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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Open Access
Investigations on high rate anaerobic bioreactor for energy production from rubber latex processing effluent
(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology,Tavanur, 2020) Megha, A S; KAU; Shaji James, P
Agro-processing industries often contribute significantly in pollution due to discharge of untreated effluents. By anaerobic digestion of these organic effluents, methane rich gas can be produced which is suitable to generate electricity and process heat. But conventional biogas plants are slow in operation with long hydraulic retention times of 35 to 40 days which necessitates large digester volumes. So, anaerobic digestion of high volume agro-processing effluents is feasible only through high rate bioreactors which can reduce hydraulic retention time to few hours. Rubber latex processing effluent (RLPE) is a dilute waste water for which high rate anaerobic treatment can be an affordable technology. Hence, an investigation was taken up to study the performance of Up-flow Anaerobic Hybrid Bioreactor for energy conversion of rubber latex processing effluent (RLPE). Physico-chemical characteristics of RLPE samples were tested and found that RLPE was a dilute waste water with pH in the acidic range. BOD: COD ratio of 0.44 obtained in this study showed good biodegradability of RLPE. A batch anaerobic digestion study was conducted as a preliminary experiment to investigate the biomethanation characteristics of RLPE. The experiment consisted of four treatments having different composition of RLPE with inoculums replicated thrice. This study could prove that RLPE could be subjected to biomethanation and cow dung slurry can be used as inoculum. Even at a lower inoculum: substrate ratio of 1:2, the system could be started up yielding substantial amount of biogas coupled with good TS reduction. Performance of field scale Up-flow Anaerobic Hybrid Bioreactors (UAHBR) was assessed by operating them at different HRTs of 10, 7, 5, 3 and 2 day. During the study an interruption of 2 months in operation occurred due to shut down of the processing unit due to Covid 19. After interruption of 2 months reactor recovered within one month and it proved that hybrid bioreactor could be restarted easily after a shutdown for few months. Reactor was stable in operation during 10, 7, 5, 3 and 2 day HRTs and exhibited good process efficiency with better pollutant reduction and biogas production. Performance was seen deteriorated beyond 5 day HRT. The bioreactors were operated successively at reduced loading rates corresponding to the longer HRTs after reaching the shortest HRT of 2 day. It was observed that there was no considerable difference in daily biogas production with the earlier values obtained during the progressive decrease in HRT. This revealed that the bioreactors would have achieved the maximum possible microbial population already and there was no further improvement in performance on further passage of time. The performance parameters obtained in the investigations with field scale reactors were used for evolving guidelines to design a full scale anaerobic bioreactor. The UAHBR performance was quite satisfactory at 5 day HRT with respect to pollutant reduction as well as energy production. Hence as criteria, full scale plant was proposed to be operated at 5 day and the corresponding reactor volume was 27 m 3 with 7.2 m 3 gas holder volume. The biogas expected to be produced from the full scale plant can be used in a biogas fired rubber sheet dryer which can save about 500 kg of fire wood per day currently used for drying rubber sheets.
Open Access
Investigations on soil crop and machine parameters towards the development of a root crop harvester
(Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology,Tavanur, 2020) Basavaraj; KAU; Jayan, P R
The tractor drawn root harvester was designed and developed by considering soil, crop and machine parameters and performance evaluation of the machine was carried out in the experimental area at KCAET, Tavanur and different farmers’ fields at Palakkad and Thrissur districts. The developed machine mainly consists of main frame, power transmission system, digging and soil separator units. The effect of three blade geometries viz., straight edge, V-type and crescent blades at three rake angles of 15, 20 and 25 deg. and at three forward speeds of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km h-1 for the digging unit of the harvester were evaluated in terms of draft, digging efficiency, per cent damage of tuber/rhizome and fuel consumption of tractor mounted harvester for harvesting coleus, ginger and turmeric. The best optimal condition was observed at a forward speed of 2.0 km h-1 with 20 deg. rake angle for V-type blade. The soil separator unit of the harvester was evaluated along the digging operation. The soil separator unit was tested with different operational parameters viz., diameter of crank 40, 60 and 80 mm and spring tension 800, 1200 and 1600 N m-1. The best optimal operational conditions were observed at a spring tension of 1600 N m-1 with 80 mm diameter of crank. The maximum draft of 2009.52 N was recorded in straight blade while the minimum of 1418.66 N was observed in V-type blade. The maximum digging efficiency of 99.89 per cent was noticed in V-type blade, whereas the lowest of 84.15 per cent in straight edge blade. The least damage coleus of 0.59 per cent was observed in V-type blade whereas highest of 5.5 per cent was obtained in crescent blade. Among the different type of blades tested, the less fuel consumption of 3.80 l h-1 was noticed for V-type blade, whereas the maximum of 4.98 l h-1 for straight edge blade. In the case of harvesting ginger, the maximum draft of 2176.33 N was recorded in straight edge blade while the minimum of 1374.31 N was observed in V- type blade. The maximum digging efficiency of 99.57 per cent was noticed in V-type blade, whereas the lowest of 80.40 per cent in straight edge blade. The least damage coleus of 0.86 per cent was observed in V-type blade whereas highest of 6.05 per cent was obtained in crescent blade. Among the different type of blades, the less fuel consumption of 3.74 l h-1 was noticed for V-type blade, whereas the maximum of 5.19 l h-1 for straight edge blade. In the case of harvesting of turmeric, the maximum draft of 2192.08 N was recorded in straight edge blade while the minimum of 1390.06 N was observed in V-type blade. The maximum digging efficiency of 99.50 per cent was noticed in V-type blade, whereas the lowest of 81.91 per cent was recorded with the straight edge blade. The least per cent damage coleus of 0.74 per cent was observed in V-type blade whereas highest of 7.3 per cent was obtained in crescent blade. Among the different type of blades, the less fuel consumption of 4.0 l h-1 was noticed for V- type blade, whereas the maximum of 5.57 l h-1 for straight edge blade. The field capacity of the machine for coleus, ginger and turmeric were 0.15, 0.16 and 0.16 ha h-1 respectively and the field efficiencies were 86.11, 88.89 and 88.89 per cent respectively. The soil separation indices of root crop harvester for coleus, ginger and turmeric were found out as 82.71, 73.22 and 68.82 per cent respectively where as the conveying efficiencies were 90.70, 87.55 and 89.71 per cent respectively. The estimated cost of the prototype tractor drawn root crop harvester was as Rs. 60,000. The cost of operation was found out as Rs. 767.57 per hour. The saving in cost over root crop harvester for three root crops was 89 per cent. The machine has BEP of 40 h, PBP as 1.5 years and BCR as 10.7.
Open Access
Development of automated drip fertigation system using GSM based controller
(Kelappaji college of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2019) Akhila Shiney, P; KAU; Sajeena, S
Lack of sufficient water to grow enough crops for meeting the food demand of the increasing population is the major threat to Indian agriculture. The surface irrigation techniques cause seepage losses, erosion and water logging problems, deep percolation, salinization and runoff. To get satisfactory growth, application of right quantity of water at right time and at right place is very important and this can be accomplished only through micro irrigation techniques. Through automated drip fertigation, we can easily attain the agriculture intensification. The present study was focused on the development of GSM based automated drip fertigation system. In this study, calibration of capacitance type soil moisture sensors were carried out in laboratory for different soil types viz. laterite soil, black soil and costal alluvium soil. Field study was carried out with an Ujwala (KAU) variety of chilli crop under three treatments such as 100 percent irrigation and 100 percent fertigation with automation (T1), 100 percent irrigation and 100 percent fertigation without automation (T2) and 100 percent irrigation and 70 percent fertigation with automation (T3). The automated drip fertigation system consists of four capacitor type sensors, electronic fertilizer injection pump and fertilizer mixing device. Total yield and crop growth parameters showed better performance under 100 percent irrigation and 100 percent fertigation with automation (T1). Combination of 100 percent irrigation and 70 percent fertigation with automation (T3) also gave the good result which was on par with T1. Therefore, it could be concluded that with 30 percent less fertilizer, better performance of crop was obtained with automated drip fertigation system. It could also be shown that the right quantity of water at right time at right place is giving better performance of crop. The developed automated drip fertigation system is cost effective, portable, can perform better in field.
Open Access
Development and evaluation of an automated pulse irrigation system
(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2019) Prasang H Rank; KAU; Vishnu, B
Irrigation sector consumes more than 80% of the fresh water resources in India. The irrigation efficiencies of the major irrigation systems in India are around 40%, increasing of which could save large amounts of water. The irrigation efficiencies could be increased through the adoption of cost-effective and efficient irrigation technologies, which will reduce water demands, increase agricultural production, minimize soil and water pollution and reduce the cost of agricultural production. Drip/Trickle irrigation is a highly efficient irrigation method which could save tremendous amounts of water when adopted in the place of the wild flooding irrigation. Pulse drip irrigation technology enables lower application rates - that will permit sufficient aeration in the root zone and alleviate plant stress due to inadequate root respiration– from an emitter with a higher application rate by intermittent water applications. This study attempted to develop and evaluate a sensor based automated pulse drip irrigation system which is affordable to the lowincome farmers of the nation. The soil properties of the experimental field were used to estimate the parameters of several soil water characteristics curve (SWCC) models. Among the models; van Genuchten (1980) model of SWCC, was found to be the best in representing the soil moisture retention characteristics of the soil used in the study. An open-source electronics platform, the Arduino was used for the development of the automation system using moisture content sensors and solenoid irrigation valves controlled through relays, by writing program coding in the Arduino programming language. The sensors were calibrated to read the moisture content, which was compared to the management allowed deficit (MAD) and field capacity (FC) soil moisture content values to control the start and stop of irrigation water application. Pulse irrigation design methodology was used to derive the ON and OFF time periods for the pulse cycle. The system was programmed to start the water application as per the designed pulse cycle at a moisture content defined by the MAD moisture content and to stop the water application at the field capacity (FC) moisture content sensed by the moisture sensor. The wetting front movements and the soil moisture contents in the root zone were measured at different time 182 intervals of 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours after the start of water application using both continuous irrigation and pulse drip irrigation under 2 LPH, 4 LPH and 8 LPH online drip emitters. The soil aeration was also determined for these treatments and was found to be better during the pulse irrigation as compared to the continuous drip irrigation. The pulse irrigation application was also found to be decreasing the deep percolation loss of water. The developed automated pulse drip irrigation system is found to provide the required aeration in the root zone with reduction in deep percolation loss of water.
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 Varughese
Land 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.
Open Access
Runoff estimation of KCAET campus by curve number methods adopting remote sensing and GIS techniques
(Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering , college of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2019) Anjana, S R; KAU; Jinu, A
This study mainly focused to estimate the runoff of KCAET Campus using the curve number method. The study was carried out in GIS enviromuent using remote sensing data. Also the curve number method was validated for selected storm events in the study area. The analysis was done for tlie year 2004 to 2007, 2018 and 2019 upto June. The land use map was digitized from Google eartli of year 2006 and 2018. ArcGIS 10.2 was used for the analysis. About 28.5% of the total area belongs to high runoff potential class, 33.7% have medium mnoff potential and 37.7% of the area has low runoff potential. The runoff percentage from the annual rainfall varied from 16% to 23% for tlie study period. The runoff percentage in 2007 and 2018 were almost similar but the rainfall depths of both years were 3971.8 mm and 2919.8 mm respectively. The rainfall amount in the study area is showing a decreasing trend and runoff is showing increasing trend. Seasonal analysis showed that maximum rainfall deptli was observed in south west monsoon and thereby runoff yield. The runoff percentage was lower in the pre monsoon season as the major part of the rainfall will infiltrates into the soil. Also the runoff depth was highly influenced by antecedent moisture condition and potential maximum retention capacity. The curve number values for noimal conditions were 57.77 and 58.95 for the year 2006 and 2018 respectively. The cuiwe number value tends to increase as antecedent moisture condition increases. The simulated runoff was compared with observed runoff for selected storm events in the study area. The correlation coefficient was found to be 0.928. The integration of remote sensing and GIS along with NRCS curve number method was found to be a powerful tool in estimating runoff.
Open Access
Estimation of soil moisture indices using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy
(Kelappaji college of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2019) Sarathjith, M C; KAU; Anu Varughese
Rapid and reliable estimation of soil moisture constants namely, field capacity (FC) and wilting point (WP) is significant for scientific irrigation scheduling. The conventional methods for their estimation are cumbersome, time consuming and not suitable for their estimation at different space and time domains. An alternative would be the use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) for which the development of calibration functions that link the soil attributes with spectral signature is a major pre-requisite. In this study, the utility of spectral index, feature projection of full-spectrum and variable selection approaches namely, normalized difference reflectance index (NDRI), partial least squares regression (PLSR) and ordered predictor, selection (OPS), respectively to build accurate and less complex calibration functions was evaluated. The performance of calibration functions were judged in terms residual prediction deviation (RPD) criteria. The NDRI based calibration functions developed in this study do not comply witli the minimum accuracy level (RPD<1.4) expected from DRS analysis. In contrast, both full-spectrum based PLSR and OPS approaches yielded calibration functions which were capable for accurate (RPD>2.0) and moderate (1.42.0) estimation of FC and WP, respectively. Specifically, the full-spectrum based calibration function developed using second derivative of reflectance was found to be the best for both FC (RPD=2.01) and WP (RPD=1.74). The OPS approach in conjunction with variable indicators namely, combination of regression & correlation coefficient (/?- r) and combination of adjacency values of mutual information & signal-to-noise vector (AMl-StN) yielded best calibration functions in case of FC and WP, respectively. The calibration functions so developed consisted of only 19.09% (FC) and 34.39% (WP) of total number of spectral vaiiables as that in full-spectrum. Thus, the result of the study advocate the use of OPS approach to develop simple and parsimonious calibration functions to estimate FC and WP from spectral signature of soil.
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, Mathew
Dried 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.
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 V
Essential 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.

Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

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