Thumbnail Image

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.

Browse

20211
Reset filters
Subject: Agricultural Statistics and Informatics × Author: Harinath, A × Author: KAU × End date: 2022 × Start date: 2020 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Geostatistical analysis of groundwater level in Thiruvananthapuram District
    (Department of Agricultural Statistics, College of Agiculture, Vellayani, 2021) Harinath, A; KAU; Pratheesh P, Gopinath
    The research work entitled “Geostatistical analysis of groundwater level in Thiruvananthapuram district” was carried out at the College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2019-2021. The objective of the study was to analyze the spatiotemporal variations in the groundwater level, identify the relationship between groundwater and climatic factors (i.e., rainfall and temperature), and to prepare the thematic map for the location. To characterize the spatiotemporal fluctuations in groundwater level within the research region, various geostatistical approaches were used. The WRIS [Water Resource Information System] website was used to collect groundwater level data for 29 different locations within the study area for 10 years, from 2008 to 2017. The selection of data points was based on the even spatial distribution such that all the locations in the district are entirely covered. The NASA satellite website data was used to collect the rainfall and temperature data for the 29 distinct sites throughout a ten-year period. The semivariogram models were fitted to assess the spatial continuity of groundwater level. The nugget to sill ratio is also identified for detecting the spatial dependency. In the research region, the kriging interpolation approach was used to assess the spatiotemporal fluctuations in groundwater levels. If the data sets are normally distributed, the kriging interpolation technique will be more successful. Thus, the data points were subjected to exploratory data analysis to test the normality of the data set. The normality of the data sets is found out by Shapiro-Wilk’s normality test. The results showed that the years 2010 and 2017 are not normally distributed as the null hypothesis of the test is rejected. And also, in the case of temperature and rainfall, all the data points were not normally distributed. Thus, for the proper analysis, the log transformation was performed to the data sets which are not normally distributed and proceeded to further steps. The relationship of groundwater and climatic factors were accounted with the correlation analysis. The results showed that the temperature is having more dependency with the groundwater level fluctuation than the rainfall. 88 The semivariogram fitting were done to the groundwater level drop for each location, groundwater level over the years, and for the average groundwater level to identify the spatial and temporal variations in the study area. The drop was found out for each location by taking the difference between the groundwater levels of the years 2008 and 2017. The positive drop refers the depletion in the groundwater level and the negative drop refers the increment in the groundwater level. The nugget to sill ratio explains that the groundwater level drop is having a relatively strong spatial dependence. The three models, Spherical, Exponential and Gaussian models were fitted to the groundwater level for each year. The best fit model was selected by accounting the Adjusted R2 value. The spatiotemporal variation was studied by kriging interpolation method. The thematic maps were created to analyze the groundwater level variations. The maps were created in the ArcGIS 10.4 software. By investigating the maps prepared, the groundwater level depletion is observed severely in the Varkala region, and the Parassala region. The groundwater level at the high ranges like Ponmudi, Bonacaud, and Neyyar regions are maintaining a decent amount of groundwater level. From the PCA biplots prepared, the study concluded that there is a gradual groundwater depletion happening from 2008 to 2017. And from the biplot of years, the temperature is relatively high in 2016, 2017 where the groundwater level is also high. And the temperature is relatively low in 2008, 2009 where the groundwater level is also low. Thus, it can be concluded that the groundwater is having some dependency with the temperature variations which have been detected in the correlation analysis. From the biplot of different locations, it can be analyzed that the Varkala, Sreekariyam, Pothencode, Chengal, Neyyattinkara regions are having high groundwater depth. And Kattakkada, Kallar, Palode, Ariyanadu, Maruthamoola, Peringamala regions are having low groundwater depth. From the research performed, it can be concluded that, most of the locations are having a positive drop in the groundwater, which represents that the groundwater depletion is happening in temporal structure in the study area. The highest depletion in the 89 groundwater is seen in Pothencode, Chengal, Varkala, Neyyattinkara regions. The rate of groundwater level drop is 1.49 meters, which is positive, and can be inferred that there is depletion in the groundwater level. The nugget to sill ratio of the groundwater level drop in the study area is 0.367, which refers that the depletion is moderately spatially dependent. From the correlation analysis, it can be concluded that the temperature is a major factor influencing the groundwater depletion than the rainfall, because there is a positive significant correlation between groundwater and temperature. The groundwater depth of Varkala, Pothencode, Sreekariyam, Neyyattinkara, Chenkal, Kulathoor is high, and at Kattakkada, Palode, Kallar, Ariyanadu have low groundwater depth which can be concluded from PCA biplot of different locations