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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 Pathology × Author: Chinnu Ravi × Author: KAU × End date: 2017 × Start date: 2017 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Management of cercospora leaf spot of vegetable cowpea (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis (L.) Verdcourt.)
    (Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2017) Chinnu Ravi; KAU; Radhakrishnan, N V
    The study entitled “Management of Cercospora leaf spot of vegetable cowpea Vigna unguiculata subsp. ungiculata (L.) Verdcourt) was undertaken at the Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture Vellayani and Coconut Research Station, Balaramapuram during 2015-2017 with the objective to study the symptomatology and etiology of Cercospora leaf spot of cowpea and to develop a management strategy. Symptomatology and etiology of Cercospora leaf spot disease was studied during the flowering or pod bearing stage of the crop from different locations near to College of Agriculture, Vellayani. Symptoms were observed on the leaves, pods and stem .Conidial dimension of the pathogen ranges from 24.64 to 57.6 µm x 1.06 to 2.7 µm and the conidial septation was around 10 to 18. Based on the conidial and mycelial characters, the pathogen was tentatively identified as Cercospora sp. The identity of the pathogen was further confirmed based on the morphological characteristics and the herbarium specimen send to National Fungal Culture Collection of India, (N.F.C.C.I), Pune as Pseudocercospora sp. aff. Pseudocercospora vignigena (F: Mycosphaerellaceae) In vitro pathogen suppression by spore germination assay revealed that the fungicide difenoconazole (0.1%) recorded 42.96 per cent reduction over control and was followed by propiconazole (0.1%) and hexaconazole (0.1%) which recorded 36.85 and 31.10 per cent reduction over control, respectively. The organic formulations, mineral oil (0.1%) and neem oil (0.5%) recorded only 21.88 per cent reduction over control and were statistically on par .KAU talc based formulation of Pseudomonas fluorescens at 2.0 % recorded 11.88 per cent reduction of spore germination over control. The pot culture studies conducted using eight best treatments (difenoconazole (0.1%), propiconazole (0.1%), hexaconazole (0.1%), carbendazim (0.05%), azoxystrobin (0.05%), mineral oil (0.1%) neem oil (0.5%) and P. fluorescens 2.0 %) selected from in vitro studies revealed that the foliar spray of 0.1 per cent difenoconazole recorded the minimum disease incidence (23.80%) and disease severity (8.23 %) that accounts to 54.80 and 76.06 per cent disease reduction over control respectively. In the case of organic formulations, mineral oil (0.1%) recorded the minimum disease incidence (30.04%) and disease severity (16.54%). The plant sprayed with KAU talc based formulation of P. fluorescens (2.0%) recorded 33.69 % disease severity reduction over control. With regard to pod yield, the plants treated with difenoconazole (0.1%) registered the maximum (0.523 kg/pot) yield with 88.80% yield increase over control while ,the untreated control plants registered the lowest yield (0.277kg/pot). Based on the results of pot experiment, a field study was conducted at Coconut Research Station, Balaramapuram to evaluate the efficacy of five best treatments (difenoconazole (0.1%), propiconazole (0.1%), mineral oil (0.1%) neem oil (0.5%) and P. fluorescens 2.0 %) selected from the pot culture studies. Among the fungicides, difenoconazole (0.1%) recorded the minimum (31.88%) disease incidence and disease severity (13.97%) compared to all other treatments. In the case of organic formulations, mineral oil (0.1%) gave the maximum (14.32%) disease suppression and the lowest disease incidence of 40. 57 %. With regard to yield, maximum pod yield was from the plot sprayed with difenoconazole (1620 kg /ha) followed by propiconazole (1386.5 kg /ha) treated plants. Even though, the application of P. fluorescens gave only 29.23 per cent of the disease suppression, it enhanced the yield by 52.27 per cent yield over the control. It was concluded that foliar application of difenoconazole ( 0.1% ) at an interval of 35, 50 and 65 DAS was found to be the most effective treatment in managing Cercospora leaf spot in vegetable cowpea besides supporting proportionately attractive pod yield (1620 kg/ha) at an acceptable B:C ratio (2.44:1).Among the organic formulations, mineral oil (0.1%) was found to be the effective treatment in controlling leaf spot with a pod yield of 1293 kg/ha . While, P. fluorescens recorded a pod yield of 1318 kg/ha with B: C ratio of 2.02:1