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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: Botany × Author: KAU × End date: 1996 × Start date: 1994 ×
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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Evaluation of kacholam (kaempferia galanga L.) types for morphological variability and yield
    (Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1994) Latha, E V; KAU; Viswanathan, T V
    An investigation on the evaluation of Kacholam (Kaempferia galanga L.) types for morphological variability and yield was undertaken at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 1993-94. The experiment was aimed at studying the extent of morphological variability and yield contributing characters in the local collection of Kaempferia and to identify types with high yield potential for large scale cultivation. It was also aimed to compare the performance of the types under open and as intercrop in coconut garden. The salient results of the investigation are abstracted below. There was considerable amount of variability for the characters, number of leaves, leaf area index, days to flowering, spread of flowering, plant spread, number of main and secondary zhizomes, frash rhizome yield, dry rhizome yield, biological yield and oil percentage both under open and shaded condition. Under coconut garden in addition to the above characters, length and width of leaves and number of suckers per plant showed variability. There was difference in the performance of the types under open and shaded conditions. Fresh rhizome yield was more under open condition whereas dry rhizome yield was comparable which indicates that Kacholam can be grown as an intercrop in coconut garden. Ponnukkara can be considered as a stable type which performed well under both the conditions. Vellanikkara Seln. Br was found to be a shade sensitive type and the performance of Palakkad was poor under open and shaded conditions. Regarding oil yield Vellanikkara Selections were the superior types both under open and shaded conditions. Rhizome yield and oil yield were found to be two independent characters. This necessitates separate selection criteria for types with high rhizome yield and oil yield. Under open condition number of leaves, leaf area index, days to flowering and spread of flowering had high correlation and direct effect on yield with moderately high heritability and appreciable genetic advance. So selection will be effective for these characters. For the crop under shade, selection will be effective for the characters, number of leaves 5 months after planting, leaf area index and spread of flowering. Under shade plant spread was an important character which had high correlation and direct effect on yield. But the character recorded moderately high heritability but low genetic advance. No morphological character was found to be correlated with oil yield. So independeant selection has to be made for identifying varieties with high oil content per unit area.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Variability of biological nitrogen fixation traits and yield components in blackgram
    (Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1994) Siby, Thomas; KAU; Sreekumar, S G
    A research programme was carried out at the Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Trichur during October – March 1993 -94, with the objectives of assessing the genetic variability for biological nitrogen fixation traits and yield components in blackgram as a preliminary step to develop high yielding varieties with good biological nitrogen fixation capacity. Thirty three varieties of blackgram were evaluated, adopting a randomised block design with two replications. Data on thirteen characters were collected and subjected to analysis of variance. The genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation, heritability, genetic advance and genotypic and phenotypic correlations were estimated. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the varieties for all the characters except number of pods, number of seeds per pod and harvest index. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was recorded for weight of nodules in the secondary roots and number of secondary roots suggesting the reliability of these characters during selection programmes for the improvement of the nitrogen content of this crop. Grain yield recorded high positive genotypic correlation with most of the yield components, biological yield and harvest index ; and negative genotypic correlation with nitrogen content in the plant at 50 per cent flowering. High positive genotypic correlation of number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod with grain yield per plant, indicating that selection based on one or more of the above components may result in the improvement of grain yield. Weight of nodules in the secondary roots, which had high variability, heritability, genetic advance and genotypic correlations with nitrogen content in the plant at 50 per cent flowering and harvest index may be considered during selection programmes for identifying blackgram genotypes having high nitrogen fixation capacity.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Comparative evaluation of selected types of Piper longum (Linn.) in coconut plantations
    (Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1994) Jaya Manuel; KAU; Viswanathan, T V
    Comparative evaluation of five selected types of piper longum (Linn.) namely Cheematippali, Panniyur, Mala, Pattambi and Kaanjur was carried out in the Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during the year 1990-92 with the objective to select the best type of piper longum in order to recommend for large scale cultivation after evaluating economic characters and active principles. Experiment was laid out in Randomised Block Design with five replications. Observations were recorded for twenty three vegetative characters, nine productive characters and total alkaloidal content in dried spikes of piper longum for all the five types. The study revealed that the five types of piper longum differed for eleven vegetative characters namely length of the longest stem, number of vegetative branches per stem, length of leaf, width of leaf, legth of petiole, spread of the plant, internodal length of main stem, number of spike bearing branches per stem and angle of insertion of spike bearing branch and for three productive characters namely number of spikes per spike bearing branch, yield of green spike and yield of dry spike at one or all of the stages for which observations were recoeded. Of the above characters for which the five types differed significantly eight characters showing high and significant correlation with yield were chosen for carrying out studies on intercorrelation among yield components and path analysis. Correlation studies and path analysis revealed that angle of insertion of spike bearing branch, number of stems per hill, number of spikes per spike bearing branch and number of spike bearing branches per stem and yield green spike were the most important characters influencing dry spike yield. The studies on the total alkaloidal content in dried spikes of piper longum revealed that though Panniyur recorded the maximum alkaloidal content in percentage, with respect to total alkaloidal out put from an unit area of land Cheematippali was found to be superior to Panniyur since dry spike yield per hectare of Cheematippali was significantly superior to Panniyur. Mala recorded the minimum alkaloidal content in the dried spikes. Cheematippali showed constistency superior performance for all the important characters at all the stages and could be recommended for large scale cultivation after multilocational trials. Kaanjur can also be considered as a promising type since only in a very few characters it failed to establish its superiority over Cheematippali. The type Mala was found to be consistently inferior to all other five types of piper longum for all the vegetative and productive characters studied.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Radiosensitivity analysis in Cucumis sativus L.
    (Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1994) Raju, K M; KAU; Mercy, S T
    The effect of five doses of gamma rays viz. 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kR in ten Cucumis sativus L. varieties was studied in M1 generation. Enhanced germination was observed in some varities in laboratory condition whereas in field condition a reduction in germination percentage was noticed in all treatments compared to control. Reduced survival percentage as a result of gamma irradiation was noticed on 40th day after sowing. Morphological abnormalities such as leaves with short petioles, half leaf blade only and chlorophyll deficient patches were obtained as a result of gamma irradiation. Increased sex ratio as a result of gamma irradiation was noticed in the present study. No variation was noticed on floral morphology. Variations in fruit morphology, reduced fruit weight and mean yield per plant were observed in certain treatments. Gamma irradiation increased pollen sterility. Cytological aberration were not observed in the present investigation. Different varieties of Cucumis sativus L. showed differential response to gamma rays. The characters studied in the M1 generations indicate the scope for selection of beneficial mutants in the segregating generations.