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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: Geena, Paul × End date: 2008 × Start date: 2008 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Characterization of proteins in costus pictus D. Don
    (College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2008) Geena, Paul; KAU; Augustian, A
    Costus pictus D.Don is a Mexican plant brought to India during 2002-2003. Due to the spiral appearance of stems, it is called as spiral ginger/ stepladder plant. Costus pictus is commonly known as insulin plant in the central part of Kerala. Diabetic patients used to take raw leaves of the plant as a folk remedy for hyperglycemia. The studies of Benny et al. (2004)., Balaji (2005) and Jothivel et al.(2007) are in agreement with its hypoglycaemic property. Insulin is taking through injection for treating hyperglycemia. An antidiabetic plant protein could exert a beneficial effect in the diabetic situation by enhancing insulin secretion and / or by mimicking insulin action. As insulin is a protein, comparison of its characters to proteins of a hypoglycaemic plant may open new doors to the field of diabetic treatment. The project entitled ‘Characterization of proteins in Costus pictus D.Don’ was taken up at CPBMB, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara. The objective of the experiment was the isolation, purification and characterization of proteins in Costus pictus and comparison with insulin. Effect of extraction buffers, percentage acrylamide and quantification of protein were studied. Use of 0.2 M Tris buffer at pH 7.2 and 10% acrylamide in the electrophoresis were found to be the most suitable condition for studying the proteins in Costus plant. The study revealed the presence of acidic and basic proteins in this plant. Proteins of basic nature in the Costus pictus are precipitated with ammonium sulphate in the range of 30-50 per cent saturation which were stained with Coomassie dye and acidic proteins were precipitated at high saturation of ammonium sulphate which were expressed in silver staining. Salting out of Costus protein was efficiently carried out with 80 per cent ammonium sulphate saturation. Aggregation of small proteins and the ability to regulate the breakage of long proteins were observed in the sequential saturation of ammonium sulphate. The hydrophobicity of the proteins in the sample was evident in the ammonium sulphate precipitation. Same pattern was observed in the electrophoretic pattern of fractions from DEAE cellulose with NaCl gradient. Hydrophobic patches were obtained for small and large proteins of Costus plant. Aggregation of proteins in Costus can be considered as its characteristics. pH was one of the major factor contributed aggregation and elution of proteins. On comparing with insulin, 70-80 per cent sequential precipitation gave a protein of similar range of molecular weight of insulin available in the market by Recombinant DNA Technology. The present study revealed that the gradient application of salt and pH can be efficiently utilized for isolating single protein from Costus. Purification, sequencing and further studies are to be conducted for establishing the antidiabetic property of Costus plant. Costus protein may provide signals in the body fluid that may recognize by the cells in the pancreas for the production of insulin. It may also be possible to function as receptor that conveys information to produce insulin within the body. Plant protein may serve as intracellular signaling component that mediate the effect of insulin production and as a key component of the machinery that determines which genes are to be expressed and whether mRNA is translating in to insulin.