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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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Subject: Agronomy × Author: Akhil, T Thomas × End date: 2017 × Start date: 2017 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Water and weed management for aerobic rice
    (Department of Agronomy, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2017) Akhil, T Thomas; KAU; Deepa Thomas
    Aerobic rice culture is a technology to improve the water productivity in rice culture. Water and weed management are two important aspects of this promising technology. It is well established that yield reduction in rice happen if the soil moisture level falls below the field capacity. Unlike in flooded conditions,weeds pose greater problem in aerobic rice production.A field study was undertaken at Agronomic Research Station (ARS), Chalakudy from September 2016 to January 2017 for developing appropriate water and weed management strategies for aerobic rice. The treatments comprised of three levels of irrigation in the main plot (irrigation at 10 mm cumulative pan evaporation (CPE), 20 mm CPE and 30 mm CPE) and five weed management treatments in the subplot (pre emergent herbicide oxadiargyl followed by hand weeding, oxadiargyl followed by 2,4- D sodium salt, oxadiargyl followed by bispyribac sodium at 20 days after sowing (DAS), hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS and an unweeded control). Depth of irrigation was 3 cmand the total water applied including effective rainfall amounted to 933 mm, 574 mm, 403 mm in I1, I2 and I3 respectively. Irrigation at 10 mm CPE recorded higher values for growth parameters like plant height and number of tillers per meter as well as yield and yield attributes.Higher root volume also was recorded in these plots .Relative leaf water content and chlorophyll content were higher under frequently irrigated plots (10 mm CPE) than less irrigated plots. Moisture stress lead to inhibition of leaf production and decline in leaf area in aerobic rice. Higher availability of moisture, reduced stress, better growth and yield attributes contributed to higher yield under irrigation at 10 mm CPE. Moisture stress caused reduction of 44 percent grain yield under irrigation at 30 mm CPE over irrigation at 10 mm CPE. Hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS resulted in better growth, yield and yield attributing factors of aerobic rice. Oxadiargyl followed by bispyribac sodium at 20 DAS and oxadiargyl followed by hand weeding at 20 DAS were the next bettertreatments which were on par.Weed competition resulted in 64 percent reduction in grain yield. Oxadiargyl when applied pre-emergent waseffective in controlling the first flush of weeds in the field. All the treatment combinations with oxadiargyl recorded the lower weed dry matter production and weed density. As the crop advanced to flowering, hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS resulted in lower weed dry matter production and weed density. Better growth and yield in this treatment suggested a long critical period of weed competition in aerobic rice. Irrigation at 30 mm CPE registered the highest water productivity of 0.96 kg m-3, but with severe yield loss. Among weed management treatments hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS recorded the highest water productivity (1.13 kg m-3) and the lowest was from unweeded control (0.37 kg m-3). Irrigation at 10 mm CPE in combination with hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS registered the highest growth and grain yield (2791 kg ha-1) and recorded water productivity of 0.88 kg m-3. However irrigation at 10 mm CPE in combination with oxadiargyl followed by bispyribac sodium at 20 DAS resulted in the highest net return (Rs 51477 per hectare) and B:C ratio (2.3).