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Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

The history of agricultural education in Kerala can be traced back to the year 1896 when a scheme was evolved in the erstwhile Travancore State to train a few young men in scientific agriculture at the Demonstration Farm, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, presently, the Cropping Systems Research Centre under Kerala Agricultural University. Agriculture was introduced as an optional subject in the middle school classes in the State in 1922 when an Agricultural Middle School was started at Aluva, Ernakulam District. The popularity and usefulness of this school led to the starting of similar institutions at Kottarakkara and Konni in 1928 and 1931 respectively. Agriculture was later introduced as an optional subject for Intermediate Course in 1953. In 1955, the erstwhile Government of Travancore-Cochin started the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Mannuthy, Thrissur for imparting higher education in agricultural and veterinary sciences, respectively. These institutions were brought under the direct administrative control of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Animal Husbandry, respectively. With the formation of Kerala State in 1956, these two colleges were affiliated to the University of Kerala. The post-graduate programmes leading to M.Sc. (Ag), M.V.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees were started in 1961, 1962 and 1965 respectively. On the recommendation of the Second National Education Commission (1964-66) headed by Dr. D.S. Kothari, the then Chairman of the University Grants Commission, one Agricultural University in each State was established. The State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) were established in India as an integral part of the National Agricultural Research System to give the much needed impetus to Agriculture Education and Research in the Country. As a result the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) was established on 24th February 1971 by virtue of the Act 33 of 1971 and started functioning on 1st February 1972. The Kerala Agricultural University is the 15th in the series of the SAUs. In accordance with the provisions of KAU Act of 1971, the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, were brought under the Kerala Agricultural University. In addition, twenty one agricultural and animal husbandry research stations were also transferred to the KAU for taking up research and extension programmes on various crops, animals, birds, etc. During 2011, Kerala Agricultural University was trifurcated into Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU). Now the University has seven colleges (four Agriculture, one Agricultural Engineering, one Forestry, one Co-operation Banking & Management), six RARSs, seven KVKs, 15 Research Stations and 16 Research and Extension Units under the faculties of Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering and Forestry. In addition, one Academy on Climate Change Adaptation and one Institute of Agricultural Technology offering M.Sc. (Integrated) Climate Change Adaptation and Diploma in Agricultural Sciences respectively are also functioning in Kerala Agricultural University.

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1981 - 19844
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Subject: Agricultural Engineering × Author: KAU × End date: 1984 × Start date: 1980 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Design and development of a propeller pump
    (Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1984) Sasi, K; KAU; Remadevi, A N
    “Petti and Para” a crude form of Axial flow pump is used in Kerala for dewatering agricultural fields. It is being fabricated by local blacksmiths and there is no scientific design for the pump. For low head high discharge conditions Petti and Para is very effective, but less efficient because of faulty construction. The broad objective of the project was to develop an axial flow pump with improved efficiency which could be economically used for dewatering and for lift irrigation purposes under low head conditions. In this investigation, a good amount of attention was given to the fluid dynamics inside the axial flow pump and theoretically studied the combined affect of various parameters involved in the design of an axial flow pump. Then the parameters were compared with the approximate values given by the various researchers in the field. The requirement of the pump to be designed, at field conditions, were studied thoroughly and an one dimensional design was done. After designing and fixing the dimensions, the pump was fabricated in the Kerala Agricultural University Research Workshop at Mannuthy. Because of the lack of facilities in the Research Workshop, it was tested in the hydraulics laboratory at the Government Engineering College, Trichur. The power unit used was a 15 HP electric motor. The accessories used to measure discharge and head were a rectangular notch with Hookgauge and water manometer respectively. Testing was done with two levels of water above the impeller, one 20 cm above the impeller and the other 10 cm above the impeller. For the above two conditions, at designed head (1.5m) the maximum efficiencies obtained were 33 per cent and 29.5 per cent at discharge 121 lit/sec. and 114 lit/sec. respectively. The maximum working capacity was 165.19 lit/sec. against a head of 1 m with an efficiency of 31.95 per cent (20 cm above the impeller) In the three bladed pump, the blades were fixed to the hub by welding it to the suitably shaped (curved) M.S flats and then bolting the curved M.S. flats to the hub. The blades were twisted from 160 to 240 in a uniform variation by simple blacksmithy. The efficiency of the pump can be increased by using perfectly curved blades, which reduces eddies and skin friction. Comparing with the existing Petti and Para made by local blacksmiths, it is found that the pump is cheap as well as efficient.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Mechanical control of the floating type aquatic weed salvinia wolesta (African payal)
    (Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1981) Sankaranarayanan, M R; KAU; Jose, Samuel
    Salvlnia molesta, locally known as ’African Payal‘ is a noxious floating type aquatic weed of common occurance, particularly in the State of Kerala in India* The infestation is the heaviest in the Kuttanadu region and in the Kole lands of Trichur District of the State, where alone more than 50,000 hectares of inland water surface is under the grip of this weed. In the present project, the possibilities of mechanical control of the Salvinia weed were investigated* The study concentrated on the development and evaluation of a prototype Salvinia harvesting Machine which utilised a novel design concept of fluidising the mass by means of a centrifugal* ejector pump combination* The machine consisted of two 5 H.P portable pumpsets as the prime mover and an ejector system mounted on a floating platform. The machine pump out the weed-water mixture into a floating filtering unit at zero lift from which the water was drained by gravity, the material was automatically loaded into a country boat. The results of tests conducted indicated that the 10 H.Pmachine was capable of pumping the Salvinia weed at an average rate of 16 T/hr at zero lift conditions. The proportion of the weed pumped was of the order of 15 % by weight of the secondary flow when pump¬ing water alone. The special features of this equipment were that it could utilise conventional Irrigation punpsets as the prime mover and that it did not allow the weed materials to be drawn into and clog the primary pump. The machine was also capable of being operated as a self propelled unit. In this project, certain accessory units such as a gather¬ing arm, a floating fence and an automatic filtering unit were also successfully developed and evaluated* In addition to load¬ing the material into a country boat, a disposal technique of pumping the weed materials into a field fermentation pond, which avoided any immediate transportation costs for the harvested material, was also investigated. It was found that the bulk density of Salvinia was of the order of 400 kg/n3. It was also found that the spread density value of the weed, depending on the stage of growth and degree of packing, could vary from 8 T/ha to 32 T/ha. A representative value for the spread density, under the still water condition at Kuttanadu, was found to toe of the order of 16 T/ht. This meant that the prototype Salvinia Harvesting Machine would be capable of clearing the weed from a hectare in 10 working hours* The estimated cost of such an operation amounted to Rs.280/- per hectare which compared favourably with the reported costs of Rs.900/- to Rs.2700/- per hectare for manual collection and disposal of the weed. It is considered that the present work is a signi¬ficant contribution to solving the problem of African Payal infestation in Kerala State.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Hydraulics of border strip irrigation on level or nearly levely rice fields
    (Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1983) Visalakshi, K P; KAU; George, T P
    In Kerala, more than seventy per cent of the double cropped rice fields lie fallow during summer months. Rice cannot be grown during this season because of the limited availability of water and the very low water use efficiency that can be attained during this season. The development of a technology for efficient use of limited water available during summer is necessary to make use of these rice fallows for cultivating crops other than rice. As most of the area is under paddy during first and second crop seasons, the level of the land cannot be disturbed. But now, there is no any satisfactory method of irrigation suitable for irrigating nearly level rice fallows. The objective of this project was to study the hydraulics of border strip irrigation in nearly level lands and to recommend suitable specifications. The experiment was done at the Agronomic Research Station, Chalakudy during 1981-82. It consisted of five replications of four treatments. The treatments were two widths of 4m and 6m combined with two discharge rates of 2 1/sec/m and 4 1/sec/m, the length of strip in all cases being 45m. The surface gradient was 0.03815 per cent in the direction of natural slope. Altogether seven irrigations were given at an interval of seven days. Blackgram seeds were dibbled in the field after the first irrigation and cultural practices as recommended in the package of practices were followed. The time of advance of waterfront, the depth of flow and the time of recession of tail water were observed at every 5m length for each strip. The cutoff length was chosen as 77 per cent from the upstream end. The hydraulic gradient, hydraulic resistance and velocity of flow for each irrigation were determined. The advance and recession curves were drawn. The results of the experiment revealed that a discharge rate of 2 1/sec/m is the best for irrigating nearly level borders of 4m and 6m widths. The depth of irrigation could be limited to 5 cm even in soils having high rate of infiltration. The lower discharge rate of 2 1/sec/m reduced the time of ponding at the downstream end and this minimized the wastage due to deep percolation at the downstream end. Soil erosion in the strip was minimum at this rate of discharge, and long strips upto 45m length in loamy sand could be irrigated with high degree of efficiency. As only a low rate of discharge is required to practice this method, even in areas having limited availability of water, an additional crop can be profitably raised. It is estimated that the water needed to raise one hectare of rice in summer months can be more profitably used to raise about 4 ha. of any other crop. Hence, growing rice during summer season should be discouraged and the land should be utilized to raise other remunerative crops like pulses, oilseeds and vegetables. Now the Government has decided to provide water not only for rice but also for other seasonal crops during the summer months. But now, there is no satisfactory method of irrigation for nearly level fields. Border strip method of irrigation is hardly practiced anywhere in Kerala, even though this is a very popular method in the other parts of India for raising cereals, pulses and oilseeds. However, this method is practiced there on sloping lands. Since the present study revealed that this method can be practiced efficiently on level or nearly level fields, this is best suited for the rice fallows during the dry season. Most of the paddy fields have a mild natural slope in one directions. This slope can be used to advantage by laying the strips in the direction of natural slope. This method can be recommended to the farmers for raising a crop in the rice fallows. The specifications of border strips for nearly level lands are as follows: _______________________________________ Length of border - Upto 45m Width of border - 4 – 6m Rate of flow - 2 1/sec/m Slope - should be laid in the direction of natural slope Height of bunds separating the strips - 20 cm Base width of bunds - 30 cm __
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Utilization of "salvina molesta" (African payal) for bio-gas production
    (Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1983) Somashekaren Nair, S; KAU; Remadevi, A N
    An investigation on 'Utilization of Salvinia molesta(African Payal) for bio-gas production' was conducted in the Agricultural Engineering Department, College of Horticulture , Kerala Agricultural University, with the objective of standardizing the conditions and identifying the best generator model for optimum gas production from salvinia. From the physical and the gas production characteristic studies, salvinia was recognised as a potential raw material for bio-gas production. For the pilot plant experiments a new design was fabricated and was compared with the adaptive designs of K.V.I.C model, Bhagyalekshmi model, and horizontal type K.A.U model.