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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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2001 - 20034
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Subject: Agricultural Engineering × End date: 2004 × Start date: 2001 × Type: Thesis ×
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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Bionomics And Host Range Of American Serpentine Leaf Miner liriomyza trifolii (burgess) (agromyzidae :diptera)
    (Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Horticulture,Vellanikkara, 2003) Smitha, M K; KAU; Maicykutty Mathew, P
    The present investigation on the "Bionomics and host range of American serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii (Bugcss) (Agrornyzidae: Diptera)" was undertaken in the Department or Entomology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 2001-2002. Field surveys and laboratory studies were carried out with the objective of studying the biology, host range, natural enemies and seasonal incidence of L. trifolii. The biology of L. trifolii was studied by releasing a pair of one day old adult l1ies 10 the rearing cages where cow pea seedlings were kept as host plants and honey as a food source. The female Ily inserted its eggs in the tubular punctures made on the leaves with its pointed ovipositor. The oval, translucent, milky white eggs hatched in about 2.08 days. The larvae mined the upper leaf surface and produced characteristic serpentine mines. There were four larval instars having a total duration of 3.4days. Alter the larvae attained full size or 2.35 mm length and (),(i4 mill width it made a semicircular cut at the broad end of the leaf mine. Through this cut larva came out of the mine and fall down to the soil for pupation. Inside the soil the larva turned to golden yellow coloured pupa. Female pupa was larger compared to male pupa. Adult emergence took place after 7.9 days. The adults had a longevity varying form 4.5days for mall's and 7.4 days for females where as they were feed with 2 per cent honey solution. Adult females were larger than the males and had black pointed spot on the lower sick of last abdominal segment. The fecundity of female varied from 14.6 eggs per day per female. The adult female laid about 48-5'0 eggs in its life time. The ratio or oviposition or feeding puncture was I: R.QC) to 1: 9.3. The total life cycle from eggs to adult took 13.3 days. The host range was studied by conducting surveys at regular intervals. 48 host plants belonging to 13 plant families were reported as host plants of this pest. It is a highly polyphagous insect and majority or the host plants belonged to families of Cornpositac and Cucubitaccae. The intensity of infestation of 1.. trifolli on various crops were calculated by counting the number of larval mines per leaf on the upper, middle and lower leaves of the plants. The attack of L. trifolt! was more on the lower leaves compared to middle and top leaves. Cowpea was found to be the most preferred host plant of L. trifolii followed by ash gourd, ridge gourd, tomato, pumpkin and cucumber. Among the ornamentals dahlia and marigold were severely damaged by this leaf miner. The intensity of infestation per unit area was maximum on tomato (l.74 mines per cm2) followed by cowpea (1.14 mines per cnr'). The number of mines per unit area was lowest for pumpkin (0.33 mines per ern"). In the studies on the seasonal incidence of L. trifolii two peak periods of infestation was observed, one during November and the second during January. The leaf miner population was observed to be highest from second fortnight of November to second fortnight of April. A significant positive correlation of larval population with wind velocity, sunshine hours and evaporation rate was observed. Relative humidity and total rainfall had negative correlation with infestation of L. trifolii. Parasitisation of L. trifolii by larval and pupal parasitoids were observed and the percentage of parasitoids were observed and the percentage of parasitism was maximum during December, J,U1uaIY and February months coinciding with the peak infestation periods. These natural enemies can be effectively utilized for the management of L. trifolii.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Effect of seal formation due to cattle manure application on infiltration and runoff
    (Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2003) Rakesh, K N; KAU; Abdual Hakkim, V M
    The application of soil amendment is one of the major management practices in farming operations. Nowadays, the importance of manure application as a soil amendment is increasing due to the increased concern for the ecology and environment its abundance in availability and low cost. The manures are rich in organic matter content and other nutrients. It changes the physical properties of the soil. But the excess application of organic manure may lead to detrimental results due to the surface seal formation. Hence, the present study attempts to assess the effect of seal formation due to cattle manure application on infiltration and runoff. In the coarse textured soils, like sandy loam soil the infiltration rate will be reduced and runoff will be increased. But in the fine textured soils, like clay loam soil, the infiltration rate will be increased and runoff will be reduced. The contents of the nutrients like nitrogen, organic matter and total solids in the runoff water and the physical properties like bulk density will increase with the increase in manure application and rainfall intensity. Hence it was concluded that, while applying manure on the field, the rate of application of the manure can be determined only after determining the soil texture and rainfall intensity. Otherwise, the manure application will be results in pollution of nearby water bodies.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Optimal water use and cropping pattern for Thrithala regulator-cum-bridge project
    (Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2001) Saritha, E K; KAU; Sathian, K K
    Reservoir projects involve huge financial investment and hence, every drop of water stored in the reservoir must be utilised very judiciously. Allocation of water in the case of multi-purpose projects among various competing needs such as drinking water, irrigation, pisciculture, downstream flow, etc. is a matter of great concern. Hence, formulation of optimal operational policies for reservoirs has become highly essential to improve their financial viability, social acceptability and overall performance. So a study has been undertaken for a regulator-cum-bridge under construction at Thrithala in Palakkad district of Kerala state in Indian peninsular with the specific objectives of determining the optimum water allocation of the reservoir for meeting various demands on it and obtaining the optimum cropping pattern for the command area. A linear programming model was formulated to optimize the reservoir operation of the multipurpose project with the objectives of Drinking water demand, Irrigation demand, Pisciculture demand, and Downstream flow demand, in the order of priority. The deviations of the allocations from the targets to be achieved were minimized by introducing penalty coefficients to each deviation according to their order of priority. Using the irrigation allocation from this model, another Linear Programming model was formulated to obtain the optimal cropping pattern for the command area. Both models were solved using Excel Solver software package. The optimal operational plan and the optimal cropping. pattern obtained were compared with the operating plan and cropping pattern proposed by the irrigation department. The optimal operation plan with the incorporation of additional objectives was found to be more socially acceptable and economically viable. The optimal cropping pattern showed that there is more than 100% increase both in the net benefit as well as in the net area irrigated.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Performance evaluation of hydrocyclone filter
    (Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2001) Damodhara Rao, M; KAU; John Thomas, K
    the final efficiencies are almost the same irrespective of the concentration of soil suspension. The particle size distribution of underflow material for different concentrations of soil suspension indicates a measure of separation efficiency of the filter. It was found that the percentage finer to coarser particles is almost the same for all the concentrations but for lower concentrations, fine particles have higher percentage of finer. This may indicate the efficient separation of fine particles in the case of lower . concentrations of soil suspensions. For the soil suspension of 300, 600, 900 and 1200mg/1 the percentage of particles finer than 0.075111111 are 0.86, 0.58, 1.96 and 4.05% respectively. The higher value of concentration for 300mg/1 indicates the better separation of finer particles.