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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: Plant Biotechnology × Author: Archita Unnikrishnan × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2019 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Expression of chalcone synthase gene in ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) as influvenced by various management practices
    (Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2019) Archita Unnikrishnan; KAU; Shylaja, M R
    Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.), a rhizomatous spice crop is known for its nutraceutical potential due to the presence of non-volatile pungent principles, gingerols. The pungent principles in ginger are derived via “stilbenoid, diarylheptanoid and gingerol biosynthesis” pathway and the key enzyme involved in gingerol biosynthesis is Chalcone synthase. The present research work was undertaken at Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology (CPBMB), College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur from 2017 to 2019 to analyse the influence of nutrient management and spraying of elicitors on Chalcone synthase gene expression in ginger. The study was conducted under two situations, in high tech polyhouse available at CPBMB and in open conditions. Various treatments viz., T1 (Nutrient management as per PoP, KAU), T2 (PoP soil test based nutrient management), T3 (Adhoc PoP organic, KAU), T4 (PoP nutrient management, KAU + salicylic acid foliar spray - 100 µM) and T5 (PoP nutrient management, KAU + methyl jasmonate foliar spray, 100 µM) were imposed. The KAU released ginger variety Karthika, known for its high gingerol content was used for the experiment. The morphological observations such as length of pseudostem, number of tillers per plant, number of leaves per tiller and leaf area were recorded at 60, 90 and 120 Days After Planting (DAP). All the treatments except T4 (PoP nutrient management KAU + salicylic acid foliar spray, 100 µM) and T5 (PoP nutrient management, KAU + methyl jasmonate foliar spray, 100 µM) recorded higher pseudostem length irrespective of the growing conditions. The plants under polyhouse recorded higher pseudostem length than the plants raised under open condition. The tiller production was higher in plants grown in open condition. The number of leaves per tiller was less in treatment T5 (PoP nutrient management, KAU + methyl jasmonate foliar spray - 100 µM) both under polyhouse and open conditions. In polyhouse condition, the leaf area was higher than in open condition. The relative expression of Chalcone synthase gene was studied from the leaves of various treatments at 120 DAP. All the treatments in polyhouse and open conditions recorded higher gene expression over the control treatment T1 (Nutrient management as per PoP, KAU). The treatment T2 (PoP soil test based nutrient management) recorded the highest expression of Chalcone synthase gene both under polyhouse and open conditions with a fold increase of 1.346 and 1.166 respectively. The plants under polyhouse recorded higher fresh yield of the rhizomes than plants under open condition. The treatment T1 (Nutrient management as per PoP, KAU) was the best irrespective of the growing conditions with regard to fresh yield. The rhizome characters such as number, length and girth of primary, secondary, tertiary fingers, thickness of inner core, colour and plumpiness of rhizomes were recorded. Rhizome characters were good in the treatments T1 (Nutrient management as per PoP, KAU), T2 (PoP soil test based nutrient management) and T3 (Adhoc PoP organic-KAU). There was no significant difference in the dry ginger recovery for the rhizomes harvested from both polyhouse and open conditions. The treatment T2 (PoP soil test based nutrient management) recorded higher recovery of both oleoresin and gingerol. The increased recovery of oleoresin in the treatment T2 (PoP soil test based nutrient management) was 71.16 per cent over the control in open condition and 32.11 per cent in polyhouse over the control. Similarly, the total gingerol content recorded an increase of 15.28 per cent over the control in polyhouse and 31.98 per cent over the control in open condition. The major outcome of the present investigations is the high recovery of total gingerol in soil test based nutrient management in ginger. The abiotic elicitors like salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate sprayed could not improve the recovery of gingerols. The soil test based nutrient management recorded higher recovery of both oleoresin and gingerol and was found cost-effective when compared to the other treatments.