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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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2014 - 20183
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Subject: Biotechnology × Author: KAU × End date: 2018 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Prediction of SSR and SNP markers for anthracnose resiistance in YAM using bioinformatics tools and their validation
    (Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Sahla, K; KAU; Sreekumar, J
    The study entitled “Prediction of SSR and SNP markers for anthracnose resistance in yam using bioinformatics tools and their validation” was conducted at ICAR-Central Tuber Crop Research Institute, Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram during October 2107 to August 2018. The objectives of the study is to computationally identify SNPs and SSRs for anthracnose resistance in Greater Yam and the verification of identified markers using resistant and susceptible varieties. The preliminary data set for the identification of SSR and SNP markers was obtained from the EST section of NCBI. A total of 44134 sequences was obtained. The dataset was reduced to 44114 sequences after several pre-processing and screening steps. The resulting sequences were assembled and aligned using CAP3 and 5940 contigs were obtained. SNPs and SSRs were predicted from these datasets using respective prediction tools. The SNP prediction tools such as QualitySNP and AutoSNP were compared for their performance. Analysis was performed to identify the tool with the ability to annotate and identify more viable nonsynonymous and synonymous SNPs. For SSRs the SSR prediction tools such as MISA and SSRIT was compared and analysis was performed to identify the tool having the ability to predict more viable SSRs and the ability to classify them as mono, di, tri, tetra, penta, hexa and poly SSRs. Using QualitySNP, 1789 nonsynonymous SNPs and 73 synonymous SNPs were identified. Using MISA, 359 mono SSRs, 268 di SSRs, 342 tri SSRs, 17 tetra SSRs, 7 penta SSRs, and 9 hexa SSRs were identified. Five sequences from identified SNPs and SSRs which having high hit percentage and low E value were selected for validation and primer designing for anthracnose resistant genes. These primers were validated using 3 resistant and 3 susceptible yam varieties. Among the primers after validation in wet lab, three SNPs (DaSNP1, DaSNP2, DaSNP3) and two SSRs (DaSSR1 and DaSSR2) primer was able to clearly differentiate between the resistant and susceptible varieties which can be used as potential markers in the breeding program for screening anthracnose resistance in yam.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Identification and characterization of viruses in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.)
    (Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2015) Jayalekshmi, V S; KAU; Makeshkumar, T
    The study entitled "identification and characterization of viruses in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam.) was carried out at the division of crop protection, Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Sreekariyam, Trivandrum during 2014-2015. The objective of the study was to diagnose, clone and characterize viruses implicated in mixed infections of sweet potato. Sweet potato samples with various virus infection symptoms were collected from the germplasm repository of CTCRI, Trivandrum and field samples from Bhubaneswar. Samples were screened mainly for Sweet potato feathery mottle virus ( SPFMV ), Sweet potato mild mottle virus ( SPMMV), Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV ), Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus ( SPCSV), Sweet potato virus G (SPVG), Sweet potato virus C (SPVC), Sweet potato virus 2 (SPV2) using both genus and virus specific primers. Out of 32, 29 samples showed SPFMV infection in PCR with virus specific primers. While mixed infection by SPFMV and SPLCV was found in 15 samples. One sample was infected with SPVG along with SPFMV and SPLCV. SPMMV, SPVC, SPV2 and SPCSV screening through PCR gave negative results for all samples. PCR by virus specific primers of SPFMV and SPLCV amplifying the partial CP gave amplicons size of 411 bp and 446 bp respectively. Rather than the virus specific primers, the group specific primers Pot1/Hrp5 gave an amplicon of 1300 bp lead to the detection of SPVG. After identification, one sample each for SPFMV, SPLCV and the only sample positive for SPVG were cloned and sequenced. The sequence data was analyzed through BLAST and sequence similarity was studied. The 304 nt SPFMV sequence obtained in the study showed maximum similarity of 96% to Sweet potato feathery mottle virus isolate Fe polyprotein gene, partial cds (Accession EU021070). The 251 nt SPVG sequence obtained showed maximum similarity of 90% to sweet potato virus G isolate IS103, complete genome (AccessionKM014815). While the 418 nt SPLCV sequence obtained showed maximum similarity of 96% to Sweet potato leaf curl virus DNA A, complete sequence (Accession AF104036) and Sweet potato leaf curl isolate CTCRI TVM M1, complete genome (Accession KM 050768). The phylogenetic tree was constructed with similar sequences using phylip. Phylogenetic analysis clearly revealed that the sequences obtained in this study belongs to SPFMV for the sample S1294, SPLCV for the sample S1294, SPLCV for the sample S684 and SPVG for the sample S270 as they grouped along with their respective virus sequences used for comparison analysis. Since the diagnosis of virus infections based on symptoms is unreliable due to complicated mixed infections in sweet potato with multiple viruses and isolates, it is necessary sensitive diagnostic tests are developed region wise to confront this issue. As a prerequisite to this, virus detection and identification has to be carried out in sweet potato to determine the viruses geographically.
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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.