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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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20171
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Subject: Plant Pathology × Author: Brinda, G B × Author: KAU × End date: 2017 × Start date: 2017 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Evaluation and improvement of production technology of paddy straw mushroom (volvariella sp.)
    (Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2017) Brinda, G B; KAU; Susha S Thara
    The study entitled “Evaluation and improvement of production technology of paddy straw mushroom (Volvariella sp.)” was performed in College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2015-2017, with the objectives to explore the native isolates of Volvariella sp. and to study their morphological characters, improvement of techniques for production of paddy straw mushroom and to make an evaluation of the nutritional and organoleptic qualities. As a part of the study collections were made from various locations of Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts and thirteen different isolates of paddy straw mushroom were obtained. Morphological studies of different isolates of paddy straw mushroom showed that the sporocarps have black colour during the egg stage which become ashy to purplish white on maturity. Pileus is sub-umbonate with regular margin having free, smooth, pale salmon to moderate brown gills and central, cylindrical stipe with bulbous base encased in a thick volva. Microscopic studies revealed septate hyphae without any clamp connection, bottle shaped cheilocystidia, club-shaped basidia with four ovoid pink/moderate brown basidiospores. Cultures were isolated from the freshly collected mushrooms at egg stage through tissue culture technique and purified the cultures by hyphal tip method. Evaluation of cultural characters showed that the local isolate collected from Poonkulam had faster mycelial growth and it was taken as best isolate for further study. The morphological characters like size, weight of sporocarp of the selected isolate were also found promising. Study on different substrates for spawn production recorded that wheat grain, sorghum grain and paddy grain supported thick and fluffy mycelial growth. Considering the keeping quality, easy availability and nature of mycelial growth paddy grains was selected as the suitable substrate for spawn production in Kerala conditions. Comparison on the effect of different substrates for paddy straw mushroom production showed that paddy straw along with oil palm bunch waste on equal proportion amended with 5% gram flour was the best substrate for cultivation with a biological efficiency of 16.33%. Studies on the developmental morphology revealed that the fruiting body of paddy straw mushroom took 4-5 days for maturation from the pinhead emergence. Evaluation of different supplements for paddy straw mushroom production showed that 200ppm IAA supplementation during spawn run period yielded maximum (10.78% increase in biological efficiency over control). Assessment of different bed systems on production of Volvariella sp. recorded polybag method as more user friendly with maximum yield. Phorid flies were observed as the major pest during cultivation period. The competitor moulds identified were Trichoderma sp., Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp. and Coprinus sp. Analysis for the proximate constituents in paddy straw mushroom exposed that it contains appreciable amount of protein (41.36 %) and fibre (16.98 %). Sensory evaluation was done using sauted mushroom recipe with Hedonic rating scale and observed that Volvariella sp. exceeded in colour, flavour, texture and taste attributes than Agaricus sp., Pleurotus sp. and Calocybe sp. Molecular characterization of the best isolate was carried out using ITS sequencing and the blast sequence was analysed in ClustalX2 software. Dendrogram was also constructed using TreeView software showing the phylogenetic relationship. Best isolate was identified as V. hypopithys and deposited in Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan with the accession number DMRO – 943. The present study recommends that paddy straw mushroom can be successfully cultivated in Kerala using paddy straw and oil palm bunch waste in equal proportion as substrate having 5% gram flour amendment, supplemented with 200 ppm IAA on mycelial development stage by polybag method or wooden box method. Paddy straw mushroom was found to be high in terms of protein content and organoleptic attributes.