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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: KAU × Author: Nisha, Jose × End date: 2007 × Start date: 2007 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Role of microflora on the quality of vermi-products in improving plant growth
    (Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2007) Nisha, Jose; KAU; Rajendran Pillai, M V
    A study on ‘Role of microflora on the quality of vermi-products in improving plant growth’ was carried out in the department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 2005-07. The native microflora associated with the earth worm Eisenia foetida and different vermi-products viz., vermicompost, vermicasting and two types of vermiwash were isolated. Quantitative estimation of microflora revealed that, bacterial population was predominant in vermi-products followed by actinomycetes and fungi. Altogether, 32 fungi, 39 bacteria (including five nitrogen fixing and three phosphorus solubilizing bacteria) and four actinomycete isolates were selected for further work. These isolates were then tested for their efficiency in nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization and antagonistic properties against Rhizoctonia solani, the leaf blight pathogen in amaranth. Based on the efficiency of the above aspects, one isolate each of nitrogen fixing and phosphorus solubilizing bacteria were selected. These isolates were tentatively identified as Azotobacter sp. (NB2) and Pseudomonas sp. (PB1) respectively. Seven isolates of fungi which recorded the promising antagonistic index (AI) and two isolates of bacteria which recorded highest per cent inhibition against R. solani were selected. The fungal isolates were identified as T. harzianum (VF5, VF22 and VF25), T. viride (VF8 and VF16), A. niger (VF2) and A. flavus (VF15). The bacterial isolates were tentatively identified as Bacillus sp. (VB4) and non fluorescent Pseudomonas (VB26). Then three different microbial consortia were prepared using the selected fungal and bacterial isolates alone and in combination. A pot culture experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of these consortia in improving plant growth in comparison to vermi-products. It was found that consortia including both fungal and bacterial isolates found to improve the plant growth by increasing yield other biometric characters. Observations on incidence and severity of leaf blight in amaranth showed that microbial consortia and non sterilized vermi-products had a favorable effect in checking the disease incidence. Considerable variation in population of soil microflora was observed among different treatments. Uptake of major nutrients was found to be more in treatments appied with vermicompost and vermicasting. The in vitro studies on the effect of vermi-products on beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms revealed that steam sterilized extracts inhibited the growth of Rhizoctonia sp. and Colletotrichum sp. and did not inhibit the growth of Trichoderma harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Vermi-products lost its inhibitory activity after strong heating. Autoclaved extracts of vermi-products did not show inhibition on any of the four organisms tested.