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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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  • ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development and quality evaluation of a jackfruit based nutri flour
    (Department of Community Science, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2022) Soumya, P S; KAU; Suma, Divakar
    The study entitled “Development and quality evaluation of a jackfruit based nutri flour” was carried out at the Department of Community Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, during the period 2018-2021. The main objectives of the study were to formulate and standardize a jackfruit based nutri flour comprised of all the edible parts of the fruit and to evaluate its qualities and invitro therapeutic efficacy. Jackfruit cv. Koozha and varikka based nutri flour was developed on the basis of glycemic index of the various parts of the fruit. Raw jack fruits (12 weeks maturity) were selected. Weight of bulbs, perigones, seeds, rind, core and testa were recorded separately to get the final yield, wet and dry weight, moisture percentage, processing loss and dry matter percentage of the product. The order of glycemic index of jackfruit parts were observed as KJRF˃ KJTF ˃VJTF ˃VJRF ˃ KJPF ˃ VJPF ˃KJCF ˃VJCF ˃ KJBF ˃KJSF ˃ VJBF ˃VJSF. The major flour was constituted with greater percentage of fruit parts with low glycaemic index (50 – 60 %) and 40 % was formed by other components in different proportions. Ten formulations of nutri flour and control were evaluated for their sensory qualities. For these three popular breakfast dishes like “puttu”, “ada” and “oratti” were developed. On the basis of analysis of mean scores of sensory parametersF9 was selected as the best combination. Among the three products based on overall acceptability scores ‘oratti’ was found to be more acceptable. Analysis of functional quality revealed that nutri flour had lower swelling power (7.65g), solubility (1.48%), water absorption capacity (4.36%) and bulk density (1.04g/ml) compared to jackfruit bulb flours. The proximate composition of carbohydrate (31.59 g/100g), protein (7.03g/100g), dietary fiber (13.58 g/100g) were significantly high in nutri flour compared with koozha and varikka bulb flours. The moisture content of nutri flour was lower (0.96%), than koozha jackfruit bulb flour and varikka jackfruit bulb flour (1.28% and 1.39%) respectively. The mineral content such as, total minerals (0.98g), calcium (114.32mg), phosphorus (47.92mg), sodium (10.21mg), potassium (418.10mg), iron (1.67mg), manganese (1.59mg), copper (0.457mg) and zinc (0.923mg) content were higher in nutri flour in comparison to koozha and varikka jackfruit bulb flours. The nutraceutical components like phenol (3.03mg) phytic acid (166.77mg), tannin (19.45mg), β carotene (65.98 μg) and antioxidant content (35.85 μg) was significantly higher in nutri flour compare to koozha and varikka jack bulb flours. The developed jackfruit nutri flour formulation (F9) was packed in metallised laminated pouches and kept for storage studies under ambient conditions for a period of six months storage. During the storage period moisture content, microbial profile and organoleptic qualities were found to be acceptable. To reduce the level of oligosaccharides and to increase the starch digestibility the flour was fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae @ 5g/kg for 8hrs. In HPLC analysis, at a retention time of 6.93 minutes standard stachyose, untreated and treated nutri flour. Nutri flour treated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae @ 8 hrs was found to be low in oligosaccharides compared to control. In vitro starch digestibility was significantly high in yeast treated nutri flour (82.81%) when compared to untreated nutri flour (54.84%). Anti-diabetic activity of nutri flour was investigated through α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory activity, by using different solvents. A maximum inhibitory activity was observed in petroleum ether extracted of nutri flour at a concentration of 100 μg/mL in α -amylase (47.17%) and α -Glucosidase (63.93%) enzymes. Hypolipidemic activity of nutri flour showed, highest inhibition percentage with petroleum ether (78.06%) and lowest with distilled water (39.53%). Hepato protective effect of nutri flour was higher in cells treated at 50% concentration. From the above study, it can be concluded that jackfruit based nutri mix has hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic as well as hepatoprotective properties. The nutri mix is formulated from all edible parts of jackfruit, which adds on to the therapeutic value of the product. The entire fruit utilization answers the answers the problem of environmental contamination with these underutilized fruit parts.