Thumbnail Image

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.

Browse

20131
Reset filters
Subject: Horticulture × Author: Airina, C K × Start date: 2012 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Heterosis breeding exploiting gynoecy in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)
    (Department of Olericulture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2013) Airina, C K; KAU; Pradeepkumar, T
    The present study ‘Heterosis breeding exploiting gynoecy in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)' was carried out at Department of Olericulture, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, Thrissur during February-May 2012 and November 2012 to March 2013 to study the combining ability of gynoecious line with selected monoecious lines in cucumber and to investigate the scope of heterosis breeding exploiting gynoecious line. Twelve monoecious cucumber genotypes were collected from different parts of the country and was crossed in a topcross manner with a stable gynoecious inbred introduced from USA (EC 709119) as female parent. Observations on important 15 quantitative characters and 10 qualitative characters were recorded in five randomly selected plants. The F1 hybrids along with their parents were evaluated to obtain information on combining ability and heterosis. In this experiment, maleness was successfully induced in the gynoecious line (EC 709119) by spraying silver thiosulphate @ 200 ppm. The male flowers produced were uniform and normal as monoecious cultivars with high pollen fertility. Inspite of the temperate origin, the gynoecious character was stable throughout the life span. The data were subjected to combining ability analysis according to top cross method. Significant GCA effects were observed for all the characters except days to first male flower anthesis. Among 12 parents, CS-123 was observed as the good general combiner for fruit yield per vine, length of main vine, branches per plant, number of harvests, duration of the crop, fruits per plant and number of seeds per fruit. Heterosis values were estimated over mid, better and standard parents. Significant heterosis was observed for all the characters studied except average fruit weight. Almost all the hybrids produced significantly higher number of fruits per plant which contributed to increase in total yield. For vegetative characters and yield contributing characters like vine length, number of branches, number of fruits and number of harvests, EC 709119 x CS-123 was proved to be the best cross. The next best crosses with respect to quantitative characters were EC 709119 x IC 410638, EC 709119 x IC 410617 and EC 709119 x IC 538155). The performance of these hybrids with respect to qualitative characters viz, free from bitterness and crispness was also good. Hence, these hybrids can be advanced for testing under different agroclimatic conditions for commercial exploitation of hybrid vigour.