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Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat
Assam Agricultural University is the first institution of its kind in the whole of North-Eastern Region of India. The main goal of this institution is to produce globally competitive human resources in farm sectorand to carry out research in both conventional and frontier areas for production optimization as well as to disseminate the generated technologies as public good for benefitting the food growers/produces and traders involved in the sector while emphasizing on sustainability, equity and overall food security at household level.
Genesis of AAU -
The embryo of the agricultural research in the state of Assam was formed as early as 1897 with the establishment of the Upper Shillong Experimental Farm (now in Meghalaya) just after about a decade of creation of the agricultural department in 1882. However, the seeds of agricultural research in today’s Assam were sown in the dawn of the twentieth century with the establishment of two Rice Experimental Stations, one at Karimganj in Barak valley in 1913 and the other at Titabor in Brahmaputra valley in 1923. Subsequent to these research stations, a number of research stations were established to conduct research on important crops, more specifically, jute, pulses, oilseeds etc. The Assam Agricultural University was established on April 1, 1969 under The Assam Agricultural University Act, 1968’ with the mandate of imparting farm education, conduct research in agriculture and allied sciences and to effectively disseminate technologies so generated. Before establishment of the University, there were altogether 17 research schemes/projects in the state under the Department of Agriculture. By July 1973, all the research projects and 10 experimental farms were transferred by the Government of Assam to the AAU which already inherited the College of Agriculture and its farm at Barbheta, Jorhat and College of Veterinary Sciences at Khanapara, Guwahati.
Subsequently, College of Community Science at Jorhat (1969), College of Fisheries at Raha (1988), Biswanath College of Agriculture at Biswanath Chariali (1988) and Lakhimpur College of Veterinary Science at Joyhing, North Lakhimpur (1988) were established. Presently, the University has three more colleges under its jurisdiction, viz., Sarat Chandra Singha College of Agriculture, Chapar, College of Horticulture, Nalbari & College of Sericulture, Titabar. Similarly, few more regional research stations at Shillongani, Diphu, Gossaigaon, Lakhimpur; and commodity research stations at Kahikuchi, Buralikson, Tinsukia, Kharua, Burnihat and Mandira were added to generate location and crop specific agricultural production packages.
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ThesisItem Open Access Quality analysis of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) genotypes of Assam(AAU, Jorhat, 2019-07) Thakur, Mousumi; Baishya, S.Buckwheat (F. esculentum) is a gluten-free pseudocereal with high biological value. It occupies a special place amongst cultivable crops due to its nutritional, dietetic and therapeutic properties. Buckwheat grain is characterized by a high content of starch, protein with an advantageous amino acid composition, a low content of α-gliadin and a high content of dietary fibre. The protein of buckwheat is of excellent quality and is high in the essential amino acid lysine, unlike common cereals. It was a very popular food during the 17th-19th centuries, lost its popularity because of competition from wheat during 20th century, but has recently become popular again because of its health-promoting properties. In the present investigation, sixteen buckwheat germplasm from RARS, North Lakhimpur were evaluated for biochemical constituents of quality significance. Buckwheat germplasm were found varying significantly in their proximate composition with moisture content ranging from 7.52-9.11%, crude protein from 7.23-9.53%, crude fat 1.97-3.62%, ash 1.83-2.93% and crude fibre from 3.71-4.78% on dry weight basis. Starch, amylose and resistant starch were found in the range of 63.18-72.61%, 22.45-24% and 15.20-20.53% respectively with nitrogen free extract ranging from 71.41-76.97%. Total soluble protein ranged from 4.58% to 7.40% and globulin was the major fraction (2.12-3.53%), followed by glutelin (0.96-1.65%), albumin (0.76-1.35%) and prolamin (0.13-0.24%). Buckwheat contained calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and sodium from 144.00-215.33, 2.50-3.50, 242.61-282.00, 237.00-298.27 and 1.56-4.24 mg/100gm respectively. Total phenolic content was found between 378.41 to 652.71 mg/100g and flavonoids between 33.80 to 60.11 mg/100g on dry weight basis. Of the sixteen buckwheat germplasm used in the study, released genotypes Himpriya, VL-7 and PRB-1; local genotypes BWC-1, BWC-2, Jonai and Kharupetia-2; accession genotypes EC-218742 and EC-27242 were found superior over the others in terms of nutritional quality.ThesisItem Open Access NUTRITIONALEVALUATION OF FEW SESAME GENOTYPES OF ASSAM(AAU, Jorhat, 2019-07) Thengal, Horipriya; Pathak, KhaninSesame (SesamumindicumL.) is an important and oldest oilseed crop of tropical and sub-tropical region with high oil contentand hence it is known as the king of oil seeds. Sesame seeds are popularly known as ‘til’ in India.The sesame oil is markedly different from other vegetable oils due to its high nutritional and therapeutic values. Besides, its high oil content, it is also known for the properties of good health which consists of plethora of nutrients viz., proteins, carbohydrates, antioxidants, lignans, tocopherols and other micronutrients. Sesame seeds with high amounts of nutritional components are consumed as a traditional health food for its specific antihypertensive effect, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidative activity. In the present investigation, thirteen sesame genotypes from RARS (Regional Agricultural Research Station, Diphu were evaluated for its nutritional composition and characterization of oil. The genotypes showed a considerable variation among different constituents analyzed.Moisture contents of sesame genotypes ranged from 5.19 to 7.66 per cent, carbohydrate from 11.25 to 19.54 per cent, crude protein from 19.32 to 22.81 per cent, crude fat from 35.81 to 49.25 per cent, crude fiber from 3.23 to 9.74 per cent and ash from 1.50 to 5.53 per cent on dry weight basis. Total phenolic content was found between 0.88 to 1.98 mg catechol equivalent/g, flavonoids content between 0.11 to 0.19 mg quercetin equivalent/g and DPPH inhibition percentage between 59.30 to 67.75 per cent on dry weight basis. The iodine, saponification value and acid value were found in the range of 81.64 to 113.79 g I2/100g oil, 159.89 to 206.64 mg KOH/g oil and o.56 to 2.16 mg KOH/ g oil respectively. Sesame contains minerals like iron, calcium, sodium and potassium ranged from 1.34 to 10.01mg/100g, 975.33 to 1282.67 mg/100g, 17.80 to 65.40 mg/100g and 108.00 to 379.33 mg/100g respectively. From the results of the present investigation, it can be concluded that the genotypesʻNemposoksu, AUDT-303-1-1 and Meghalaya local-1ʼ are found to be superior. The present findings suggest to study the complete fatty acid profiling, protein profiling, mineral profiling, amino acid profiling, vitamin contents etc. for nutritional evaluation of the sesame genotypes.The study also necessitates for the evaluation of some sesame genotypes so that the nutritionally superior cultivars which can be differentiated.ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON NEPTUNIA OLERACEA LOUR. (WATER MIMOSA) – A PLANT WITH PHYTOREMEDIATION POTENTIALITY(AAU, Jorhat, 2019-07) Supriya, Yenkokpam; Kandali, R.Because of the enormous diversity in flora & fauna, the north eastern region of India has long been recognized as the biodiversity hotspot. A great diversity has also been observed in aquatic plants growing in this region. These plants are widespread in natural and man-made wetlands. Although a number of studies have reported several of them as being useful, but many of them are still unexplored. Neptunia oleracea Lour. commonly known as water mimosa or water sensitive plant is a wild aquatic legume. In India, the plant is distributed in Assam, Manipur and Tripura in North-East India. In Manipur, this plant is used as a vegetable by the Meiteis, the valley inhabitants and is considered as a local delicacy. Moreover, the ability of this plant to accumulate heavy metal can be explored for its use in phytoremediation of soil. The present investigation was intended to study the morpho-phenological as well as biochemical characteristics of Neptunia oleracea Lour. and evaluation of its phytoremediation potentiality on arsenic contaminated water. The plant materials were collected from West Imphal district, Manipur. The study of plant morphology revealed that the stem length at the maturity was 1.47m. Mature leaves were green in color with length and breadth of 7.06 cm and 4.9 cm, respectively. The roots were adventitious and fibrous with average number of root nodules to the extent of 20.66 per plant. The phenological characteristic showed that flower developed during July-September in rainy season. The flowers were bright yellow in color, silky and bloomed for about 7-11 days. The inflorescence type was spike where it was a type of raceme with flowers that were absence of pedicel and erect. The mean length of inflorescence was 11.1 cm with peduncle length of 9 cm. The fruit occurred in October-November with mean length of 6.16 cm. An average of 32 seeds/fruit was observed where as in each pod 5 seeds with mean seed weight of 12.9 mg were recorded. The percent moisture content in shoot and root was found to be 79.200% and 71.033%, respectively which significantly varied (C.D P>0.05=5.732). The crude protein content in the shoot was 6.410 g/100g and in the root 7.933 g/100g. There was a significant difference (C.D P>0.05=0.586) in the crude protein content in shoot and root of Neptunia oleracea Lour. In this investigation the crude fat content in shoot was 0.403g/100g and in root it was recorded to be 0.173g/100g. The amount of vitamin C in the shoot was found to be 1.698 mg/100g and in root it was recorded to be 1.357mg/100g on fresh weight basis. Statistically, there was a significant difference (C.D P>0.05=0.272) in the shoot and root vitamin C content. Soluble protein recorded in the shoot of Neptunia oleracea Lour. was 2.560g/100g and in root it was 1.377g/100g on a dry weight basis. Statistically, there was a significant difference in the shoot and root content of soluble protein in Neptunia oleracea Lour (C.D P>0.05=0.316). In this investigation the starch content in shoot was 1.355g/100g and in root was 1.177g/100g on dry weight basis while the total soluble sugar found in the shoot was 0.572g/100g and in root it was 0.320g/100g on dry weight basis. There was a significant difference found in the total soluble sugar content in shoot and root (C.D P>0.05= 0.0874). The ash content obtained in this investigation was 1.390g/100g and 0.940g/100g in shoot and root respectively with a significant difference (C.D P>0.05=0.0642). The mean calcium content recorded in the shoot was 344.960 mg/100g and in root was 358.830 mg/100g on dry weight basis which varied significantly (C.D P>0.05=7.321). The sodium content in shoot was 224.100 mg/100g and in root was 197.660 mg/100g on dry weight basis which significantly varied (C.D P>0.05=7.542). There was high potassium content in shoot of about 622.330 mg/100g and in root it had a value of 530.033 mg/100g on dry weight basis. The zinc content was recorded to be 10.310 mg/100g in shoot and 9.960 mg/100g in root on dry weight basis. The experiment on phytoremediation of arsenic contaminated water using Neptunia oleracea Lour revealed that the plant tissue with the treatment T3 (2.5mg/L) showed an arsenic accumulation to the tune of 1472 ppb which was about 60% of the initial arsenic content in water thus making it a strong candidate for phytoremediation of arsenic contaminated water. From the present investigation it can be concluded that Neptunia olercea Lour. had high crude protein, potassium, calcium and ash content. Further, a low crude fat was advantageous. The high content of some important minerals, such as potassium and calcium makes it nutritionally superior. The plant also displayed a strong phytoremediation potentiality by removing as much as sixty per cent of the arsenic present in water which might be useful to develop suitable technology to remove excess arsenic in freshwater systems as well as underground water in north east India where arsenic is a major contaminant.ThesisItem Open Access NUTRITIONAL AND ANTINUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF SOME EDIBLE INSECTS OF ASSAM(AAU, Jorhat, 2019-07) Sailo, Saihlupuii; Pathak, KhaninEdible insects are considered as underutilized foods that offer significant potential to meet the future global food demands. Insects, traditionally were an integral element of human diets in nearly 100 countries of the world, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Edible insects provide satisfactory energy, protein, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids and rich in several minerals such as copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, selenium, zinc and vitamins such as riboflavin, pantothenic acid, biotin and folic acid etc. Besides nutritional importance, the edible insects also possess an ample sources of antioxidant properties such as phenol, flavonoid as well as some antinutritional components. In the present investigation, five different edible insects like red ant (Oecophylla smaragdina),muga silkworm(Antherea assamensis),honey bee(Apis cerana),winged termite(Odontotermes obesus) and eri silkworm(Samia ricini) were evaluated for biochemical constituents. The range of moisture, crude fat, crude protein, total soluble protein, crude fibre, carbohydrate and ash were between 6.30-16.04 per cent, 10.20-36.08 per cent, 23.31-52.35 per cent, 12.54-18.71 per cent, 3.16-9.71 per cent, 7.20-16.84 per cent and 2.58-5.60 per cent respectively. Five different edible insect species had sodium content ranging from 10.67-149.10 mg/100g, potassium from 9.68-710.49 mg/100g, calcium from 20.65-222.83 mg/100g, iron from 5.70-25.18 mg/100g and zinc from 5.40-35.18 mg/100g respectively. Antinutritional components like tannin, phytic acid and oxalate were recorded as of 97.82-236.31 mg tannic acid equivalent/100g, 8.55-97.91 mg/100g and 1.49-3.79 mg/100g respectively. The range of phenol content, flavonoid content and antioxidant activity (DPPH) were recorded between 25.78-210.06 mg catechol equivalent/100g, 4.96-44.68 mg quercetin equivalent/100g and 89.36-94.41 per cent respectively. All the five edible insect species exhibited a well-balance nutrient profile and therefore, these could be the potential source for human food and animal feed.ThesisItem Open Access Quality analysis of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) genotypes of Assam(AAU, Jorhat, 2019-07) Thakur, Mousumi; Baishya, S.Buckwheat (F. esculentum) is a gluten-free pseudocereal with high biological value. It occupies a special place amongst cultivable crops due to its nutritional, dietetic and therapeutic properties. Buckwheat grain is characterized by a high content of starch, protein with an advantageous amino acid composition, a low content of α-gliadin and a high content of dietary fibre. The protein of buckwheat is of excellent quality and is high in the essential amino acid lysine, unlike common cereals. It was a very popular food during the 17th-19th centuries, lost its popularity because of competition from wheat during 20th century, but has recently become popular again because of its health-promoting properties. In the present investigation, sixteen buckwheat germplasm from RARS, North Lakhimpur were evaluated for biochemical constituents of quality significance. Buckwheat germplasm were found varying significantly in their proximate composition with moisture content ranging from 7.52-9.11%, crude protein from 7.23-9.53%, crude fat 1.97-3.62%, ash 1.83-2.93% and crude fibre from 3.71-4.78% on dry weight basis. Starch, amylose and resistant starch were found in the range of 63.18-72.61%, 22.45-24% and 15.20-20.53% respectively with nitrogen free extract ranging from 71.41-76.97%. Total soluble protein ranged from 4.58% to 7.40% and globulin was the major fraction (2.12-3.53%), followed by glutelin (0.96-1.65%), albumin (0.76-1.35%) and prolamin (0.13-0.24%). Buckwheat contained calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and sodium from 144.00-215.33, 2.50-3.50, 242.61-282.00, 237.00-298.27 and 1.56-4.24 mg/100gm respectively. Total phenolic content was found between 378.41 to 652.71 mg/100g and flavonoids between 33.80 to 60.11 mg/100g on dry weight basis. Of the sixteen buckwheat germplasm used in the study, released genotypes Himpriya, VL-7 and PRB-1; local genotypes BWC-1, BWC-2, Jonai and Kharupetia-2; accession genotypes EC-218742 and EC-27242 were found superior over the others in terms of nutritional quality.ThesisItem Open Access BIOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN KHASI MANDARIN (Citrus reticulata Blanco) DURING RIPENING(AAU, Jorhat, 2019-07) DEKA, SURJIT MONI; Baruah, A. M.Physical and biochemical constituents of the fruit khasi mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) cultivated in Assam was studied during different stages of development after 90 days after fruit setting (DAFS) to 210 DAFS. The fruits were analysed for physical parameters such as fruit weight, diameter, volume, pulp weight, peel weight and pulp-peel ratio as well as moisture, juice percentage, TSS, titratable acidity, sugar, juice pH, organic acid, ash and minerals (Na, K, P, Ca). Fruit weight increased from 23.46 g at 90 DAFS to 78.32 g 210 DAFS. Fruit diameter increased from 3.13 cm at 90 DAFS to 5.20 cm at 210 DAFS. Fruit volume also increased from 24.66 cc at 90 DAFS to 78.67 cc at 210 DAFS. Pulp and peel weight increased form 16.98 g and 6.48 g respectively at 90 DAFS to 61.06 g and 17.26 g at 210 DAFS respectively. Pulp: peel ratio also increased from 2.62 at early stage to 3.52 at last stage of observation. Juice content increased from 29.23 % at 90 DAFS to 46.03 % at 210 DAFS. The highest moisture content 87.37percent was observed at 210 DAFS which was significantly higher than that of moisture content at 90 DAFS (74.48 %). Lowest TSS content 5.83 percent was observed at 90 DAFS then it increased to 8.84 percent at last stage of observation (210 DAFS). There was a decreasing trend of titratable acidity from 3.19 percent at 90 DAFS to 0.85 percent at 210 DAFS. TSS/ Acidity ratio showed increasing trend in a significant manner towards maturity. Reducing, non reducing and total sugar increased from 1.65, 0.87 and 2.52 percent respectively at 90 DAFS to 2.85, 3.86 and 6.7 percent respectively at 210 DAFS. Citric acid content was found to decrease from 644.17 to 94.24 mg per 100 ml fresh juice. Oxalic acid content in the fruit was observed to be increased up to 150 DAFS then it decreased. Highest fumeric acid content was recorded at 90 DAFS as 20.78 mg/100ml of fresh juice. Highest ascorbic acid content 83.88 mg/ 100 g was observed at 210 DAFS. Ash content decreased from highest 5.14 per cent at 90 DAFS to the lowest 1.94 percent. Calcium content in the fruit decreased from 0.63 to 0.39 g/100 g. Potassium content also decreased gradually from 90 DAFS to 210 DAFS. Highest Sodium content was found at 90DAFS and found to decrease upto 180 DAFS. Phosphorus content of the pulp increase from 0.15g/100g (90 DAFS) to 0.26g/100g (150 DAFS) then decreased to 0.15 g/100g (180 DAFS) and then again increased to 0.17 g/100g (210 DAFS)
