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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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20201
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Subject: Agriculture × Author: KAU × Author: Reddappa, J B × End date: 2021 × Start date: 2020 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Evaluation of elite clove (Syzigium aromaticum (L.) Merr. and Perry) accessions and standardization of pollination techniques
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Agriculture , Vellayani, 2020) Reddappa, J B; KAU; Sreekala, G S
    The present study entitled “Evaluation of elite clove (Syzigium aromaticum (L) Merr. & Perry) accessions and standardization of pollination techniques” was taken up with the specific objective to evaluate elite clove accessions and to standardize pollination techniques for hybridization. The twelve elite accessions identified from estates of Trivandrum and Kollam districts of Kerala designated as BRC-1, BRC-2, BRC-3, BRC-4, MRC-5, MRC-6, MRC-7, MRC-8, AMC-10, AMC-11, AMC-12 and AMC-13 were evaluated during the period of 2018-2020. Quantitative characterization was done with 25 quantitative characters including tree, leaf, bud, flower, yield, fruit and seed characters. The girth of the tree at 30 cm height was maximum in BRC-3 (165 cm). Highest number of inflorescence/m2 was recorded in AMC-12 (156.25). The number of flower buds/inflorescence was maximum in MRC-6 (17.25) while single bud fresh and dry weight was highest in BRC-3 with 398.72 mg and 127.26 mg respectively. The mature bud length among the clove accessions was the maximum in BRC-1 (19.34 mm) whereas the mature bud diameter was maximum in BRC-3 (6.45 mm). The dry bud yield per tree was the highest in MRC-7 (8.13 kg) followed by BRC-1 (7.48 kg). Quantitative characters summarized based on the descriptive statistics revealed wider range of variability in single bud weight fresh, number of inflorescence/m2, single bud weight dry and girth of the tree. Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS), a multivariate analysis done on 25 variables with 12 observations revealed 10 dimensions and the contribution of MDS Dimension-1 and Dimension-2 were 75.76 and 17.21 percent with cumulative variance of 92.97 percent respectively. Based on the scree plot of MDS, first 2 dimensions were selected for generating the biplot. Based on MDS configuration eight clusters of selected clove accessions were identified. Dendrogram representing the relationship among 12 elite accessions based on Euclidean distance also identified same eight clusters of clove accessions that identified in MDS configuration. The linkage analysed based on the biplot of two dimensions of multidimensional scaling of biplot coordinates revealed a strong positive association between most of the characters measured except, girth at 30 cm height, number of inflorescence per m2, single bud weight fresh and single bud weight dry. Minimum Data Set for identifying a promising clove accession generated revealed accessions BRC-1, MRC-5 and MRC-6 had better ideotype and can be suggested as elite or superior accessions. The experiment on floral phenology and biology was carried out in clove plants at Braemore estate, Trivandrum district. The flower opening time of the clove flowers observed were between 2:30-6:30 pm. However the percentage of flower opened was maximum between 3.30- 5.30 pm. The number of stamens per flower varied from 167 to 343. The rupturing of anthers started 36 hours before anthesis and maximum anther dehiscence occurred between 36 h before anthesis till anthesis. The pollen grains were monad, radially symmetrical, triangular, trizonosyncolporate and were having exine ornamentation. The polar diameter of pollen grain ranged from 17.06-18.22 µm and the equatorial diameter of pollen grain ranged from 19.40-20.70 µm. The stigma receptivity by hydrogen peroxide test revealed stigma receptivity was there upto six days from anthesis and maximum stigma receptivity was observed on fifth day of anthesis with highest number of bubbles (31.40 per cent). The emasculation should start from 48 hour before flower bud opens which was revealed by the starting of separation of the petals since anthers started rupturing from 36 hour before anthesis. Pollen viability by iodine potassium iodide method revealed that pollen viability was maximum at 12 hour before anthesis (94.02 per cent). Pollen fertility was also maximum on the pollen collected 12 hour before anthesis (82.83 per cent). Thus the pollen collection should be undertaken 12 hour before anthesis. Pollen collected and dried at 50°C and stored upto two months of storage in refrigerator had maximum pollen viability whereas pollen fertility was maximum in pollen dried at 50°C and stored in desiccator. The hybridization was carried out on selected five clove plants as male and female parents. The percentage of fruit set ranged from 15 per cent to 42.5 per cent and average fruit set from all the plant combinations was 28.87 per cent. The study on “Evaluation of elite clove (Syzigium aromaticum (L) Merr. & Perry) accessions and standardization of pollination techniques” revealed that clove accessions such as BRC-1, MRC-5 and MRC-6 had superior ideotype and superior in effective yield. The floral phenology of clove was studied and pollen collection, storage and artificial hand pollination in clove was standardized.