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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 Development and evaluation of process protocol for vacuum fried carrot chips (Daucus Carota L)(Department of Processing and Food Engineering, KCAET, Tavanur, 2021) Babu, P; KAU; Rajesh, G KCarrots are highly nutritious vegetable, which can be consumed in raw and processed form throughout the world. Carrot plays a vital role in the development and protection of human body. Carrot contains vitamins viz., B1(Thiamine), B2(Riboflavin), B6(Niacin) and B12 (Cobalamin) besides rich in source of βcarotene and dietary fibre which are helpful to prevent cancer and other dreadful diseases occur in human body. In Kerala state, carrot production is very limited, but its consumption is more. The postharvest losses of carrot were estimated as 18- 20%. The development of value-added products from carrot was an idealistic solution to reduce the postharvest losses by adopting new processing technologies. At present, due to consumer’s awareness, there is a lot of demand for healthy and tasty snack products with less oil content which provide good health. In this context, investigation on processing technologies focus on producing high quality fried products with less oil content and good textural property. The technology of vacuum frying is a best option for the production of novel snacks which fulfil the consumers demand and meet nutritious requirements. Vacuum frying is a novel technology, in which the food is heated under lower temperature and pressure(<6kPa). Vacuum frying lowers the water activity, oil content, retains the color and preserve nutrients in the fried product. The batch type vacuum frying system consists of two chambers viz., frying chamber (3kg capacity) and oil storage chamber (30-35L capacity). The refined palm oil was used for vacuum frying and de-oiling was done at 1000 rpm for 10 min. After every batch of vacuum frying, the oil was collected for quality analysis. Prior to the research, the physico-chemical properties of raw carrot (Ooty-1) was determined. The pre-treatments viz., blanching, blanching cum drying, blanching cum freezing, freezing and gum coating were optimized based on the quality of vacuum fried carrot chips. The freezing pre-treatment obtained the best results among other pre-treatments in terms of less oil content (14.48 %), water activity (0.214), moisture content (2.67%), hardness (1.282 N) and red color retention of a* value (22.85). The standardization of process parameters were done using RSM (CCRD) based on the quality characteristics of VF-carrot chips. The process parameters seected in this study were frying temperature (100,110 and 1200C), frying pressure (11,13 and 15 kPa) and frying time (16,18 and 20 min). The optimum operating conditions of vacuum frying viz., frying temperature, vacuum pressure and frying time were found to be 100°C, 11 kPa and 16 min respectively. At optimum operating conditions of 100°C, 11 kPa and 16 min, the quality parameters were oil content (11.31%), bulk density(0.873 g/cm3 ), true density(1.714 g/cm3 ), moisture content(3.28%), water activity (0.384), hardness (1.31 N),thickness expansion (60.42%), L*(43.48), a*( 14.36) b*(28.12) and energy content(1021 KJ/100g). Packaging and storage studies were conducted for the treatments which had high sensory score. The laminated aluminium flexible pouch with N2 gas filling was found to be the best packaging technique to enhance the shelf life of VF carrot chips to a storage period of 4 months. The oil quality parameters viz., total polar compounds (TPC), viscosity, peroxide, free fatty acids (FFA) etc were within the allowable limits even after 40 batches of vacuum frying. The total production cost of 1kg of vacuum fried carrot chips was found to be Rs. 355/-.ThesisItem 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, PAgro-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.ThesisItem Open 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, PThe 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.ThesisItem Open Access Dynamics of power transmission in tractor mounted paddy reaper(Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1996) Sushilendra; KAU; Sivaswami, MA tractor front mounted 2.2 m wide paddy reaper windrower was evaluated to find out the optimum forward speed, cutterbar speed, conveyor belt speed and engine speed for different field conditions to achieve better harvesting and windrowing pattern, Maximum field capacity and field efficiency with less harvesting losses. Three PTO pulleys of 17.78 cm, 19.03 cm and 20.32 cm diameter with internal splines were fabricated and used with an engine speed from 1000 to 2000 rpm with four gears in low range and first gear in high range. In addition to pneumatic tyres, a pair of special cage wheels and a simple collection unit were developed and evaluated. In water submerged fields with special cage wheels and PTO pulley of 17.78 cm diameter better results were observed when reaper was operated at an engine speed of 1500 rpm with third low gear with a forward speed of 0.95 m/s. The optimum cutterbar index and conveyor index were found to be 1.56 and 2.30 respectively. The actual field capacity was 0.38 ha/hr and field efficiency was 54 per cent. The crops were found to throw within 10 cm from the discharge plate with an tiller angle of more than 85 degree with only 1.54 per cent of total loss of grain. When the soil is moist and pneumatic wheels fail to give sufficient traction, the special cage wheels were used with a PTO pulley of 19.03 cm diameter. An engine speed of 1400 rpm with third gear and with a forward speed 0.90 m/s was found to give satisfactory performance. The optimum cutterbar index was 1.66 and conveyor index was 2.45. The reaper had the field capacity of 0.36 ha/hr with field efficiency of 53 per cent. The windrowed crop were found to throw within a distance of 13.5 cm with 85 degree of tillers angle with total grin loss of 1.55 per cent. For dry fields, the reaper with pneumatic wheels was found to operate satisfactorily with 20.32 cm diameter PTO pulley at an engine speed of 1300 rpm with fourth gear and with a forward speed of 1.00 m/s. The optimum cutterbar index was 1.48 and conveyor index was 2.19. The actual field capacity was 0.38 ha/hr and field efficiency was 50.66 per cent. The tillers angle was 85 degrees with total grain loss of 1.62 per cent. It is found that the better field performance was achieved when the reaper is operated at a cutterbar speed of 1.50 m/s and conveyor belt speed of 2.20 m/s. A simple crop collection unit of size 1. 5m x 0.7m x 0.35m was developed with the provision for conveying the windrowed crop directly into the collection box. The unit was field evaluated with reaper. The box was found to fill within 10 m of travel and problems were observed in its manoeuv reability, loading and unloading of box and increased idle time.ThesisItem Open Access Design fabrication and testing of a low cost greenhouse(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1995) Ajayambikadevi, S J; KAU; Remadevi, A NControlled environment agriculture in the form of greenhouses, low tunnels and cloches are being practiced at commercial levels in many countries. Among these the greenhouses are the best for active environmental control. The major hurdle for adopting greenhouse cultivation is its high initial investment. Considering the importance of developing greenhouses of simple design with low initial investment, the thesis entitled ‘Design, Fabrication and Testing of a Low Cost Greehouse’ was undertaken. A greenhouse of size 12 m x 3 m was constructed at the Instructional Farm, KCAET, Tavanur. The structure was gable shaped. The main structural members were hoops, ridge line mechanism, foundation material and the structure for pad gripping and fan replacement. Ultraviolet stabilized polyethylene film was used as the glazing material. The fan and pad system of cooling in which the air is cooled by the moist air drawn through the wetted pads was adopted. The system was designed based on the rate of air to be removed from the greenhouse. A fan of maximum air flow rate of 10450 m3 /hr and a pad of size 3000 mm x 1200 mm was found necessary to satisfy the cooling requirements. The climatological parameters namely dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature and intensity of solar radiation were measured both inside and outside the greenhouse. The cooling system was operated for various time intervals and the observations were taken under cooled and uncooled conditions of the greenhouse. The temperature inside the greenhouse was higher than that outside. The maximum temperature recorded inside the greenhouse was 47.60C without cooling and 38.50C with cooling. Longitudinal temperature gradient of 50C existed between the fan end and pad end of the greenhouse. Cooling increased the relative humidity inside the greenhouse. Variation in humidity existed between the pad end and the fan end. A desired temperature and relative humidity can be maintained inside a greenhouse by operating the cooling system for various time intervals. The variation of solar intensity inside the greenhouse was similar to that outside. The polyethylene cover transmitted 60 per cent of the solar radiation incident on it. The average efficiency of the pad was 65 per cent. The cost of construction was Rs. 375.58 per square metre.ThesisItem Open Access Tank mix application of cyhalofop-butyl with selected herbicides for weed control in wet seeded rice(College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2016) Atheena, A; KAU; Prameela, PHerbicidal weed control is very common in rice cultivation. Application of pre- emergence and post emergence herbicides or two post emergence herbicides as follow up sprays is usually recommended to take care of diverse weed flora in rice. As this increases the cost incurred in spraying, farmers prefer single spray of a mixture of herbicides or a broad spectrum herbicide. Cyhalofop-butyl is a common cost effective post emergence selective herbicide that controls grass weeds, especially the rice associated weed Echinochloa spp. and Leptochloa chinensis. The present study was carried out to study the efficacy and economics of tank mix application of cyhalofop-butyl with selected herbicides (pre emergence, post emergence and early post emergence) and to study the response of weed flora to tank mix application. A field experiment was conducted in Alappad kole lands from September 2015 to January 2016, using the rice variety Uma (MO-16). There were a total of 16 treatments replicated thrice. Almix® [chlorimuron-ethyl (10%) + metsulfuron-methyl (10%)], ethoxysulfuron, carfentrazone-ethyl, pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, pretilachlor, pendimethalin were tank mixed with cyhalofop-butyl and were also applied as follow up sprays, two days after cyhalofop-butyl application. For better comparison, sole application of cyhalofop-butyl, as well as a broad spectrum post emergence herbicide, bispyribac sodium, were also included apart from hand weeded and unweeded controls. Pre emergence herbicides were sprayed at six days after sowing (DAS), and early post emergence herbicide at 10 DAS. All tank mix herbicide applications were done at 18 DAS and follow up post emergence herbicide applications at 20 DAS (i.e., two days after the application of cyhalofop-butyl). Hand weeding was carried out at 20 DAS and 40 DAS. The data on weed spectrum revealed that broad leaf weeds and grasses were dominant and at 30 DAS they constituted 47 per cent and 46 per cent of the population respectively, whereas sedges constituted only 7 per cent. Echinochloa stagnina was the dominant grass and Monochoria vaginalis, the dominant broad leaf weed. Among tank mix applications of herbicides, cyhalofop-butyl + pyrazosulfuron-ethyl recorded the least weed dry matter production while among various sequential application of herbicides, the lowest weed dry matter accumulation was noted in cyhalofop-butyl followed by (f.b.) Almix® and both were statistically comparable. Among various herbicides and herbicide mixtures, both tank mix and sequential applications of carfentrazone-ethyl caused severe phytotoxicity in rice. However, the crop recovered by seven days after spraying and plant growth parameters were not affected with all the treatments registering comparable plant height at all stages. At both 30 DAS and 60 DAS, hand weeded treatment registered the highest tiller count. However, this was on par with bispyribac sodium, pyrazosulfuron-ethyl + cyhalofop-butyl and cyhalofop-butyl f.b. Almix®. Highest and statistically superior grain yield was registered in hand weeded treatment. Application of cyhalofop-butyl + pyrazosulfuron-ethyl and bispyribac sodium were the next best treatments with respect to grain yield and were superior to all other treatments. Except for pyrazosulfuron-ethyl all other herbicides resulted in lower grain yields when tank mixed with cyhalofop-butyl with weed index in the range of 13to 18 per cent and weed control efficiency in the range of 61 to 76 per cent (at 30 DAS). Application of follow up sprays of herbicides for control of broad leaf weeds after cyhalofop-butyl resulted in grain and straw yields comparable to that of single application of bispyribac sodium, which recorded a higher B:C ratio of 2.4. From this study it can be concluded that tank mix application of cyhalofopbutyl with pyrazosulfuron-ethyl at 18 DAS can be recommended for effective control of mixed weed flora in wet seeded rice as this treatment resulted in the highest B:C ratio (2.5) as well as net returns. It is not advisable to go for tank mixing of cyhalofop-butyl with Almix® as it will lead to complete loss of activity of cyhalofopbutyl. Tank mixing of pre emergence herbicides with cyhalofop-butyl was found to be less effective than their sequential application.ThesisItem Open Access Development of an extruded product from raw jackfruit(College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2015) Veena, Kumari; KAU; Suma, DivakarThe study, entitled “Development of an extruded product from raw jackfruit was carried out at the Department of Home Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, during the period 2013-15. The main objective of the study was to develop an extruded product viz. noodles from raw jackfruit and ascertain its physical, chemical, nutritional, cooking and shelflife qualities. The preliminary processing methods for development of the product were standardised. Thus, dimensions of bulbs and seeds, blanching and boiling time and immersion in various pre-treatment media for different durations of time were identified. Raw jackfruit bulbs and seeds were processed into flour and their quality was evaluated. Analysis of nutritional and chemical quality revealed that seed flour had higher levels of nutrients than bulb flour; energy (353 kcal), protein (10.48g), carbohydrate (81.46 g), magnesium (338.04 mg), calcium (308.56 mg), sodium (60.63 mg) and potassium (1478.37 mg). The nutrient composition of bulb flour was analysed for energy (329 kcal), carbohydrate (74.12g), protein (1.53 g), calcium (30 mg), sodium (35.06 mg), magnesium (0.13 mg) and potassium (328.11 mg) in hundred grams (dry weight basis). Shelf life quality revealed that bulb flour is more stable with respect to moisture, insect and microbial infestation. Six treatments comprising of different combinations and proportions of refined flour, jackfruit bulb and seed flour were tried out for processing of noodles. These composite flour combinations formed the base material for noodles. Noodles were extruded with the Barbender single screw extruder at CTCRI Sreekaryam, Thiruvananthapuram. The physical characteristics ascertained for the products were- colour, bulk density, true density, swelling index. Extrusion behaviour was evaluated with respect to three parameters namely residence time, appearance and uniformity of strands. Whiteness index (an indicator of colour) ranged from 66.20 to 85.36. Treatment T3 (5:3:2) had revealed higher bulk density (0.91g/cm3) while treatment T6 (5:2:3) showed the least value (0.78g/cm3). The lowest value for swelling index (1.05) was obtained for the treatment T5 (5:1:4) while T4 (5:4:1) was seen to have the highest value for swelling index (1.46). No significant difference for true density was observed among the treatments. Cooking characteristics analysed were cooking time, cooking loss, cooked weight and water absorption. When T6 recorded lowest time for cooking (8.26 min), T4 took the highest time (9.36 min). Cooking loss ranged from 9.13 to 15.37%. T4 was observed to have the highest cooked weight (24.62g) and T7 (commercial noodles) had the lowest (19.87g). There was variation with respect to nutrients in all treatments. Among the developed noodles calorie (380 kcal), carbohydrate (70.91) and protein (13.49) content was highest in T5. On organoleptic analysis, T5 obtained the highest values with respect to appearance (4.59), colour (4.77), texture (4.89), and taste (4.87) and over all acceptability (4.78). These values were seen to be lower than the values of control but this difference was not statistically significant. When the products were packed and kept for storage for 3 months in HDPE and laminated pouches, it was observed that moisture, microbial contamination, sensory qualities did not show significant change irrespective of packaging material. Physical characteristics, shelf-life parameters, nutrient and chemical profile, were seen to be on par among the treatments. However T5 and T6 can be recommended with respect to better sensory qualities. (Refined flour, jackfruit bulb flour and jackfruit seed flour in the ratio of 5: 1: 4 and 5: 2: 3). From the above study, it can be concluded that noodles with high consumer acceptability can be developed from this underexploited fruit, which has good nutritional, organoleptic and shelf life qualities.ThesisItem Open Access Process standardisation for banana wine(College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2011) Saritha, E V; KAU; Usha, VThe study on “Process standardisation for banana wine” was undertaken to evaluate the physico chemical and sensory qualities of banana (Palayankodan) wines with pure strains of wine yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and commercial baker’s yeast. Since, composition and quality of a wine was closely related to the yeast strain used, standardisation of banana wines with yeast strains was an objective of the study. In the present study, three pure strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae viz MTCC 172, MTCC 174 and MTCC180 were obtained from IMTECH and the commercial baker’s yeast were used each in two different dilutions (106 and 107) for fermentation of banana pulp. Inoculum concentration was standardised by standard procedures before fermentation. Wine yield was significantly high with baker’s yeast in both 106 dilution (68.36%) and 107 dilution (67.76%). Among pure strains, wine yield was high with MTCC 172 in both dilutions (59.53 and 57.57% respectively). MTCC 172 (106) also produced wines with significantly high TSS (13.93° brix) and high pH (4.25). Among wines with baker’s yeast, T7 (106 dilution) showed highest wine yield (68.36%), alcohol content (8.23%) and TSS (12.46° brix) with a corresponding high titrable acidity of 0.89 per cent and low pH (3.74). Clarity of wine was maximum (T8) with baker’s yeast (78.75% light transmittance) in 107 dilution. Sensory qualities of the wines with yeast strains revealed that the panelists were in agreement only with the high flavour profile of the wines. Among pure strain, MTCC 172 (106) dilution had the maximum score for colour and appearance (8.1), flavour (8.1), taste (7.9) and overall acceptability (7.8). Among wines with baker’s yeast, T7 (106 dilution) showed the best score for colour and appearance (8.4), flavour (8.2) and overall acceptability (7.6). Based on the overall acceptability score of the wines, pure strain MTCC 172 (106 dilution) and baker’s yeast in 106 dilutions were selected for wine development. Another objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of various treatments on the quality attributes of wines developed by the selected yeast strains. Treatments with pectinase enzyme, potassium metabisulphite (KMS) and pressure cooking of banana pulp as a pretreatment were done to evaluate the quality aspects of wines. Among treatments with MTCC 172, T2 (pulp + sugar + PS + enzyme) and T8 (pressure cooked pulp + sugar + PS + enzyme + KMS) were selected with maximum overall acceptability score (7.9). Among treatments with baker’s yeast, the selected treatments with acceptable quality parameters were T2 (pulp + sugar + BY + enzyme) and T4 (pulp + sugar + BY + enzyme + KMS) with the highest overall acceptability score of 7.8 and 7.7 respectively. All the four selected wines were treated with pectinase (0.3%). The selected wines after initial quality evaluation were pasteurised and bottled in amber coloured bottles with cork caps and were stored in ambient temperature for three months for storage studies. The physico chemical characteristics of the wines showed a significant increase in clarity, titrable acidity, tannin and a significant reduction in reducing sugar. Maximum wine clarity, titrable acidity and maximum reduction in reducing sugar were found in T2PS. With respect to organoleptic qualities, there was no significant change with regard to colour and appearance, taste and overall acceptability of the wines in storage. A significant increase in flavour, desirable level of astringency and acceptable level of alcohol were observed in T2PS (pulp + sugar + PS + enzyme) after storage. Organoleptic qualities after storage revealed a high score for T2PS in attributes like desirable level of astringency (7.9), sugar acid blend (8.1), taste (8.2), acceptable level of alcohol strength (8.0) and overall acceptability (8.1). After storage there was no microbial population (yeast, bacteria and fungi) in the wines. The cost of production of the selected wine treatment T2PS (pulp + sugar + PS + enzyme) was worked out and was compared with the cost of 750 ml of grape wine locally available made by wine makers. Grape wine (750 ml) costs Rs.150/- whereas the banana wine costs Rs. 96/-. The cost can be reduced further in large scale production of banana (Palayankodan) wines