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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: Farm, Machinery and Power × End date: 2009 × Start date: 2000 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Tech. ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Developing and testing of a collector-cum-storage types solar water heater for domestic use
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2000) Bijukumar, K; KAU; Mohammad, C P
    The present study was undertaken to desi~n and develop a collector-cum-storage type solar water heater of 30 litre capacity to supply hot water for domestic use. Five solar water heaters with different absorber plate positions were constructed. The storage tanks with dimensions of 67 xIl7 x 10 cm were made by using fibre glass, and the top of these storage tanks were covered using single plain glass plates of 71 x 51 x 0.4 cm size. The position of the absorber plate was varied by changing the width of the spacers (4 nos. at an angle of 400 with the side aluminium sheet), which connects bottom aluminium plate and top absorber plate. The absorber plate was of 65 x 45 cm size. The top face of the absorber plate was painted black to absorb maximum solar. radiation. The absorber plate positions were lcm, 3cm, 5cm, 7cm and 9cm from the top glass cover plate and were designated as SWHl 0, SWH30, SWH5.0, SWH7.0 and SWH9.0 respectively. The absorber plate position was optimized by testing the solar water heaters under two different test conditions. Solar water heater II (SWH3.0) outperforms other solar water heaters under the two test conditions. Maximum outlet temperature of 64°C af 3pm and maximum efficiency of 55.72% also at 3pm were observed in solar water heater 11. So it is optimized that the position of the absorber plate should be at 3cm from . the top glass plate. The solar warer heater can easily be handled by a single person since the weight is only 9.5kg. The operating cost per unit of thermal energy obtained withthe solar water heater was found to be 25 paise per kWh.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of a cono-puddler attachment for a 5HP tiller
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2000) Tejendra Sharma; KAU; Ramachandran, V R
    A 5hp power tiller operated cono – puddler was fabricated based on the IRRI design and tested. Based on the test result, four more models of cono – puddlers were fabricated and tested. Out of the five models, four were walking behind type implemented and were tested at travel speed of around 0.786 m/sec whereas one was of riding type (model – 5) and was operated at travel speed of around 0.964 m/sec. All the models were tested for three and four times operations. The depth of puddling of the model – 1 was 10 – 11 cm. Another set of conical rotors was fabricated by increasing the blade height to 90 mm from 70 mm (model – 2). The depth of puddling obtained was 12.2 to 13.8 cm. Because of the problem of clogging of soil in between the blades and due to a wide gap in between the rotors which leaves the soil uncut, another set of rotors was fabricated by increasing and modifying the shape of the blades to helical and tested (model – 3). The above three models consisted of six conical rotors clamped individually on a toolbar assembly. Another model, (model – 4) was tested by increasing the number of rotors of model – 3 to eight numbers. The maneuverability of this model was not good as it was difficult at the time of headland turning. The average percolation loss of water for the five models measured for 20 days after puddling varied from 3.692 to 3.979 mm/day for three time operations and 2.650 to 2.983 mm/day for four times operations. The least percolation loss of water was observed in case of model – 5 and highest in case of model – 1 in both numbers of operations. The puddling indices for the five models varied from 56.31 to 59.34 per cent for three times operations and 63.46 to 68.89 per cent for times operations. The highest puddling index was observed in case of model – 5 in both numbers of operations. The average percentage burial of weeds from different test plots varied from 98. 38 to 98.79 per cent in terms of number of weeds and 99.09 to 99.34 per cent in terms of dry weight basis for three times operations. The variation was from 98.94 to 99.69 per cent in terms of number of weeds and 99.40 to 99.83 per cent in terms of dry weight basis for four times operations. The effective field capacities for model – 1, model – 2, model – 3, model – 4 and model – 5 were 0.826, 0.790, 0.843, 0. 826 and 1.053 ha/day respectively for three times operations and 0.618, 0.598, 0.613, 0.643 and 0.799 ha/day respectively for four times operations. The field efficiencies of the five models for different number of operations varied from 52.58 to 72.20 per cent where field efficiency of model – 4 was observed least in both number of operations. In both cases, field capacity and field efficiency of the model – 5 was highest. The draft of model – 1, model – 2, model – 3 model – 4 and model – 5 were 40.68, 45.03, 46.81, 48.19 and 58.06 kg and draw bar horse power requirement were 0.426, 0.472, 0.491, 0.505 and 0.746 hp respectively. The power required for the model – 5 was higher than the other models. The fuel consumption rate for the five models operated at different number of operations varied from 0.495 It/h in case of model – 1 operated three times to 0.666 It/h in case of model – 5 operated for four times. The slippage of the ground wheel for the five models varied from 0.811 per cent to 3.588 per cent. Lowest ground wheel slippage of 0.881 per cent was observed in model – 1 operated three times and highest of 3.588 per cent in model – 5 operated 4 times. The cost of puddling one hectare of land using model – 3 and model – 5 are Rs. 534.39 and Rs. 432.83 when operated for four times and break even point is 1.2 ha compared to animal drawn country plough.