGICAL TRAITS IN Chrysoperla carnea STEPHENS (Neuroptera : Chrysopidae)(AAU, Anand, 1996) Patil, Yashwant Raghunath; YADAV, D. N.The present investigation was carried out to study the genetic variability in the six parental populations of ChryBoperla carnea Stephens originally collected from six different geographical regions of India, and the magnitude of heterosis, combining ability, gene actions and components of genetic variances following Griffing (1956a, 1956b) and Hayman (1954a, 1954b, 1958) approaches in diallel crosses involving above six parental populations at Biological Control Laboratory of Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand Campus during 1993-1995. The results on genetic variability revealed the presence of wide genetic variability for most of the biological traits in the parental populations of C. carnea studied. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance observed for post-oviposition period, fecundity and oviposition period suggested that phenotypic selection would be very effective for the improvement of these traits. Mean squares due to parents, hybrids and parents Vs. hybrids revealed significant differences for most of the traits under study. Based on the mean performance for various bioLogicaL traits, Anand population (A) proved to be the best followed by Aurangabad (AU), Jalgaon (J) and Hisar (H) populations Among crosses, AxS and AxAU proved to be the best crosses which involved Anand population (A) as one of the parent. The results on the magnitude of heteroeia supported the idea of exploitability of hybrid vigour in C. carnea for commercialiasation of the predator. The crosses viz., AxS, BxAU, AUxS, AUx J, BxJ, SxJ, SxH and JxH showed high magnitude of heterosis and heterobeltiosis for many of the important biological traits which can further be exploited in future breeding programme. In the present study, diallei assumptions were met for all the biological traits except feeding potential and pupation. Analysis of variance for combining ability revealed both additive and non-additive gene actions were responsible for the inheritance of majority of biological traits under study. However, the ratio of ogca2/osca2 suggested the preponderance of additive gene action for all the characters except male longevity, fecundity, feeding potential, pupation, pupal duration and larval tolerance to monocrotophos for which non-additive gene action was more pronounced. Among parents, Anand (A), Hisar (H) and Aurafigabad (AU) populations showed significant desirable gca effects while among the crosses, AxB, AxAU, AxS, BxJ, SxJ and JxH exhibited significant desirable sea effects for many of the biological traits. Components of variance analysis showed larger magnitude of dominance components and presence of over dominance for all the biological traits under study. Graphical analysis revealed considerable genetic variability and diversity, over dominance, asymetrical gene distribution and complementry type of epistatis for majority of the biological traits studied. The heritability estimates were low for majority of the biological traits except adult emergence and larval duration where moderate to high heritability estimates were observed. Overall study revealed the presence of great deal of genetic variability and diversity for majority of the biological traits studied. Since, diallel analysis following both Griffing and Hayman approaches revealed the importance of both additive and non-additive gene actions for the inheritance of majority of the biological traits under study, cyclic method of breeding/recurrent selection would profitably be employed for the improvement of these traits. High magnitude of heterosis and heterobeltiosis observed for many of the important biological traits studied also suggested the feasibility of utilizing hybrid vigour on commercial scale.ThesisItem Open Access CROP WEATHER INTERACTION AND PLANT STAND ENVIRONMENT IN RELATION TO PRODUCTIVITY OF TWO DIVERSE PIGEONPEA (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) GENOTYPES(AAU, Anand, 1996) PATEL, N. R.; MEHTA, A. N.Pigeonpea (Cajanus caJan (L.) Mi lisp.) is a major pulse crop, usually grown under rainfed environment in the semiarid tropic (SAT) to supplement the protein-deficient human diets. Pigeonpea cultivation in rainfed condition can not be assured of success unless grown with climatological consideration of particular region. Although effect of weather on yields is complex, a possible understanding of crop weather interaction is an essential aid to crop management. Also, the optimization of structure of crop production environment in pigeonpea is an important way towards better utilization of natural resources. The experiments during kharif 1993 and 1994 were conducted comprising three sowing dates as main plot and combination of two genotypes and two row spacings as sub plot treatments in split plot design with four replications. The results obtained during the course of study indicated that weather played a significant role in deciding yield potentiality of GT-100 and BDN-2 genotypes. However, weather variables have affected the growth and yield different to both genotypes in different phenophases of growing period. Crop duration in GT-100 and BDN-2 was markedly increased due to extended vegetative phase in response to Tower air temperatures. Whereas, leaf area development and crop growth rate were enhanced by comparatively higher temperatures. Rainfall received during late reproductive period is also seemed to be a factor for increased crop duration, leaf area index and crop growth rate and consequently better partitioning into seeds. The results regarding the seed yield and total biomass revealed that early sowing date D1 (30th June) produced significanlty the highest seed yield as well as total biomass in pigeonpea. Further, any delay in sowing caused marked reduction in both seed yield and total biomass in pigeonpea. Higher yield in early sowing was due to accelerated vegetative and reproductive growth caused by uniform rainfall distribution and comparatively higher temperatures during reproductive period. The genotype GT-100 had registered more seed yield compared to genotypes BDN-2. Higher seed yield in GT-100 genotype under rainfed condition could be attributed to less terminal water deficit and efficient use of water towards reproductive strucutres due to early maturity and determinate growth habit of GT-100. Also, the pigeonpea seed yield and biomass were increased as the row spacing decreased from 90 to 60 cm. Because narrow row (60 cm) crop having greater plant stand had created an environment which led to better utilization of resources like photosynthetically active component of radiation and water during reproductive period for increase in yield of pigeonpea. The results regarding the canopy temperature based indices revealed that canopy air temperature differential and accumulated SDD exhibited significantly negative correlation in later reproductive phenophases in both GT-100 and BDN-2, indicating the need of protective irrigation either at flowering or podding to both genotypes in rainfed condition. The correlation of seed yield with weather parameters and agrometeorological indices indicated that the favourable effect of early sowing on seed yield in GT-100 and BDN-2 could be attributed to lower evaporation, maximum temperatures and vapour pressure deficit in the post vegetative phase and higher evaporation, maximum temperatures and vapour pressure deficit in the later reproductive phase alongwith low hours of bright sunshine and higher night temperatures throughout the growing season. Besides, extreme day or night temperatures had adverse influence on productivity of both genotypes throughout the growing season. Over and above, positive correlations of seed yield with CDD, Accu.HTU and Accu.PAR indicated that higher ODD after primary branch initiation and accu.HTU and accu. PAR in later reproductive phases (P4 or Ps) had favourably influenced the seed yield in GT-100 and BDN-2. However, indeterminate genotype BDN-2 responded well to accu.PAR and accu.HTU due to long duration and photo periodically sensitive genotype. The prediction model based on BSS and MaxT in the phenophase P2 , MinT in both P3 and Pe phenophases and TR in both Pa and PB phenophases was found suitable with good accuracy (R2 = 0.96) for predicting the seed yield of QT-100 at about 50-55 days prior to crop harvest. Likewise, model based on MaxT in phenophase P4 and MinT in phenophase Pe was found appropriate with R2 = 0.78 for predicting seed yield in BDN-2 at about 30-40 days before maturity. Thus, an agronomic strategy such as sowing of short duration genotype GT-100 by the end of June in 60 cm apart rows based on crop-weather relationship was found most appropriate for securing maximum seed yield of pigeonpea under rainfed condition in middle agroclimatic zone of Gujarat State.ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON THE MASS PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF MENOCHILUS SEXMACULATUS FABRICIUS (COLEOPTERA:COCCINELLIDAE) AN IMPORTANT PREDATOR OF APHIDS(AAU, Anand, 1996) Patel, Rajesh K.; YADAV, D. N.Studies on the mass production technology of Menochilus sexmaculatus (Fabr.) (Coleoptera : Coccinellidae) were carried out during 1993 to 1995 at Anand Campus of Gujarat Agricultural University. Results revealed that A. craccivorci (Koch.) can be mass reared throughout the year by conveyer supply of 17 days old 20 cowpea plants In a medium sized earthen pot (14 cm high X 17.5 cm diameter) charged with 800 A. craccivora and by keeping the pots in a field cage (covered with shade net during winter and hessian cloth moistened during summer). On an average 4019.67 aphids/pot could be produced. Mean temperature ranging between 20.88°C to 28.98°C, relative humidity of 54.40 to 66.02 per cent and photoperiod of 8.08 to 9.33 hrs during October to January were very conducive for the development of aphid. The high temperature (31.95°C to 32.19°C) and high relative humidity (88.78 to 89.57 per cent) and photoperiod of 5.18 to 10.46 hrs during May-June were also very conducive for the aphid multiplication. For mass production of M. sexmaculatus on insectary reared A. craccivora and field collected Aphis gossypii (Glov.), two phase rearing (Rearing the larva for first three days in group of 100 and then in isolation) was found effective larval rearing method in terms of better pupal recovery, adult emergence, fecundity and labour. Egg predation by the adult M. sexmaculatus was Q, found to be a limiting factor in its production technology. To overcome the same it was found that overcrowding of the adults should be avoided. A maximum of 5 mated females can be accommodated in a three liter capacity transparent plastic jar. This reduced the egg predation to the tune of 12.93 per cent and without any significant effect on the per cent hatching. The loss in the egg predation can be further reduced by collecting the eggs at 7 hrs, 13 hrs and at 20 hrs from the oviposition cage, when most of the eggs are deposited by the females. The gentle removal of eggs from the oviposition site did not affect the hatchability of the eggs. The fresh eggs could not be stored at 7+1°C in freez for more than one day. Fresh pupae could be stored for 8 days without adversely affecting the emergence of the adult (86.38 per cent emergence) at 7+1°C in freez, while fresh adult could be stored for 22 days with 28.99 per cent mortality . No noticeable change in fecundity was observed when the predator was reared upto three generations on A. craccivora Honey bee. Apismellifera(L.) larvalor pupal powder based diet for adults was found good substitute to natural aphid prey. The female, when fed on this diet laid on an average 69.89 fertile eggs and lived for 42.78 days. The male longevity averaged 33.55 days.ThesisItem Open Access ON ANALYSIS OF LONG TERM EXPERIMENTS WITH CHANGE IN INPUT(AAU, Anand, 1996) LAKHERA, MOHAN LAL; PATEL, N. M.Among various types of agricultural experiments, long term experiments are continued on the same site with the same set of treatments and package of practice for many years to study the effect of treatments on soil productivity. For such experiments, statistical procedures are available for pooling the results. Due to advancement in agrotechnology, scientists are sometimes changing the package of practices (input factor) but not the basic treatments in the ongoing long term experiments. This situation affects/alters the basic concept of the long term experiment. Such an experiment is in progress on bidi tobacco crop since 1960-61 at the Bidi Tobacco Research Station, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand, wherein variaties were changed as and when they were released by the station. The statistical method of data analysis of such experiment is not available in the literature (having direct application). Therefore, present study was undertaken with a view to (i) compare analysis of variance and rank analysis techniques for combined analysis of data, (ii) explore the feasibility of applying principal component analysis in combined analysis of data, (iii) apply regression technique in predicting long term effect of each treatment, and (iv) study suitability of transformation-sustainability index as a method of analysis of long term experiment involving changed input factor(s). Five methods viz.. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Rank analysis, Principal component analysis. Regression analysis and transformation were employed for analysing the data. On the basis of results obtained through statistical analysis of the long term experiment on bidi tobacco, it can be generalized that the Rank analysis was the best method for analysing such complicated experiments. Other methods such as ANOVA, Regression analysis and Principal component analysis could not prove effective due to disturbance in basic assumptions like common errors, additivity of effects etc., due to varietal variation which was confounded with year effect. A new type of transformation termed as sustainable transformation is proposed for analysing the data of long term experiment with changed input factor (practices).
