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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 - 19823
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Subject: Agricultural Engineering × End date: 1982 × Start date: 1980 ×
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Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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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
    Development of a low cost garden tractor
    (Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1982) Sivaswami, M; KAU; Muhammad, C P
    The study was conducted with the objectives of systematic analysis of components with respect to their kinematics, dynamics and ergonomics and evaluation of traction performance and economics of low cost garden tractor. A greaves Lombardini 5.4 hp diesel engine with 1800 rpm was selected and a simple three step speed reduction system having a single stage V belt drive and double stage chain drives with a pivotted countershaft clutch have been designed. A road speed of 6.635 kmph and field speed of 3.317 kpmh were achieved by using a cone pulley arrangement with 6.00 x 12 size wheel.Correct position of various components bringe the centre of gravity of the unit with and without implement at very close to the final drive axle for easy balancing
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of small scale equipment for extraction of cocoa butter and production of cocoa powder
    (Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1982) Ganeshan, V; KAU; George, T P
    The primary objective of this project was to evolve a viable technology and equipment system for small scale processing of cocoa beans. The study mainly concentrated on the development of an extraction unit for the separation of butter from cocoa mass. Various equipment required for small scale processing of cocoa beans were either identified or designed.