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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 Breeding × Author: Alfiya, A R. × End date: 2021 × Start date: 2020 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Preliminary evaluation of double cross hybrids for yield and vascular streak dieback (VSD) disease resistance in cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.)
    (Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2020) Alfiya, A R.; KAU; Minimol, J S
    Cocoa is highly influenced by the climate change and growing environment, necessitating a long term and dynamic breeding programme. Even though the breeding programmes primarily focus on the development of high yielding varieties, outbreak of new pests and pathogens shift the priority to the development of resistant varieties. Vascular Streak Dieback disease (VSD) caused by Ceratobasidium theobromae (Samuels et al., 2012), pose a great threat to cocoa crop, causing complete defoliation and eventual death (Abraham et al., 2002). Even the high volume spray of chemicals was ineffective in disease control (Prior, 2007), and the only way to tackle it is to breed resistant varieties. Resistance breeding may result in yield reduction (Xu et al., 2017) however, breeding for double cross hybrids can overcome this situation (Gallais and Guy, 1971). Average yield superiority of the double cross hybrids over the F1 hybrids has been shown by many scientists (Sriani et al., 2003; Ghanwat et al., 2016). Twenty double cross hybrids, bred for vascular streak dieback disease and planted during 2017, were used for the present study. Morphological characterization of the hybrids was carried out based on the quantitative and qualitative characters. Thirteen pod characters, twelve floral characters, six bean characters and flush colour of the leaves were studied. Except colour of the petal and number of the ridges and furrows, all other characters have expressed high variability among the double cross hybrids. The double cross hybrids have exhibited significant difference for fat and polyphenol content. All the twenty double cross hybrids were screened and scored for the VSD resistance in the field condition, using the score chart (Abraham et al., 2000). Based on the disease intensity, they were classified into eleven resistant and nine partially resistant.