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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: KAU × End date: 2009 × Start date: 2009 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Induction of variability through mutagenesis in neelayamari (Indigofera tinctoria L.)
    (Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2009) Kumanan, E; KAU; Mareen Abraham
    The study entitled “Induction of variability through mutagenesis in neelayamari (Indigofera tinctoria L.)” was carried out in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during the period 2006-2008, with the objective of inducing variability for higher biomass yield and indigotin content in leaves. Indigofera tinctoria is a valuable medicinal plant, which is also utilized as a natural source of the blue dye, ‘indigo’. At present the leaf biomass obtained from the genotypes currently cultivated is not appreciable. Hence an attempt has to be made to evolve variants with higher leaf yield and indigotin content. Mutation breeding has been attempted in this study with a local variety. The LD50 was calculated as 20.0 KR gamma rays. The mean performance for all the characters was reduced as the doses of mutagen increased in M1 generation. In M2 generation the positive shift in mean plant height, plant spread, girth of stem, number of branches, number of leaves, weight of leaves, weight of shoots, weight of pods and indigotin content were observed in the intermediate dose of mutagen. Indigotin content of leaves increased significantly with increased doses of gamma rays treatments when compared to control. The optimum dose for maximum yield and yield contributing characters ranged between 17.5 KR and 22.5 KR of gamma rays mutagen. A high magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation were noticed for the characters viz., harvest index, leaf area index, dry weight of pods and number of branches. High estimates of heritability were observed for all the characters studied, the highest being exhibited by fresh weight of leaves. Maximum genetic advance was observed for the character harvest index while fresh weight of shoots expressed the minimum. Correlation coefficient between shoot yield and its components indicated significant positive association of yield with plant height, leaf area index, fresh weight of leaves, number of leaves, dry weight of leaves, dry weight of shoots, fresh weight of pods and dry weight of pods, where as harvest index showed significant negative correlation. Path coefficient analysis of important yield attributes indicated that the number of branches, plant height and indigotin content had the maximum direct effect on fresh weight of shoot and minimum for dry weight of leaves. Indigotin content has negative correlation with yield where as it has direct effect on yield through other correlated characters. This indicates that selection for improvement for indigotin content should be carried out with other characters also. It also indicates that there should be an optimum level of biomass yield for higher indigotin content. Frequent harvest will influence the indigotin content favourably. This has to be determined by assessing the regression coefficient for other characters with indigotin content. The selection index score was highest for control followed by the treatment 22.5 KR and 20.0 KR of gamma rays. Selected mutants showed morphological variation over the control. High yielding mutants were observed in plants treated with 20.0 KR of gamma ray. A total of five high yielding mutants were identified and their yield characters and indigotin were also found out for further evaluation. Raising M3 progeny lines from each of these plants and evaluation of the lines in comparison with the control plants are suggested as future line of work.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Genetic analysis of resistance to pod borers and yield in yard long bean(Vigna unguiculata subsp.sequipedalis(L.) verdcourt)
    (Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2009) Jithesh, V G; KAU; Radhadevi, D S
    Yard long bean [Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis (L.) Verdcourt] known as asparagus bean or vegetable cowpea is one of the important vegetable crops grown in Kerala. The long tender pods are highly nutritious containing carbohydrate, minerals, fibre, calcium, phosphorus, iron and many vitamins. Infestation by pod borers Maruca vitrata (Fab.) and Lampides boeticus (Linn.) which are the most important post-flowering pests of yard long bean. This research programme was carried out at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2006-2008 with the objective to study the genetic basis and inheritance pattern of important quantitative and qualitative characters for resistance to pod borers and yield and to formulate a suitable breeding programme for developing varieties resistant to pod borers and with high yield in yard long bean. Fifty genotypes of yard long bean collected from different parts of Kerala were evaluated adopting randomized block design with three replications. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences for almost all the characters. High GCV was observed for pod length, pod weight, pods per plant, pod clusters per plant, pod yield per plant and 100-seed weight, which indicate that there exists high genetic variability and better scope for improvement of these characters through selection. The characters pod clusters per plant, pods per plant, pod yield per plant, pod weight, pod length, seeds per pod and 100-seed weight had high heritability coupled with high genetic advance. In the present study high heritability and low genetic advance was noted for pod breadth and seeds per pod. Yield per plant showed strong positive correlation with pod weight, pod length, pod breadth, seeds per pod and 100-seed weight. The characters pod weight, pods per plant, 100-seed weight, seeds per pod and pod clusters per plant had positive direct effect. Mahalanobis D2 analysis clustered the 50 genotypes in to nine groups. Maximum divergence was shown between the clusters I and VI. Among the seven characters considered pod yield per plant contributed maximum towards divergence. Selection indices were computed based on yield and yield related traits, five genotypes viz; Trailing Red Poded (L1), NS 621 (L2), Ettumanoor local (L3), Vellayanai local (L4) and Palakkad local (L5) with high yield were selected as female parents in the line x tester analysis. The same fifty genotypes were screened for various damage parameters of pod borers by using randomized block design with two replications. All the damage parameters exhibited remarkable variability with respect to different genotypes. Based on all the damage parameters three genotypes with low plant resistant indices namely Kurappunthara local (T1), Kanichar local (T2) and KMV-1 (T3) were selected as testers in the line x tester analysis. Significant variability was present for different morphological and biochemical characters among the 50 genotypes. High coefficient of variation was noticed for number of trichomes on pod wall. High heritability was noticed for all the characters except crude fibre content. The characters peduncle length, trichome number and protein content of pods showing high genetic advance. In line x tester analysis L1 showed high values of gca effect for pods per plant, seeds per pod, pods per cluster, 100-seed weight and pod length. Among the testers T1 showed significant negative gca effects for all the damage parameters for pod borers. In morphological and biochemical traits line L3 showed positive gca effect for peduncle length, trichome number and protein content of pods but L1 for leaf chlorophyll content. Tester T1 showing positive gca effect for all the morphological and biochemical traits. Based on specific combining ability, the crosses L1 x T1, L3 x T1 and L5 x T1, showed maximum sca for yield attributes and minimum for damage parameters. Many of the crosses showed significant positive sca effects for most of the morphological and biochemical traits. The crosses L1 x T1, L3 x T1 and L5 x T1 exhibited significant positive estimates with high magnitude of yield attributes and morphological and biochemical traits indicating considerable heterosis with respect to the important yield characters. Further the relative and standard heterosis exhibited significance in the negative direction for all damage parameters. This results leads to the conclusion that low relative performance of pod borers larvae in these crosses may be due to its trichome number, protein content of pods, leaf chlorophyll content or fibre content which can offer resistance to pod borers in yard long bean and can form the basis for selection of yard long bean genotypes for pod borer resistance or tolerance. The three superior crosses viz., L1 x T1 (Traling Red poded x Kurappunthara local), L3xT1 (Ettumanoor local x Kurappunthara local) and L5 x T1 (Palakkad local x Kurappunthara local) were utilized for generation mean analysis inorder to detect the gene action with regard to the various traits. Presence of epistasis was tested and subsequently interaction effects viz; additive x additive, additive x dominance and dominance x dominance effects were computed. Significance of scale A and B for most of the characters suggested that the simple additive x dominance model was inadequate for defining the inheritance of these characters. Presence of non-allelic interactions was noticed for days to 50 per cent flowering, primary branches per plant and days to first harvest. Hybridization and selection can be resorted to for improving the character of earliness in this crop. The positive significance of dominance x dominance interactions for pod weight points out that a breeding strategy for improving pod weight should be based on direct selection or hybridization and selection for high pod weight. Presence of all three types of digenic interactions was observed for pods per plant and pod yield per plant. The direction of dominance effect and dominance x dominance interactions suggests the presence of non-allelic duplicate gene action for crop duration, main stem length, pod clusters per plant, pod weight and pod breadth in their expression. For damage measurements additive gene action was significant for all the damage parameters. Additive x dominance gene action was significant for peduncle length. The same direction of dominance gene effect and dominance x dominance interactions is an indication of non-allelic complementary gene action in the expression of this character. For leaf chlorophyll content additive gene action was significant for all the hybrids. The L1 x T1 had positive significance in dominance x dominance epistatic interaction for number of trichomes on pod wall. Predominance of additive gene action in a positive direction was observed for protein content but significant additive x dominance interaction in a negative direction. Additive gene effect was significant for crude fibre content of pods. The positive significance of dominance x dominance interactions points out that a breeding strategy for reducing the fibre content should be based on direct selection or hybridization. The result suggest ample scope of improvement of yield through selection based on the characters pod weight and pod length. The genetic analysis for yield and resistance to pod borers brought to light genotypes which could be used as source of resistance. Two superior crosses in which high yield potential and tolerant to pod borers were identified. Less attack of pod borers larvae to these crosses may be due to high values for any of the two characters namely trichome number or crude fibre content coupled with mechanical barriers with restricts their access to pod surface compared to other crosses. The magnitude and direction of the gene effects underlying the pest damage parameters offers a favourable background for the breeder to develop pod borer resistant/tolerant yard long bean genotypes. Presence of additive, dominance and epistatic interactions for all the characters identified indicated that recurrent selection or recombination breeding can be followed for future breeding programme
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Breeding for yield and resistance to chilli thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) and yellow mite (polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks) in chilli (capsicum annuum L.)
    (College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2009) Jayaramegowda, R; KAU; Sunny, K Oommen
    The present study aimed to estimate the combining ability and gene action for yield and resistance to chilli thrips and yellow mite by line x tester analysis and to identify high yielding hybrids resistant to these pests. The research work was carried out in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2008-09. Five susceptible high yielding chilli genotypes (lines) and three chilli thrips and mite tolerant chilli genotypes (testers) were crossed in a line x tester fashion to obtain 15 hybrid combinations. The lines, testers and their hybrids were evaluated in replicated field trials for yield and resistance to chilli thrips and yellow mite. The yield trial observations were recorded for 13 characters viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, plant canopy width, fruit bearing period, number of fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit weight, green fruit yield, crop duration and capsaicin content. ANOVA revealed that the genotypes were significantly different for all the characters. Combining ability analysis indicated that the characters number of secondary branches, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit weight and green fruit yield were governed by both additive and non additive gene action. Among them fruit girth and fruit weight showing preponderance to additive gene action while others showing preponderance to non additive gene action. The remaining characters viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, primary branches, plant canopy width, fruit bearing period, number of fruits per plant, crop duration and capsaicin content are mainly governed by non additive gene action. Based on mean performance and gca effects, Vellayani Athulya was identified as the best general combiner among the lines and Bhaskar among the testers for yield and several yield contributing characters. The crosses, L1 x T3 and L5 x T2 were found to be promising chilli hybrids for yield and its component traits based on mean performance, sca effects and heterosis. The resistance was based on population count and damage intensity to chilli thrips and yellow mite. Combining ability analysis revealed that number of thrips per leaf, number of yellow mites per leaf and damage intensity due to mite were governed by non additive gene action whereas thrips damage intensity was governed by both additive and non additive gene action with preponderance to additive gene action. Among lines, Anugraha and Ujwala were tolerant to both the pests whereas, Bhaskar and Kiran were highly tolerant among testers. Anugraha, Jwalasakhi and Bhaskar were found to be best general combiner for both thrips and mite resistance among the parents. Considering both yield and resistance simultaneously, the hybrids L3 x T1 and L5 x T2 are high yielding and relatively resistant to chilli thrips and yellow mite respectively. These hybrids would hopefully yield desirable genotypes with high yield and resistance to chilli thrips or yellow mite in segregating generations. The hybrid L3 x T2 identified as relatively resistant to both chilli thrips and yellow mite was not remarkable with respect to yield.