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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: Lekshmi, R S × End date: 2008 × Start date: 2008 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transfer of exogenous hydroxy methyl glutaryl CoA (HMG CoA) reductase gene to Centella asiatica L
    (Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2008) Lekshmi, R S; KAU; Soni, K B
    A study on “Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transfer of exogenous hydroxyl methyl glutaryl CoA (HMG CoA) reductase gene to Centella asiatica L.” was conducted at the Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2006-2008. Centella asiatica is an important medicinal plant, which is used in many ayurvedic formulations. It contains a blend of compounds including triterpenes (asiatic acid, madecassic acid and asiaticoside), which are responsible for its medicinal properties. Among the various secondary metabolites in Centella asiatica, asiaticoside possesses remarkable pharmaceutical value due to its anti-inflammatory, antitumour, neuroprotective, skin care and toning effects. Since the asiaticoside content in the Indian ecotypes is less, the industrial demands are met by importing this plant from African countries. By improving asiaticoside content, utilization of Indian ecotypes could be improved and thereby the cost of medical preparations could be reduced. Metabolic engineering is becoming a popular approach for the modification of medicinal plants for altering the metabolite content. Medicinal plants with quantitatively and qualitatively improved pharmacological properties have been produced by metabolic pathway engineering. The present study was undertaken with an objective to enhance the asiaticoside content by introducing exogenous hmgr gene to Centella asiatica. This gene is responsible for coding hydroxy methyl glutaryl CoA reductase enzyme which acts at the upstream of the triterpene biosynthetic pathway and produce mevalonic acid. Callus was induced from leaf and node explants of Centella and MS medium supplemented with Kn 4 mg l-1 and NAA 2 mg l-1 was found to be the best for callus induction. Callus initiation was faster (23 days) from node compared to leaf (25 days), with 100 and 92.85 per cent induction respectively. Of the various media tried for regeneration, the highest regeneration (0.052%) was obtained on MS medium supplemented with Kn 4mg l-1 and NAA 2 mg l-1. Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105 harbouring the plasmid pBE2113 containing nptII and hmgr gene was used for transformation. The sensitivity of Agrobacterium strains and Centella callus to different concentrations of kanamycin was evaluated. The lethal doses of kanamycin to Agrobacterium and Centella callus were 350 and 125 mg l-1, respectively. The effective dose of cefotaxime for the elimination of bacteria was 50 mg l-1 and the lethal dose of cefotaxime to callus was 100 mg l-1. Genetic transformation was achieved by co-cultivating callus with bacterial suspension (OD600 of 0.1) containing 100 μM acetosyringone. An infection time of 20 min and co-cultivation period of four days were given. The transformed tissues were selected on MS medium containing 200, 250 and 300 mg l-1 of kanamycin. The survival of the tissues on these media after three weeks was 18.75, 19.35 and 13.63 per cent, respectively. Transformation was confirmed by PCR analysis with npt II gene specific primer. All the three samples gave appreciable quantity of the product of size 700 bp which was comparable to positive control. In the present study regeneration of the transformed tissues was not obtained in the media standardized. Even though an attempt was made to analyse asiaticoside content in the transformed callus using thin layer chromatography (TLC), there was no detectable quantity of asiaticoside. This could be due to the undifferentiated nature of the callus. As the accumulation of asiaticoside is mainly in the leaves, a better protocol for regeneration needs to be developed so that further studies on triterpenoid analysis could be carried out.