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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 Evaluation of different protein sources in the formulated feed for macrobrachium Rosenbergii (De Man) Juveniles(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries,Panangad, 1989) Anilkumar, P; KAU; Thampy, D MThe nutritional quality of five locally available sources of protein such as clam meat, squid waste, squilla shrimp head waste and silkworm pupae was evaluated in the feed for the giant freshwater prawn, macrobrachium rosenbergii, with a view to develop a feed which is cost effective. The feeds were prepared using these locally available ingredients along with groundnut oil cake, wheat bran,tapioca flour, supplevite (a commercially available vitamin- mineral mixture) and sardine oil and maize oil mixture. The protein sources tested were not found to be grossly deficient in their nutritional quality as good survival rates of over 90% were obtained when they were used as the main protein sources in the feed of juvenile prawn. Highest growth rate was obtained for clam and squid based diets, intermediate growth response with squilla and shrimp head based diets and the lowest growth among the various sources was given by silkworm pupae diet. Feed conversion efficiency was higher for clam and squid based diets, while intermediate feed efficiency was noted for squilla and shrimp head meal diets. Lowest feed efficiency was observed for silkworm pupae diet. Protein efficiency ratio showed a similar pattern. In the second experiment, substitution with carbohydrate for protein was found to be promising from an economic point of view. It was found that lowering of protein level from 35 to 30% could be achieved by increasing the carbohydrate level from 20 to 30% without affecting the growth , survival and feed efficiency. Similarly, protein level could be lowered from 30 to 25% by increasing carbohydrate by 10% from 20% level. This suggest that a 5% reduction of costly protein could be achieved by including 10% more of carbohydrate which will be able to reduce the cost of the feed with out sacrificing the nutritional quality of the formulated feed.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of eyestalk ablation on androgenic gland and male secondary sexual characters in Macrobrachium Idella (Hilgendorf)(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries,Panangad, 1998) Sherine Sonia, Cubelio; KAU; Thampy, D MThe present study in the prawn, Macrobrachium idella was taken up to find out morphotypic variation among the males, the endocrine basis for these variations and also to know the role if any, the eyestalk endocrines have, on the control of androgenic gland, which in turn is controlling the development of male primary and secondary sex characters. The study conducted to find the relationship between development of sex characters with that of androgenic gland conducted using 30 male prawns of different sizes has ShO\\-l1 that these sex characters are under the control of androgenic gland and have no relationship with that of the body size. Of the 30, 22 individuals were found to have a bodylength to cheliped length ratio below 1: 1.5, their androgenic gland and appendix masculina, not fully developed indicating that they are reproductively inactive. Remaining 8 individuals have a body length to cheliped length ratio above I: 1.5. They have well developed androgenic gland and appendix masculina showing that there is positive correlation between the biomass of androgenic gland and the cheliped length. An experiment conducted to find out the effect of unilateral eyestalk ablation on growth and development of primary and seconadry sexual characters as well as on the androgenic gland, had shown that destalking brings about a positive change in the development of androgenic gland and sex characters. The increase in the size of the androgenic gland and consequent hypertrophy of primary and secondary sexual characters brought about as a result of unilateral eyestalk ablation do indicate that the GlH, a hormone produced in the eyestalk has got an inhibitory effect on androgenic gland as well as on the growth of the prawn, which when removed by " destalking" , results in the enlargement of the androgenic gland and other sexual characters.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of eyestalk ablation on growth and reproduction of macrobrachium equidens (Dana)(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries, Panangad, 1994) Bijulal, P S; KAU; Thampy, D MThe objective of the present study is to evaluate the effect of eyestalk ablation on survival, growth, food conversion and reproduction of adult Macrobrachiumequidens. In the first experiment conducted for 35 days, unilateral eyestalk ablation, bilateral ablation and control treatments were employed at four level of salinities viz 5, 10, 15 and 20 ppt. Complete mortality in bilateral ablation and survival rates of 40.625 % and 68.75% for unilateral and control treatments were recorded at the end of the experiment, the values ranging significantly. The four salinity levels applied did not significantly affect survival. The difference in growth between ablated and unablatedtreatments was insignificant in terms of percentage gain, specific growth rate and average daily percentage gain in terms of length and weight. Salinity levels also showed insignificant difference in growth. Food conversion rate was significantly better in ablated treatment. The different salinity levels tried showed significant difference with regard to food conversion, being better at 20 ppt. In the second experiment conducted for 60 days on females, eyestalk ablation was found to enhance ovarian. In the second experiment conducted for 60 days on females, eyestalk ablation was found to enhance ovarian development in terms of the number of spawns per female. Fecundity, absolute fecundity, and incubation period were not significantly affected although a marginal increase in absolute fecundity could be observed . In the experiments conducted on males it was found that growth rate and cheliped development were significantly better in ablated ones. The number of spines in the appendix masculine, length and biomass of the androgenic gland and width of vas deference, did not show significant variation, although a marginal increase in the biomass of the androgenic gland and the number of spines in appendix masculine was observed in ablated treatment. The different eyestalk ablation experiments have shown that in females destalking does not stimulate growth but there is better response for reproduction, whereas in males there is better growth and only marginal response to reproduction.ThesisItem Open Access Conditions for oxygen-packed transportation of penaeus indicus seed(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries, Panangad, 1994) Geetha Rani Mani, V; KAU; Jayasree Vadhyar, KThe effect of four levels of packing density, (200PL/1, 300PL/1, 400PL/1 and 500PL/1), three levels of salinity (20ppt, 25ppt and 30ppt) and two levels of temperature (30_+ 1°C and 23 + 2°C) on the oxygen consumption rate of Penaeus indicus post-larvae (PL20) was investigated in a closed type respirometer. The dissolved oxygen in the test chamber decreased with the oxygen consumption of the animals. Oxygen consumption was found to vary with ambient oxygen levels at the different packing densities. Among the three salinities, and two temperatures, the lowest rate of oxygen consumption was recorded at 25ppt and 23 +_ 2°C. The effect of these factors on the duration and survival of transportation of the shrimp seed in specially designed hard plastic containers fitted with facilities for oxygen packing under uniform pressure (0.2 Kg/cm2) showed that oxygen packing in hypothermal conditions could help in increasing duration and survival. Salinity of 20-25ppt was found to give longer duration of survival. With increase in packing density, there was considerable reduction in the duration and survival of transportation of the seed. Cannibalism was observed as the major cause of mortality and it could be reduced by lowering of temperature. 200PL/1 could be transported with 100% survival within 6.5-8.5h at ambient temperature of 30+- 1°C under the afore-mentioned type of oxygen-packing. By lowering the temperature to 23 +-_ 2°C it was possible to safely transport with 100% survival the same numbers for more than 20h. Corresponding duration at 500PL/1 with 100% survival was 1-1.5h at ambient temperature and 4-5h at lowered temperature. To reduce cannibalism at ambient temperatures, hollow plastic translucent habitat material was incorporated into the oxygen-packed jars. This experiment was conducted at 25ppt salinity at different packing densities of 200PL/1, 300PL/1, 400PL/1 and 500PL/1. Relatively longer duration and higher survival was observed only at higher packing densities of 400PL/1 and 500PL/1 with the introduction of the habitat material. Water quality parameters in the experimental jars were analysed initially and finally at 70% survival rate. The reduction in dissolved oxygen levels in the oxygen-packed jars was well above the lethal limits even at the highest packing density of 500PL/1 at 70% survival. The decrease in dissolved oxygen levels and increase in ammonia-N and free carbon dioxide, differed with the duration of packing, temperature and packing density.ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of growth in Penaeus Monodon Fabricius by incorporation of selected nonhormonal growth promoters in the diet(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries,Panangad, 1997) Vinodh, M P; KAU; Susheela, JoseThe effect of three growth promoters viz. Chitin, chitosan and glucosamine each at three levels (0.25, 0.5 and 1g per 100g diet) were evaluated in P.monodon early juvenile for a period of 70 days. The three growth promoters at three level were tested with 3 replicates for each treatment. The growth promoters were incorporated into a soyflour clam meal based practical diet containing 40% protein and fed to the shrimps adlibitum. The results showed that the overall growth was not affected by dietary inclusion of chitin though the growth rate at 0.25g chitin per 100g diet was comparatively better than that of the control diet. Chitin does not seem to have any effect on specific growth rate of the juveniles although incorporation at 0.25g/100g diet improved the food conversion of the animal significantly over the control. Percentage survival values were also not significant at any level of incorporation. It does not seem to improve protein efficiency ratio and productive protein value too. Incorporation of chitosan at 0.25 and 0.5g/100g diet significantly improved the weight gain, specific growth rate, food conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio and productive protein value. However inclusion of chitosan at 1g/100g diet did not have any effect on growth though it significantly improved food conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio and productive protein value. None of these treatments had any effect on survival of the animal. Incorporation of glucosamine into the diet at 0.25g/100g diet was found to be the most efficient amongst the different treatments as evidenced by various growth parameters. It was significantly different from all other treatments in terms of growth, productive protein value and protein efficiency ratio. However it was not significantly different from glucosamine incorporation at 0.5g/100g diet in terms of specific growth rate and food conversion ratio. Enhancement of glucosamine level to 1g/100g diet was found to give poor result compared to the control. The survival rate of shrimps were not significantly different among the treatments. Hence in the present study, glucosamine was found to be superior to chitin and chitosan as a growth promoter and the optimum level was identified as 0.25g/100g diet for P.monodon juvenilesThesisItem Open Access Effect of different dietary levels of lecithin on growth,survival,moulting and body phospholipid levels in Macrobachium Rosenbergii postlarvae(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries, Panangad, 1996) Mahesh, S; KAU; Sebastian, M JThe effect of dietary levels of lecithin on growth, survival moulting, FCR and body phospholipid levels of early postlarval freshwater prawn macrobrachium rosen bergii was examined using semi-purified diets in a 56 day feeding experiment. Five casein-egg albumin based semi-purified diets incorporated with 0,2.5,5,7.5 and 10% of purified soy lecithin (60% phosphatidylcholine) were formulated and fed to prawns (ten numbers per treatment) with an initial mean weight of 0.05386g. In order to examine the influence of lecithin at different growth stages of postlarvae the assessment was made every fourteen days during the study period. The result showed that although the overall growth performance was not affected by dietary inclusion of lecithin, SGR% of the prawns fed with the diet containing 2.5% of lecithin showed a significant difference at P<0.01level during the first fourteen days of growth. Similarly the FCR also showed significant variation (P<0.01) between the diets tested in the first and second fortnights (14th and 28th day). In the first fortnight the diets (D1, D2 and D3) produced consistent FCR, while the diets supplemented with higher levels produced higher values. No significant differences (P<0.01) between treatments were detected with regard to survival rate, moulting frequency and body phospholipid levels of the prawns with the termination of the experiment. The prawns moulted once in every night days and no abnormalitied like exuvia entrapment were noticed in any of the experiment animals . Increment of body phospholipids with respect to levels of dietary lecithin suggests a possible replacement of body PL pool with that of dietary PL. The result of the study suggests that supplementation of lecithin at a level of 2.5% in the diet can accelerate growth and improve FCR during the early postlarval phase of Macrobrachium rosenbergii (ie, upto 4 weeks after larval settlement) beyond this, supplementation of lecithin is not needed in the diet. No other deficiency of excess symptoms was detected in the experimental prawns and it is found that lecithin is not responsible for Exuvia Entrapment Disease in Macrobrachium rosenbergii postlarvae.ThesisItem Open Access Detritus of plant origin as a food source for Penaeus indicua H. Milne Edwards(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries, Panangad, 1992) Unnikrishnan, R; KAU; Thampy, D MThe objective of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of using plant detritus as an exclusive food source for the juvenile of Penaeus indicus and also to find out the level of its in corporation in a standard diet for the prawn in place of animal protein sources. When four plant detritus were simultaneously presented to p.indicus juvenile of size 25-32 mm and 110-150 mg, they exhibited best preference for detritus from Rhizophora apiculata, followed by chromolaena odorta, Pistia stratiotes and paddy detritus. Two better preferred plant detritus sources viz. R.apiculata and C.odorata, were subjected to bulk digestion and the improvement in protein level by way of microbial growth during the process of decay was recorded. Since C.odorata showed a better protein level (Max.av.25.716%) on the fifteenth day than R.apiculata (Max.av.7.528%) on the twentieth day, C.odorata detritus was used for the next two feeding experiments: the first to find whether it could be used as exclusive protein source and the second to find the level at which this could be used to replace animal protein source in a standard diet for P.indicus. The first feeding experiment, for a period of 28 days, to evaluate the feasibility of using plant detritus as sole protein source revealed that an exclusively detritus based diet is not suitable for P.indicus juveniles. The detritus based diet produced lower survival, growth, protein sufficiency ratio, protein digestability and high food conservation ratio when compared to that of control diet prepared with clam meal. The second experiment done with eight diets for a period of 21 days revealed that plant detritus could be used for substituting upto a level of 50% of the animal protein source in a standard prawn diet, without producing any adverse effect on growth and survival. While, a diet containing 10% plant detritus fared even better than a diet which was totally devoid of detrital protein. The growth, food conversation ratio, protein efficiency, apparent digestibility and protein digestibility values obtained for various diets did not vary significantly upto a stage where 50% of the animal protein was substituted with detrital protein, beyond which the values declined. The best values were obtained for the diet FD2 and the lowest for the diet FD8.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of different diets on growth and survival of angel fish Pterophyllum scalare (Lichtenstein) fry(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries, Panangad, 1997) Neelakanteswar, A; KAU; Mathew, P MThe effect of different diets on the growth and survival of Angel fish, Pterophyllum sealare (Lichtenstein) larvae was studied. One day old free swimming hatchlings were used in the study for a period of 30 days. The different diets used were Artemia nauplii, Moina micrura, artificial diet, Artemia nauplii + Moina micrura and Artemia nauplii + artificial diet, with four replicates for each treatment. The experiment was repeated twice in order todetermine the consistency of the result. The results showed that the growth of larvae, in terms of gain in length and weight and specific growth rate, was maximum with the mixed diet of live foods. The differences in growth between artificial diet and mixed diet of Artemia nauplii + artificial diet were not consistent. No significant difference was found in the survival rate of larvae fed different diets. O:N ratios showed that the nutritional state of the larvae fed artificial diet was more or less similar to that fed mixed diet of Artemia nauplii + artificial diet, which in turn was comparable with that fed live foods. Thus, the artificial diet has been found to be an effective replacement diet in the larval rearing of Angel fish.ThesisItem Open Access Protein requirement of the postlarvae and juveniles of Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man)(Department of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries, Panangad, 1992) Sahadevan, P; KAU; Sebastian, M JThree sets of experiments were conducted with the postlarvae and juveniles of the giant freshwater prawn. Macrobrachiumrosenbergii (De Man). The first experiment was conducted to determine the quantitative protein requirement of the two life stages of the prawn using casein and amino acid based purified diets having graded levels (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%)of protein. Each experiment was conducted for 40 days and the effect of protein concentration on the survival, growth, food intake, food conversion efficiency, protein digestibility, nitrogen exeretion, nitrogen retension, body carcass composition, efficiency of protein utilization and oxygen – nitrogen ratio was studied. Among the different diets the one with 30% protein produced the best results in the postlarvae and juveniles of the prawn. Using second order polynomial regression analysis and differential calculus methods the protein requirement for maximum growth in the postlarvae and juveniles of the prawn was calculated as 34.5 and 28.5% respectively. In absolute terms these represent 787.9 and 529.0mg protein per 100g body weight of the prawn per day. The economic protein requirement of the postlarvae and juveniles was found to be 27.5 and 23.0% respectively. The maintenance protein requirement of the postlarvae and juveniles was determined to be 17.95 and 18.69mg protein per 100g body weight per day assuming an efficiency of utilization of protein very close to 100%. The metabolic faecal nitrogen excretion was found to be 198 and 151mg N per 100g body weight per day for the postlarvae and juveniles respectively. In the second set of experiments, short term (10 days each) studies were conducted to determine the efficiency of assimilation of certain locally available sources of protein by the postlarvae and juveniles of M. rosenbergii. These experiments were conducted also to help fix the levels of protein to be maintained in the third set of experiments. The protein sources evaluated were casein, prawn meat, clam meat, soybean, ground nut oil cake and black gram. The results of the study indicated that the apparent protein digestibility is not influenced by animal or plant origin of the ingredient. The third set of experiments was conducted to evaluate the effect of substitution of protein of animal origin with that of plant origin in the postlarvae and juveniles of M. rosenbergii. Each experiment was conducted for 40 days and on the basis of data on survival, growth, food intake, food conversion efficiency, protein digestibility, carcass composition, efficiency of protein utilization and oxygen – nitrogen ratio, substitution of 50 and 75% protein of animal origin with that of plant origin was found to result in no significant decline in the overall performance of the postlarvae and juveniles respectively of M. rosenbergii.
