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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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ThesisItem Open Access Performance and ergonomic evaluation of direct pady seeder and mechanical rice transplanter in wet lands(Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2013) Rathod Sachin, Ravsu; KAU; Sureshkumar, P KAn experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of the ‘Aiswarya’ 8 row direct seeder and ‘Mahindra PF455S’ 4 row walk behind mechanical transplanter with ‘Jyothi’ rice variety in wet lands from the ergonomic point of view. It conducted with selected male and female subjects in the age group of 25–35 years. The performance of these machines was compared with manual transplanting. The results show that the seed rate for direct seeder was very low with 37 kg ha-1 as compared to the mechanical transplanter (55 kg ha-1) and manual transplanting (72 kg ha-1). EFC found for direct seeder and mechanical transplanter was 0.11 ha h-1and 0.12 ha h-1 respectively. The field efficiency was found to be 69% for direct seeder and 74% for mechanical transplanter. Fuel consumption of the mechanical transplanter was found 3.7 l ha-1. The grain yield and straw yield in mechanical transplanting method was higher 2652 kg ha-1 and 3482 kg ha-1 as compared to 2265 kg ha-1 and 2885 kg ha-1 in the case of direct seeding. But in the case of manual transplanting, the yields were 2025 kg ha-1 and 2508 kg ha-1 respectively. The mean value of WHR and OCR with direct seeder was 145.5 beats min-1 and 0.95 l min-1 for male and 148.9 beats min-1 and 0.98 l min-1 for female. But in case of mechanical transplanter, the mean value of WHR and OCR was 131.6 beats min-1 and 0.80 l min-1 for male and 134.1 beats min-1 and 0.83 l min-1 for female. There was complete recovery of HR after 8 min with direct seeder and 6 min with mechanical transplanter. In case of direct seeder ODR, OSR, OER, BPDS values were given by male 6.5, 0, 6.0, 40.8 and by female 7.5, 0, 7.5, 45.6. The corresponding values for mechanical transplanter were 3.0, 1.5, 3.5, 36 by male and 3.5, 1.5, 5.0, 36. As per the grading of energy cost of work, direct seeder categorized as “very heavy type” and mechanical transplanter as “heavy type”. The 8 row direct seeder is not suitable for female subjects. A 4 row Mahindra walk behind mechanical transplanter could be used successfully not only to improve the yield but also to provide operator comfort as compared to the 8 row direct seeder.ThesisItem Open 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 PPassion 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.ThesisItem Open Access Water balance study of Karuvannur river basin(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1988) Santosh, G Thampi; KAU; John Thomas, KThis study was undertaken to quantitavely assess the water resources of the Karuvannur River Basin and to study the monthly water balance in order to estimate the balance for ground waterrecharge or depletion during the period 1976 to 1985. The mean monthly rainfall over the basin during the period 1976-1985 was determined by Thiessen polygon method . Data regarding the amount of water released for irrigation from the Peechi reservoir was also collected. Due to lack of data, contribution from other sources was not taken into account. The total runoff from the basin during each month of this period was determined . The various crop combinations in the basin were identified and the area under each of these was estimated . The actual evapotranspiration during each month was estimated using the method outlined by Doorenbos and Kassam. The basin was regarded as an independent hydrologic unit . Hence surface and subsurface inflow and outflow were assumed to be negligible.ThesisItem Open Access Development of a low cost garden tractor(Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1982) Sivaswami, M; KAU; Muhammad, C PThe 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 balancingThesisItem Open 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 PThe 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.ThesisItem Open Access Swat model evaluation using generated data and assessing the impact of land use changes(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2018) Nethi Naga, Hari Sairam; KAU; Anu VarugheseLand and water are the primary natural resources which are useful for all the living beings on earth surface. Degradation of the land surface and lack of water availability are the two major important problems mankind is facing in this century. In order to overcome these problems, there is a need of effective management of these resources. Watershed models are the tools which are not only useful for the effective management of these natural resources, but also useful for the proper understanding of the hydrological behavior of the watershed. These models play a vital role in simulating the hydrology of the watershed. Among the different categories of the model, a physically based, semi distributed hydrologic model SWAT was used for the assessment of the calibration and validation of the hydrologic model SWAT adapted to the study area. The data scarcity is one of the major problems in the ungauged watersheds. In order to overcome this problem, CFSR (Climate Forecast System Reanalysis) data which is a global, high resolutions, coupled atmoshphere ocean land surface sea ice system is available as an alternative option for solving the data deficiency in the watershed. The land use change also plays a vital role in altering the hydrologic system and has a large impact on the stream flow. This is mainly due to the rapid socio economic development. So, based on the above mentioned problems, SWAT output comparison using CFSR & observed meteorological data as inputs was take up. The impact of land use change on the hydrology of watershed was also studied. The platform used for the study was ArcGIS 10.3 with the Arc SWAT interface. The SWAT model set up was done for the Kunthipuzha river basin and the calibration and validation of the model was also done to make the model suitable for use in the area. This model was later used to understand the hydrologic behaviour of the watershed. The model was simulated for the period 1991 to 2013 for calibration and validation of the model was done using the data for the period 2014 to 2016. Before the model calibration and validation, sensitive parameters were evaluated using SWAT CUP (Calibration and Uncertainty Program). CN2 (Initial SCS runoff curve number for moisture condition II) and ALPHS_BF (Base flow alpha factor) were found to be the most sensitive parameters for the study area. The NSE and R2 before and after calibration were 0.81 & 0.83 and 0.82 & 0.85 respectively. The NSE and R2 for the validation were 0.70 & 0.87 respectively. Based on the statistical measures and the criteria used, the model performance is "very good" in the calibration period and "Good" in validation period. To analyse the possibility of using CFSR data instead on observed meteorological data, the developed model was run with observed meteorological data and predicted meteorological data (CFSR)was done separately without changing any other inputs for the period 1991 to 2013. The NSE, R2 and RMSE for the observed meteorological data were 0.82, 0.85 and 29.25 respectively where ad for the predicted meteorological data (CFSR) the values were 0.70, 0.72 and 37.18 respectively. Based on the statistical measures, the performance of the observed meteorological data is better than the predicted meteorological data. From the graphical analysis, it was clear that the values of predicted meteorological data were highly correlated with the observed meteorological data except at peaks. Hence, CFSR data can be used as a reliable data source in data scarce areas. The land use change impact play a major role in alternating the stream flow because of the rapid socio-economic development. The land use map for the year 2000 and 2017 were prepared. While comparing the land use for the year 200 and 2017 , it is found that the urban areas drastically increased from 3.01 to 20.01 % because of the rapid socio economic development. The forest land reduced from 22.24 to 21.31%. The percentage area under paddy decreased from 17.57 to 6.12 %. The model was simulated for the period from 1989 to 2016 with the two years of warm up period. Then the comparison of simulated discharge for the year 2000 and 2016 were evaluated. The results showed that there is no significant change in stream flow when the land use alone is changed keeping all other factors same.ThesisItem Open Access Development of microwave assisted fluidised bed dryer for nutmeg mace(Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2017) Yarrakula Srinivas; KAU; Santhi Mary, MathewDried mace possess great importance in international trade and are used in the preparation of extractives and volatile oils. Among various hot air drying methods, the more efficient method is fluidized bed drying for drying of foods, fruits and vegetables. Microwave drying, an alternative method for the drying of food products has gained popularity and is widely adopted. In microwave heating, heat generation takes place from inside to outside of the material due to the absorption of microwave energy by the regions with higher moisture levels. Application of microwaves solely, can result in uneven heating of certain products, depending on their dielectric and thermo physical properties. Thus, combining microwave radiation with hot air fluidization also provides an effective means of overcoming the non-uniform heating problems in conventional microwave heating. The bulk density, L*, a* and b* values of the fresh mace sample were 1191 kg/m3, 21.28, 22.23, and 9.09 respectively. At 5.1 m/s the fresh mace sample attained the fluidization condition. The developed microwave assisted fluidized bed drying system consists of a fluidized bed dryer and a microwave oven unit. The microwave oven unit consists of control panel where cooking time, power indicators and clock time are displayed and controlled. This domestic oven was modified by making a hole of 14 cm at the bottom and inserting the fluidized bed dryer through the hole. The main components of a fluidized bed dryer are drying chamber, plenum chamber, heating chamber, blower with power source and an air flow control valve. Logarithmic model was found as the best fitting model for the drying data with highest R2 value of 0.9996 and lowest χ2, SSE and RMSE values of 1.2588e-05, 0.0003 and 0.01 respectively at 50°C drying temperature and 800 W microwave power. In order to evaluate the developed microwave assisted fluidized bed dryer for nutmeg mace, the process parameters such as microwave powers of 480, 640 and 800W and drying air temperatures of 40, 45 and 50°C were chosen as independent variables. The process parameters would influence drying rate, drying temperature, energy consumption and physico-chemical 120 parameters such as colour, moisture content, bulk density and essential oil yield. These parameters were chosen as dependent variables. The optimized conditions of drying temperature and microwave power for microwave assisted fluidized bed dryer were found to be 47.76 °C and 681.73W.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on microwave steam distillation process for extraction of lemongrass essential oil(Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agriculural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2017) Claudia, K L; KAU; Prince, M VEssential oils are concentrated aromatic oily liquids distilled from different parts of aromatic plants. Conventionally steam distillation has been widely used for extraction. Modern technologies have been continuously developed to conquer the inadequacies of conventional methods. Microwave steam distillation is based on the interaction between water in the plant material and microwaves generated by the energy source. In this process, the steam generated outside accelerates evaporating and carrying of the essential oil, from the plant material, towards the condenser. In this study a microwave steam distillation system for extracting lemongrass essential oil was developed which composed of a microwave reactor, steam generator, cartridge, extraction unit, supporting stand, energy meter and temperature sensor and controller. In order to evaluate the developed system towards extraction of lemongrass essential oil, the effect of process parameters which would influence the essential oil yield, energy consumption and temperature of extraction such as bulk densities of 0.375, 0.675 and 0.875 g cm-3, microwave powers of 280, 420 and 560 W and soaking times of 30, 40 and 50 min were studied. The physical quality characteristics such as specific gravity, refractive index, solubility and colour of essential oil were analysed. The optimised operating conditions of bulk density, microwave power and time of extraction for lemongrass essential oil in microwave steam distillation were found to be of 0.375 g cm-3, 420 W and 30 min respectively. Scanning Electron Micrographs of lemongrass provided evidences to sudden rupture of essential oil glands with microwave steam distillation process. Gas Chromatographs of essential oil extracted through microwave steam distillation process showed higher percentage of Citral than that of steam distillation process. From the study it was concluded that microwave steam distillation could be considered as an extraction technique that results in the rapid production of high quality essential oil at shorter extraction period with minimum energy consumption.ThesisItem Open Access Development and quality evaluation of spray dried probiotic flavoured yoghurt containing(Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2017) Sreekutty Suresh, V; KAU; Rajesh, G KYoghurt is one of the most popular fermented milk products, it is a product of the lactic acid fermentation of milk by addition of a starter culture containing Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus . Commercial production of yoghurt has not been able to prove its supremacy in market due to its shorter shelf life. The shelf life of yoghurt can be improved by reducing its water content by drying. The dried products obtained are in shelf stable powder form which can be stored at ambient temperature. Spray drying technique has showed to be highly successful in prolonging the shelf life of food products. Considering these facts, a study was undertaken to develop a process protocol for flavored yoghurt powder. The objectives of the study are 1) Development of spray dried yoghurt powder using different carrier blend ratio and process conditions, 2) Standardisation of the process parameters and 3) Storage studies of the developed product. The physico-chemical characteristics of freshly prepared yoghurt were carried out. The spray drying of yoghurt was carried out in lab scale spray dryer with twin fluid atomizer. The spray drying experiments were conducted with different process parameters viz., carrier blend ratio (B1, B2, B3, B4 and B5), inlet air temperatures (T1, T2 and T3) and feed rates (F1, F2 and F3). Maltodextrin, corn starch and their combinations were used as wall material to produce yoghurt powder. Physicochemical properties of spray dried yoghurt powder were evaluated by standard procedures. The reconstituted yoghurt samples prepared from spray dried yoghurt powder were evaluated in terms of solubility and wettability. The process parameters were optimized based on the physico-chemical and microbiological properties of the developed yoghurt powder. By considering all the physico chemical and microbiological analyses done on the spray dried yoghurt powder at different processing conditions, powder sample processed at 170˚C inlet temperature with carrier blend B2 (3:1) at feed rate of 10 rpm was selected as optimized sample. The quality of plain yoghurt powder was improved by incorporating dried white pepper extract (C1- 2%, C2-2.5 % and C3- 3%) and ginger extract (G1-2%, G2-3% and G3-4%) at different combinations. The spices incorporated yoghurt product was spray dried at optimized operating parameters. The parameters of the flavored yoghurt powder were optimized based on physic-chemical and microbiological properties. By considering the physico-chemical qualities of the flavoured yoghurt under different processing conditions, the sample incorporated with 2.5 percent white pepper extract and 3 percent ginger extract (C2G2) was selected as the optimized sample. Flavoured yoghurt powder was packed in laminated aluminium pouches and sealed using a hand sealing machine and subjected to storage studies . Sealed pouches were stored at ambient and refrigerated storage(4°C) for a period of three months and the effect of physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics during storage was studied. The product stored at ambient condition is acceptable only up to 50 -75 days. But the product stored at refrigerated condition found safe up to 3 months.Cost analysis of the products was done and cost of production of one kilo gram was estimated as Rs.722/-.