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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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Subject: Agricultural Engineering × Author: KAU × End date: 2012 × Start date: 2012 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Tech. ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development and evaluation of modified atmosphere packed passion fruit(Passiflora edulis)
    (Department of Post harvest technology and agricultural processingKelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2012) Madhana Supriya, R; KAU; Sudheer, K P
    Passion fruit is a tropical fruit which is extensively used in juice processing. The fruit is highly perishable and losses its quality immediately after the second day of harvest. The postharvest loss in quality and commercial value is due to the intense respiratory activity and significant moisture loss. Hence a study was undertaken to develop a wax applicator to extend the shelf life of passion fruit by adopting the postharvest technologies. A simple and efficient wax applicator with a capacity of 250 kg.hr-1 was developed based on the physical properties of the fruits. Various samples of the passion fruits were treated with bee wax and commercial wax packed in LDPE bags of 200 and 400 gauge. The effect on the shelf life extension of fruits was investigated individually and in combination of wax and LDPE bags. In the case of LDPE bags, different levels of perforations such as 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% were used. The samples were kept in ambient condition viz., 32 - 35°C and 70 - 80% RH and at cold conditions as 7ºC and 90% RH. The physicochemical characteristics of samples were tested periodically at an interval of 5 and 7 days, under ambient and cold storage conditions, respectively. The results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. From the results it was revealed that the samples kept in non-perforated polythene covers were found to be better than those kept in perforated bags and in normal atmosphere. A maximum shelf life of 40 days was obtained for passion fruits at 7oC coated with commercial wax emulsion. Thus, commercial wax coating in combination with LDPE bags acted as a barrier against moisture loss and respiration rate of fruits. However, the fruits kept as control had lost consumer acceptability after the tenth day of study at cold condition and within two days at ambient storage conditions.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Impact of fertigation and drip system layout on performance of chilli(Capsicum annum)
    (Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2012) Nadiya, Nesthad; KAU; Kurien, E K
    The study “Impact of fertigation and drip system layout on performance of Chilli (Capsicum annum)” was taken up with the objective of determining the effect of fertigation, drip system layout and different levels of irrigation for chilli under plastic mulch. Different fertigation equipments like ventury injector, dosmatic fertigation unit and fertilizer tank were tested to study the hydraulic performance of the system. Ventury injector for fertilizer application was found to have high suction rate in comparison with dosmatic fertigation unit. The suction rate and motive flow rate was found to vary directly with respect to the pressure drop between the inlet and outlet of the fertigation equipment. Ventury injector can be used only if the discharge rate is above 14.6 L/min. Dosmatic fertigatrion unit and fertilizer tank can be used if the discharge rate is above 1.1 L/min and 6.6 L/min. The moisture distribution pattern under different drip field layout was observed. The moisture content near to the plant base was found to be high and decreases as the distance from the emitters increased. The effect of different irrigation levels and drip system layout under plastic mulch on the performance of Chilli (Capsicum annum), Ujwala variety was also studied. The number of branches, stem girth and yield showed significant difference between the treatments. The yield showed significant difference with different levels of irrigation and drip system layout. Maximum yield of 18.32 t/ha was observed for the treatment T5. The treatments T6 (17.952 t/ha) was on par with the treatment T5. The benefit cost ratio for treatment T5, 85 per cent of the irrigation requirement with one lateral for each row of crop was 3.8 and treatment T6, 85 per cent of the irrigation requirement with one lateral in between two rows of crop was 3.9. Even though the yield for the treatment T5 was high, the benefit cost ratio stands high for treatment T6. The high value of benefit cost ratio for treatment T6 was due to the reduction in the quantity of material for drip irrigation system
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development and quality evaluation of extruded RTE snack food from starch based food products
    (Kelappaji college of agricultural engineering and technology, Tavanur, 2012) Aneeshya Kamal, K S; KAU; Sudheer, K P
    As the eating patterns are changing day by day, snack foods play very important role in the diet of the modern consumer. Extrusion cooking has been used increasingly in the production of food and food ingredients such as breakfast cereals, baby foods, snacks, meat and cheese analogues, as well as modified starches which have a pivotal role in the food industry. With the increased demand of extruded RTE snacks in the modern food industries, an extruded product was developed and standardised with starch based food products such as rice, cassava and banana. The raw materials mixed in different proportions of rice: banana and rice:cassava:banana were extruded under various process parameters viz. die temperatures, extruder screw speeds, feed rates and feed moisture content. Quality evaluation of the developed 96 extrudates along with control was done for standard engineering properties including physical, functional, textural and machine parameters. MAP of the extrudates were carried out in 400 gauge aluminum bags and kept for 3 months period for shelf life studies. Based on puffing characteristics, 17 samples were selected as best products. At the end of storage studies, the quality evaluation of these extrudates in terms of textural and organoleptic properties were analysed and yielded satisfactory results. The subjective analysis with good overall acceptability was also noted. The study concluded that rice: cassava: banana combination of R10:C80:B10 with extrusion done at temperatures of 180ºC to 200ºC at higher screw speed (100 and 120 rpm) could be considered optimum. The proposed product technology was found feasible with 37% IRR with a calculated unit cost of ₹ 3/- per 20g pack. So this product will be a snack cum breakfast kit for the consumers with a balanced mix of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals which will ensure nutritional security and food safety.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Hydraulics and field performance of a novel micro sprinkler
    (Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and technology, Tavanur, 2012) Soumya Rani, T; KAU; Sathian, K K
    This thesis work was undertaken to study the hydraulics and field performance of a simple and novel micro sprinkler developed by a farmer Mr. Avaran, M of Malappuram District, Kerala. It is made by fusing one end of a 3mm diameter, 4 cm long LDPE micro tube and making an incision just below the fused end. The manually made micro sprinkler samples of four different dimensions were used for the experiment. The micro sprinklers were tested for their hydraulic performance in the laboratory under four different pressures viz. 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 kg/cm2. The performance parameters of the micro sprinklers considered for the study were discharge, wetted radius, mean application depth, Christiansen‟s uniformity coefficient, coefficient of variation, distribution characteristics and soil moisture distribution pattern. The farmer developed micro sprinkler was found suitable to irrigate most of the perennial and vegetable crops of the study region. However, the micro sprinkler was showing considerable variability in discharge, wetted radius and application depth. To solve the deficiency of the farmer developed micro sprinkler, it was decided to manufacture standardised micro sprinklers through plastic injection moulding. The hydraulic performance of the industry manufactured micro sprinkler was not promising as revealed by the laboratory results and needed further refinement. A preliminary investigation has led to the conclusion that if moulding and cutting is done through two separate manufacturing processes better results can be brought out. Further, a field study was carried out with the farmer developed micro sprinkler to evaluate its field performance for the crop cucumber, with different levels of irrigation and mulching at the instructional farm, KCAET Tavanur. Randomised Complete Block Design was used for the study with 9 treatments and 3 replications. The various field performance parameters such as moisture distribution in the soil, temperature variation of the soil, number of female flower emergence, yield and yield attributing characteristics viz. number of fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit girth and water use efficiency of the crop were evaluated. The micro sprinkler with 100% irrigation level with paddy straw mulching has been emerged as the best treatment for maximizing yield of cucumber in sandy loam soil and for the climatic condition of the region where experiment was carried out. Looking from the yield and water use efficiency angles together, the best treatment was 75% irrigation with paddy straw mulching. It has been concluded that this simple and low cost micro sprinkler, despite its minor limitations, can be used effectively for irrigating most of the vegetable crops of Kerala.