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

20191
Reset filters
Subject: Plant Biotechnology × Author: Akhitha Mary Benny, KAU × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2019 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Identification and analysis of antimicrobial biosynthetic genes in marine microbial symbionts
    (Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2019) Akhitha Mary Benny, KAU; Sumithra, T G
    Contagious spread of drug resistant strains as well as newer diseases necessitates the development of novel antibacterial agents which led scientists to explore new niches like marine habitat and associated marine microbes. Therefore, the present study aimed to check whether the microbes associated with unexplored marine invertebrates namely, P. viridis, C. feriatus, P. pelagicus, P. sanguinolentus and S. olivacea have antimicrobial activity against human and aquatic pathogens including some MDR (Multi Drug Resistant) strains. Additionally, antimicrobial biosynthetic genes namely, NRPS (Non ribosomal peptide synthetase) and PKS (Polyketide synthase) associated with the positive isolates was isolated and analyzed. Out of 123 isolates screened against 12 indicator pathogens, 27 isolates showed antibacterial activity and the isolates with maximum activities were identified as Staphylococcus pasteuri and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. When these isolates were screened for the presence of NRPS and PKS genes, 9, 2 and 4 of them showed the presence of NRPS, PKS and both NRPS and PKS genes respectively. A non-parametric statistical analysis using Mann Whitney U test showed that the presence of NRPS/PKS gene has statistically significant influence on the total activity scores (p<0.05) and the scores was statistically significantly higher in NRPS/PKS positive isolates than the negative isolates. Detailed in-silico analysis of these amplicons to predict their activity, revealed two new NRPS ‘A’ domain binding signature and detected 4 antagonistic microbes with previously uncharacterized NRPS products from the marine crab haemolymph associated bacterial collections. The present study successfully generated NRPS gene sequences from four antagonistic bacterial species for which information of NRPS ‘A’ domain was not available earlier. Altogether, the study supports the hypothesis stating that marine invertebrate bacterial associations can provide strains having future biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications in aquaculture industry.