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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: Biotechnology × Author: Arun, Jyothi P V × Author: KAU × Start date: 2014 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Identification of lead compounds with anti-tuberculosis activity in indegenous spices of Kerala
    (College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2014) Arun, Jyothi P V; KAU; Sreekumar, S
    Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the second worldwide killer infectious disease and it kills annually 1.4 million people globally and 30,000 people in India. Although drugs are available to treat tuberculosis they have several limitations including long term treatment, side effects, emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) mutants and adverse effect to immune system in patients co-infection with HIV. Therefore, discovery of novel faster, cheaper and better drug is become the need of the hour. Since time immemorial several herbal remedies have been used against tuberculosis in the traditional systems of treatment especially in India and in African countries. The indigenous spices of Kerala are well known for its use to treat human respiratory system. But its efficacies and mode of action are seldom investigated. In the present study the phytomolecules reported from Elettaria cardamomum, Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale were screened through in silico and in vitro methods. For in silico screening Decaprenylphosphoryl-beta-D-ribose epimerase (DprE1), an enzyme responsible for the synthesis of arabinan, the virulent factor in M., tuberculosis was selected as the target molecule. The 3-D structure of the molecule was retrieved from PDB (PDB id 4FDO). The active site DprE1 was detected using the tool PDBsum. Information regarding the chemical molecules reported in the selected spices was collected through literature survey and databases. The canonical SMILES of the phytochemicals were retrieved from open access chemical databases and 3D structures were created using CORINA. Total 448 phytochemicals (C. longa – 211, Z. officinale – 183 and ¬E. cardamomum – 54) were screened. Out of 448 phytochemicals structures of 373 (C. longa –137, Z. officinale –182 and ¬E. cardamomum –0) were retrieved from databases and remaining compound’s structures were created using Chemsketch. All selected phytochemicals were docked into the binding site of DprE1 using the tool, AutoDock 4.2. The docked structures having ΔG less than -5 kcal mol-1 were selected as best hit molecules. Out of 211 compounds screened in C. longa 101, out of 183 compounds screened in Z. officinale 63 and out of 54 compounds screened in E. cardamomum 22 of them showed free energy of binding  -5 kcal mol-1 and these molecules were further analysed by Lipinski's rule of Five. To nullify the errors in lead identification the top ranked hit molecules were again docked using the tools Hex server, iGEMDOCK, FireDock and SwissDock. The docked results were statistically analysed following DST and Zhang rule and selected the top ranked molecules from each plant viz. 2-methyl-6-(4-hydroxy-3-methylphenyl)-2-hepten-4-one from C. longa, Alpha-ylangene from E. cardamomum and Farnesal from Z. officinale as lead molecules. Mature seeds of E. cardamomum and mature rhizomes of Z. officianale and C. longa were air dried and extracted with 99% ethanol using a Soxhlet apparatus for 6-8 hours. The extracts were concentrated to dryness using a rotary evaporator and tested anti-mycobacterial activity by Luciferase reporter phage (LRP) assay against standard strain of M. tuberculosis H37RV at three different concentrations (25, 250 and 500 μg/ml). The results revealed that all the three plants have potential antituberculosis activity. In the order of merit Z. officinale rank first E. cardamomum rank second and C. longa rank third respectively. The results revealed the efficacy of anti-tuberculosis activity and the responsible phytomolecules in each plant. It also insights the discovery of novel drugs with desirable qualities from these plants that should be safe, effective and affordable to the poor people.