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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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1994 - 19964
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Subject: Microbiology × Author: KAU × End date: 1996 × Start date: 1994 × Thesis Type: M.V.Sc. ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Prevalence of yeast and yeast like fungi in bovine mastitis and their in vitro drug sensitivity
    (Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1996) Sukumar, K; KAU; James, P C
    A total of 200 milk samples from clinical cases of bovine mastitis were culturally screened during a period of six months. Pathogenic fungal organisms could be isolated only from 26 samples. Out of this 26 positive samples, yeast and yeast like fungal organisms were isolated from 20 samples and mould from six cases. The major pathogen isolated were candida spp namely C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis and C. guillermondi. The other organisms were Geotrichum candidum, Trichosporon cutaneum, Sacharomyces cerevisiae, Torulopsis spp and Rhodotorula rubra. The filamentous fungi isolated were Sepedonium spp, Aspergillus ochraceous group, Cladosporium carrionii, Penicillium spp and Trichophyton verrucosum. In majority of the cases yeast and yeast like fungi produced chronic mastitis in which hardness of udder and reduction in milk yield with watery milk containing flakes were noticed. In cases of mastitis where in mould was involved, chronic mastitis characterized by hardness of udder and reduction in milk yield with straw yellow coloured milk, viscid in consistency. Sensitivity pattern of the fungal isolates to the commonly employed antifungal chemotherapeutic agents like Amphotericin B, Clotrimazole, Fluconazole, Griseofuivin, Itraconazole, Ketocanazole, Nystin and Pimaricin (Natamycin) was elucidated. Among the above agents Clotrimazole and Itraconazole exhibited maximum inhibitory activity. All the isolates were found to be resistant to Griseofulvin. In vitro drug sensitivity pattern of fungal isolates employing the discs impregnated with essential oils of cinnamon, clove and lemon grass and alksloids of Cassia alata was studied. Cinnamon leaf oil possessed maximum antifungal activity and the extracts of Cassia alata failed to evince the ability to inhibit the growth of fungal isolates. The antifungal activity of plant extracts were compared with the commonly antifungal chemotherapeutic agents.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Characterization of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from pigs and man
    (Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1994) Raju, P V; KAU; Madhusoodanan Pillai, R
    Twenty six rectal swabs collected from piglets below two months of age with diarrhoea/enteritis when culturally screened yielded 11 isolates of Camplobacter jejuni. Thirty two rectal swabs from children below five years of age with diarrhoea/enteritis when processed for the isolation of etiological agent, resulted in the recovery of one strain of C. jejuni. Sonicated C. jejuni antigen prepared from the selected strains of C. jejuni from porcine and human origin were found suitable for sensitization of gluteraldehyde stabilized sheep RBC for serum antibody monitoring. The sonicated antigen retained its affinity to sheep RBC even after six months of storage at – 600 C. Gluteraldehyde stabilization was found to be a suitable method for the preservation of SRBC. Gluteraldehyde stabilized SRBC stored at 40 C upto a period of three months did not show any reduction in the sensitization property, as evidenced from the PHA titre. One hundred and fifty microliters of C. jejuni antigen whose protein concentration adjusted to 2 mg/ml was found to be the optimum level for sensitisation of a suspension made from three millilitres of packed SRBC. The optimum level of SAPA cells required in the seromonitoring of C. jejuni specific antibodies by SAPA – AMHA test was found to be 0.1 per cent. Cross titration assay employing homologous and heterologous antigens of C. jejuni and the hyperimmune sera indicated that there was antigenic relationship between porcine and human strains. The results also point to the probable prevalence of different antigenic components in varying proportions in different strains from various sources. In the present investigation, 50 serum samples from pigs were monitored for the presence of C. jejuni specific antibodies by PHA and SAPA – AMHA. PHA detected 48 per cent cases as positives compared to 54 per cent by SAPA – AMHA. Statistical analysis clearly indicated that SAPA – AMHA is superior to PHA in screening C. jejuni specific antibodies. The result of the present study indicated that SAPA – AMHA test could advantageously replace the conventional PHA for serological diagnosis of animal and human Campylobacteriosis. Efforts were also made in this study to find out the change in PHA titre with homologus and heterologous antigens employing sera before and after adsorption with unsensitised SRBC to remove the non specific antibodies. Statistical analysis of the results showed that for performing PHA, homologous antigen should be preferred over heterologous antigen and when homologous antigen were used, adsorption of sera with stabilized unsensitised SRBC had no significant effect of PHA titre. Attempts were also made to study the in vitro antimicrobial sensitivity patterns of the 12 C. jejuni isolates by standard disc diffusion technique. The results indicated all the C. jejuni isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol, gentamicin and nalidixic acid, irrespective of their source/origin. Eventhough none of the C. jejuni isolated in this study was resistant to erythromycin, only 83.3 per cent of the isolates showed a sensitive zone of inhibition, while, 16.7 per cent showed an intermediary zone of inhibition. C. jejuni isolates recorded 83.3 per cent sensitivity to furazolidone, 75 per cent to streptomycin and 58.3 per cent to ampicillin. Fifty per cent of the isolates showed resistance to oxytetracycline. Of the ten antibiotics tested, 16.6 per cent of the organism were sensitive to penicillin. C. jejuni recorded highest resistance to sulphadiazine as only 8.3 per cent of the organisms were sensitive to sulphadiazine.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Microbial load in frozen bull semen and antibiogram of the isolates
    (Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1996) Roy Mathew; KAU; Madhusoodanan Pillai, R
    The mean bacterial load in the frozen semen procured from the three frozen semen production centres viz., Mannuthy (Centre A), Dhoni (Centre B) and Mattupatti (Centre C) were 2260 + 880.65, 825.91 + 186.06 and 80.33 + 18.47 respectively. The mean bacterial load per dose of semen differed significantly between these three centres. The mean fungal load of semen in Centre A and B were significantly greater than that produced in Centre C. The mean coliform counts, pseudomonad count, staphylococci and micrococci count and mycoplasma count were detected in specific media. Mycoplasma sp. were not detected in Centre A while four out of eleven samples from Centre B and two out of fifteen samples from centre C contained Mycoplasma. The total bacterial load of all the samples from Centre A exceeded the ISI specification of 500 organisms per insemination dose of semen while 72.7 per cent of the samples from Centre B exceeded this limit. None of the samples from Centre C exceeded 500 organisms per dose of semen. The mean bacterial load per dose of semen from bulls below four years of age was significantly higher than those from bulls between the age group of four and six years. The mean bacterial and fungal load per dose of semen from crossbred Holstein Friesians were significantly greater than those of crossbred Jerseys. The bacterial isolates from the semen from these centres where characterised. They belonged to the species, Bacillus licheniformis, B. alvei, B. cereus, B. brevis, Corynebacterium bovis, C. pseudodiphtheriticum, C. hofmanii, Staphylococcus ayreus, S. epidermidis, Aerococcus viridans, Micrococcus varians, Kurthia sp. Flavabacterium sp., Alcaligenes faecalis, Pseudomonas alcaligeness, PS. Mendocina, Levine asp., Enterobacter aerogeness, Enterobacter liquifascians, Edwardsiella tarda, Citrobacter koseri, C. intermedius, C. freundii, Providencia rettgeri, Escherichia coli. The fungal isolates from sêmen, which were characterised belonged to the species Candida albicans, C. pseudotropicalis, C. tropicalis and C. krusei. The filamentous fungi isolated were Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, Penicillum sp. and Microporum gypseum. Of the 20 antibiotics studied for the sensitivity pattern, pefloxacin, doxycycline, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin were found to be sensitive to majority of isolates. Among the antifungal agents studied, nystatin followed by clotrimazole were sensitive to more than 80 per cent of the fungal isolates. Nystatin may be used in semen extender for checking the fungal contaminants in frozen semen. The study recommends and addition of the new antibiotics to semen extenders after further field studies.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Restriction endonuclease analysis of duck plague viral DNA
    (Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1996) Sangeetha Vijaysree; KAU; Punnoose, K T
    Differences in the clinical manifestations of infected ducks, pathomorphology in developing duck embryo (DDE), and developing chicken embryo (DCE) and cytopathic effects in duck embryo fibroblast culture (DEFC) and chicken embryo fibroblast culture (CEFC) caused by two virulent strains of duck plague virus – DPV – 1 (procured from I.V.R.I., Izatnager) and DPV – A (isolated from Alleppey) and a vaccine strain – DPV – V (obtained from V.B.I., Palode) were investigated in this study. Restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) was done to assess molecular differences between the strains. Both the virulent strains produced typical symptoms and lesions of duck plague (DP). However, the level of mortality and severity of certain lesions like gizzard muscle necrosis and haemorrhagic bands in the small intestine were more pronounced in DPV – A infection. DPV – V did not produce any symptoms or lesions on experimental inoculation into ducklings. Embryonated duck eggs were used for passage of DPV – 1 and isolation of DPV – A, and DCE was used for propagation of DPV – V. Mortality of embryos with congestive lesions on the CAM and body of the embryo were observed for all the three strains. DPV – A produced more severe congestion on the extremities of inoculated embryos. Both the virulent strains (1 and A) failed to produce lesions in DCE. Both the virulent strains were cultured in DEFC and DPV – V in CEFC. All three strains produced CPE, characteristic of herpes viruses, with rounding and clumping of cells, syncytium formation, vacuolation of cytoplasm and formation of eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies. DPV – A and DPV – V took more time for production of CPE in the first passage with the time taken for CPE production decreasing with successive passages. The three strains of DPV were titrated in embryonated eggs (ELD50 ) and cell cultures (TCID50). DPV – 1 and A had an ELD50 of 105.27 per ml and 104.86 per ml respectively in DDE. The ELD50 of DPV – V was 104 per ml in DCE. TCID50 of DPV – 1and A in DEFC were 105.75 per ml and 105.25 per ml respectively and that of DPV – V in CEFC was 105 per ml. Virus particles ranging in size from 170 – 190 nm with a core size of 70 – 90 nm were observed on electron microscopic examination of processed and concentrated DPV – A material collected from infected DDE. Strains of DPV cultured in DEFC/CEFC were used as virus source for DNA extraction. DPV – 1, V and A had DNA concentrations of 1830 ug per ml, 1470 ug per ml and 1595 ug per ml respectively. Restriction enzyme analysis was done using Eco RI, Bam HI, Xho 1, Pst 1 and Hind 111. Eco RI cleaved all the three strains of DPV into 17 fragments. The restriction profile of DPV – V and A were nearly identical to each other with slight variation from DPV – 1 in fragment size. The RE Bam HI digested both the virulent strains of DPV (1 and A) into 14 fragments which were similar to each other except for the size of two fragments. DPV – V was cleaved into 16 fragments with differences in the size of six to seven fragments on comparison with DPV – 1 and A. The RE Xho 1 cleaved DPV – 1 and V into21 fragments and DPV – A into 23 fragments. All three strains differed from each other in the size of several fragments. Both the virulent strains (DPV – 1 and A) yielded 21 fragments and DPV – V 22 fragments on digestion with Pst 1. Majority of the fragments were below 10 kbp in size and there was variation in the size of 11 – 17 fragments between the strains. Restriction enzyme Hind 111 cleaved DPV – 1, V and A into 23, 22 and 21 fragments respectively. Apart from the difference in fragment number, all the three strains differed from each other in the size of 4 of their fragments. The average molecular size of the genome of DPV – 1, V and A estimated by REA with five REs were 181.23 kbp (Molecular weight 115.067 Megadalton), 184.218 kbp (116.964 Megadalton) and 181.582 Kbp (115.290 Megadalton) respectively. Of the five REs used in this investigation Bam HI, Xho 1, Pst 1 and Hind 111 were found to be more useful in differentiation of the three strains of DPV.