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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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ThesisItem Open Access Etiology and ecofriendly management of fungal diseases of thippali ( piper longum L)(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2007) Poornima, R; KAU; Santha Kumari, PA survey was carried out at the medicinal garden of College of Agriculture, Vellayani and medicinal garden of Ayurveda Research Institute, Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram to study the diseases associated with Piper longum L. (Indian long pepper or thippali). The major disease observed was anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz and Sacc. Pathogenicity test proved that C. gloeosporioides was the pathogen associated with the disease. Cross inoculation studies conducted using C. gloeosporioides isolate of thippali, black pepper and betel vine - the sister plants – showed that the thippali isolate was highly host specific. The colony and conidial morphology of the three isolates also showed considerable difference. C. gloeosporioides of thippali had very small conidia and the culture was also found to be shy sporulating. Studies on the survival of C. gloeosporioides showed that the pathogen survived for 105 days in the infected leaves, under laboratory conditions. In the soil, it survived for 150 days. Of the eleven fungal and four bacterial isolates tested against C. gloeosporioides, T. viride and A.terreus were found to be most effective under in vitro condition. Among the different resistance inducers tested in vitro, SA (1 g/l) was selected for field evaluation, as it had no direct action on the pathogen. Of the two plant based chemicals tested, Ovis reported the highest suppression of the pathogen. These four eco friendly materials selected from the in vitro studies and neem cake were tested in the field to determine their effectiveness in controlling the disease. Their combinations were also studied. Among the different eco friendly materials tested in the field, treatment T12 (T2T5 - A. terreus + neem cake) was found to be best in disease suppression at 45 DAT. Estimation of DRE showed that PO and PPO activity was highest in T3 (Ovis) where as PAL activity was maximum in T1 (T. viride). Combination of treatments revealed that maximum PO activity was in treatment T14 (T3T5 - Ovis + neem cake).The PPO and PAL activity was maximum in T7 (T1T3 - T. viride + Ovis).ThesisItem Open Access Induction of resistance against cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus in vigna unguiculata var. sesquipedalis (l) verdcourt(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2007) Veena, I V; KAU; Joy, MStudies were conducted to induce resistance in cowpea against CABMV using abiotic and biotic factors. Various abiotic and biotic factors were screened to find out their efficiency in local lesion host of the virus, Chenopodium amaranticolor and cowpea. Different chemicals and plant extracts were found to inhibit local lesions produced by CABMV. Salicylic acid and ethrel inhibited the formation of local lesions in C. amaranticolor. Pre inoculation spray of indigeneous materials viz. panchagavya and neem seed oil emulsion reduced the number of local lesions. But they were not as much effective as chemicals. Among the chemicals having antiviral properties, betadiene and manganese chloride showed better inhibition over control. Ten plant extracts were tested to induce resistance in cowpea plants. Phyllanthus niruri and Boerhavia diffusa recorded 100 percent inhibition of local lesions in C. amaranticolor. Pre inoculation spay of P. fluorescens, the biotic agent were found very much effective against CABMV. Biotic and abiotic factors that showed high inhibition percentage in local lesion host also reduced the symptom development in cowpea. Among the abiotic factors, chemicals like salicylic acid (250 ppm), ethrel (250 ppm), betadiene (0.1 percent) and plant extracts viz., Phyllanthus niruri (10 percent) and Boerhavia diffusa (10 percent) were used for evaluation. Pseudomonas fluorescens (TNAU culture, 108cfu ml-1), the biotic agent was also selected for the assay. AVPs were found very much effective in reducing the symptoms produced by CABMV in cowpea. Biochemical changes indicated a significant difference in protein in treated plants. P. niruri recorded maximum protein content. Among the treatments tested AVPs viz. B. diffusa and P. niruri recorded the maximum total sugar content in pre, post and simultaneous inoculation. P. niruri treated cowpea plants recorded increased reducing sugar content. Application of selected biotic and abiotic factors on cowpea cv. Sharika challenged with CABMV induced higher accumulation of phenolics. AVPs and chemicals inducing resistance showed accumulation of phenol when compared to healthy plants. Studies on the mode of action of AVPs and chemicals against CABMV revealed that they induced defence mechanism in plants challenged with CABMV. AVPs and chemicals treated and challenged with CABMV increased the accumulation of phenyl alanine ammonialyase, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase, than healthy and virus inoculated control. Many defence proteins and PR-proteins were induced in response to various treatments. The induction of PR-proteins was more in leaves which were treated with biotic agent and also with plant extracts. This induction of PR-protein was more prominent during early stages of treatments and gradually decreased in due courses.ThesisItem Open Access Biosurfactant producing bacteria from the selected soils of Kerala(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2007) Remya, V M; KAU; Rehumath Niza, T JA study on “Biosurfactant producing bacteria from the selected soils of Kerala” was conducted at College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during the period from 2004-2006. Eight promising BS producing bacteria were selected by screening a total of 92 heterotrophic bacteria isolated from ten different hydrocarbon contaminated soil samples. Based on the morphological and biochemical characters, out of the 8 selected isolates, six cultures were tentatively identified as KCC-2 (Pseudomonas sp.), MCC-2 (Pseudomonas sp.), KFS1 (Pseudomonas sp.), KFN2 (Pseudomonas sp.), DTSC3 (Pseudomonas sp.) and DTSC5 (Pseudomonas sp.). The other two bacterial isolates MCN-3 and PFC-4 were identified through Microbial Type Culture Collections (MTCC), Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, as Geobacillus kaustophilus and Pseudomonas fluorescens with accession numbers MTCC 8517 and MTCC 8518 respectively. Per cent Biosurfactant producing bacterial population was estimated from the selected heterotrophic bacterial population, based on drop collapse assay and xylene spray method. Mancozeb treated vegetable plot gave maximum per cent BS bacteria (45.4per cent) followed by Eucalyptus plantations, Peechi and forest lands, Wyanad (37.5per cent in both cases). Extraction of BS production indicated that the isolate KFS1 from Eucalyptus plantations, recorded maximum BS production (7.95g/l) followed by MCN-3 (6.45 g/l) and DTSC3 (6.20 g/l). The eight selected BS bacteria recorded good xylene emulsification property. These isolates also lowered the surface tension values of the liquids viz., distilled water, glycerol (10-1 dilution), cyclohexane and methoxy ethanol monomethyl ether. The optimum nutritional and cultural conditions required for maximum BS production and emulsification activity were varied greatly among the bacterial isolates tested. Effect of selected BS bacteria on the degradation of pesticides viz., chlorpyriphos and mancozeb were studied, the isolate KFS1 from Eucalyptus plantations reduced the concentration of chlorpyriphos from 55.84 g /g to 16.03 g/g soil at 40 days after application (DAA) with 71.29 per cent degradation compared to control. And in mancozeb residue analysis studies, the isolate DTSC3 enriched soil sample, reduced the concentration of mancozeb from 0.738g/g to 0.478 g/g soil at 40 DAA and the per cent degradation was 28.44 per cent compared to control. Among the eight BS isolates, most of them showed high per cent inhibition to soil borne pathogens like Pythium aphanidermatum, Phytophthora capsici and Rhizoctonia solani and all of them are compatible to Trichoderma harzianum and T. viride. Among the eight isolates, six were compatible to Pseudomonas fluorescens. Selected BS isolates showed plant growth promoting effect by enhanced seed germination, plumule and radicle length in cowpea and sorghum seeds.ThesisItem Open Access Growth enhancement and management of Phytophthora - Rot in Vanilla Nurseries using microbial inoculants(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2007) Shahida, K; KAU; Surendra Gopal, KA study on “Growth enhancement and management of Phytophthora rot in vanilla nurseries using microbial inoculants” was carried out in the Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara. The salient findings are abstracted below: The study revealed that Phytophthora meadii Mc. Rac.was the pathogen causing Phytophthora rot in vanilla nurseries. Even though, the treatments did not influence growth characters significantly, AMF (Perumbavoor) and Azospirillum (Mazhuvannur) were the most effective AMF and Azospirillum isolates for enhancement of growth and nutrient content in vanilla. In vitro screening of antagonists against P. meadii revealed that Trichoderma (Vellanikkara) and rhizobacteria ( Mazhuvannur) were very effective against the pathogen. The effective microbial isolates obtained were identified. Among the fungicides tested, Bordeaux mixture, copper hydroxide and copper oxychloride (at all concentrations) and potassium phosphonate (at higher concentrations) completely inhibited the growth of the pathogen. Compatibility studies revealed that potassium phosphonate was compatible with antagonists, while copper fungicides were not compatible with antagonists. Results on compatibility between Trichoderma and antagonistic bacteria showed that Trichoderma was compatible with antagonistic rhizobacteria as well as Azospirillum. The experiment on growth enhancement and Phytophthora rot management in vanilla revealed that all the microbial isolates gave early sprouting. Azospirillum (MVR) gave maximum length. AMF (PBR) and P. fluorescens (commercial) were found to be effective against Phytophthora rot in artificially inoculated vanilla cuttings. Among chemicals tested, potassium phosphonate gave best control against Phytophthora rot.ThesisItem Open Access Ecofriendly management of collar rot and web blight of cowpea(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2007) Bhadra Sree, S; KAU; Gokulapalan, CThe study “Ecofriendly management of collar rot and web blight of cowpea was conducted at the Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2004-2007. Different plant oils, oil cakes, indigenous materials like turmeric power – baking soda and rice husk ash and biocontrol agents like Trichoderma harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens were used in the study to manage R. solani causing the disease. Among the seven plant oils tested odal and pongamia oil emerged as the most potential ones. Of the four oil cakes gingelly and coconut cakes were identified as the best treatments. The different combinations of turmeric powder – baking soda and rice husk ash did not inhibit the growth of R. solani. Pot culture experiments were conducted to assess the efficacy of plant oils, oil cakes, biocontrol agents and indigenous materials in enhancing the growth of cowpea. Both the plant oils used in the study were successful in managing the disease. Of the three oil cakes used in the study gingelly cake exhibited best performance in disease management and growth enhancement. Of the indigenous materials used 10:1 combination of turmeric powder – baking soda and 1000gm-2 concentration of RHA were found to be excellent in enhancing growth and disease suppression. Biocontrol agents T. harzianum and P-22 culture of P. fluorescens were found to be superior in disease suppression and growth enhancement. Changes in levels of total phenols, proteins, carbohydrates and activities of defense related enzymes like PO, PPO and PAL due to above treatments were estimated. The treatment 10:1 ratio of turmeric powder – baking soda recorded highest protein and PO content. Soil application of oil cakes gave increased activity of PAL and carbohydrate.ThesisItem Open 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 VA 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.ThesisItem Open Access Diseases of milky mushroom (Calocybe indica P & C ) and their management(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2007) Sameera, Pothukattil; KAU; Sheela, T PaulA study on “Diseases of milky mushroom (Calocybe indica P. &C.) and their management” was carried out in the Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, during the year 2006-2007.A survey was conducted on the occurrence of major diseases in four milky mushroom farms in Thrissur district The study revealed that two bacterial pathogens viz., Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus sp. causing bacterial blotch and Dactylium dendroides and Penicillium sp. are the two fungi causing diseases on sporophore. Seven weed fungi were found to interfere with spawn running of milky mushroom namely Trichoderma sp., Coprinus sp., Chaetomium indicum, Rhizoctonia solani, Curvularia sp., Sclerotium sp., and Aspergillus sp. In vitro interaction studies between the milky mushroom and both fungal/ bacterial pathogens on medium and substrate showed that they can inhibit the mycelial growth. Culture filtrate of the weed fungi has inhibitory activity against C. indica. Seasonal effect on incidence of weed fungi was studied. It showed that maximum incidence in June, was correlated with high humidity and the major weed fungus observed was R. solani. Different substrate sterilization methods have an influence on mycelial growth and yield. Both in vitro and in vivo studies showed that chemical sterilization along with CaCO3 was the best treatment for the sterilization of paddy straw. Effect of weed fungi on mycelial growth and yield was tested; the study revealed that Sclerotium sp and C. indicum were showing more inhibitory effect by reducing the mycelial growth and yield. In vitro effect of phytoextracts was tested by poison food method. Phytoextracts of garlic, ocimum, turmeric, neem and marigold at 5, 10 and 15 per cent concentrations were tried. Among the five phytoextracts garlic and ocimum extracts were the best treatments against fungal pathogens / weed fungi. Turmeric and garlic extracts were most inhibitory to bacterial pathogens. On farm evaluation of the extracts reduced the weed fungi incidence. Prophylatic spraying of phytoextracts on sporophores decreased the bacterial disease incidence. There was a slight change in biochemical constituents between healthy and diseased sporophores General cleaning, use of good quality substrate, maintenance of optimum conditions etc. will help to get substantial yield and reduction in disease incidence. It is desirable to provide a short break of two to three days after each crop and prophylactic spraying with phytoextracts after the destruction of inoculum will help in the management of both fungal and bacterial diseases.ThesisItem Open Access Induction of growth promotion in vanilla through plant growth promoting microorganisms consortia(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2007) Dhanya, V; KAU; Surendra Gopal, KA study on “Induction of growth promotion in vanilla through plant growth promoting microorganisms consortia” was carried out in the Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara. The salient findings are abstracted below: Isolates of Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp. and Trichoderma spp.were evaluated for its efficiency in production of growth promoting substances like IAA and salicylic acid and observed that Pseudomonas sp. was most efficient. Results on compatibility between selected PGPM like Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp. and Trichoderma sp. showed that all isolates were compatible with each other under in vitro condition. In the case of Pseudomonas sp, all the selected fungicides and insecticides at all concentrations completely inhibited their growth and among Bacillus isolates, all the selected fungicides and insecticides at all concentrations completely inhibited their growth except carbaryl which was compatible with isolates B1 , B2 and B3 at all concentration .Similarly, in the case of Trichoderma isolates, all the selected fungicides and insecticides at all concentrations completely inhibited their growth. In the present study, most of the growth parameters of vanilla in the nursery experiment was maximum with individual treatments especially Bacillus sp., which performed better than consortia treatments. The use of individual PGPM namely; Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp. and Trichoderma sp. and their consortia exerted better growth characteristics in vanilla than untreated control.ThesisItem Open Access Potentiality of endophytic micro organisms in the management of leaf blight disease of Amaranth(College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2007) Uppala, Sai Sree; KAU; Beena, SA study on “Potentiality of endophytic micro-organisms in the management of leaf blight disease of amaranth” was carried out in the Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, during the year 2006-2007. The pathogen causing the leaf blight of amaranth was isolated from both red and green amaranth types from different locations and all the isolates were found to be same and identified as Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn based on the cultural and morphological characters. Endophytic micro-organisms were isolated from red, green and wild amaranth types, which yielded more of endophytic bacteria than fungi. Based on the nature of growth, 46 bacterial and 17 fungal endophytes were selected for further work. These selected endophytes were tested for their antagonistic effect on the growth of R.solani by dual culture studies under in vitro condition. For comparing the efficiency of endophytes, two standard cultures each of fungal bioagents viz. Trichoderma harzianum (IISR) and T.viride (KAU) and bacterial bioagents viz. P.fluorescens (KAU) and P.fluorescens (TNAU) were also used. Among the 46 endophytic bacteria, six viz. EB-4, EB-20, EB-22, EB-38, EB-43 and EB-45 showed antagonism towards R.solani with per cent inhibition ranging from 44.55 to 57.73. Out of the 17 endophytic fungi tested, only one fungus EF-2 recorded cent per cent inhibition of R.solani. The standard bioagents T. harzianum (IISR), T.viride (KAU), P.fluorescens (TNAU) and P.fluorescens (KAU) also showed antagonism towards R.solani with per cent inhibition of 91.1, 84.4, 57.27 and 57.73 respectively. Thus from the in vitro evaluation, six endophytic bacteria and one endophytic fungus were selected. The cultural, morphological and biochemical characters of selected endophytic bacteria were studied. All isolates were observed as short rods and among them four isolates viz. EB-4, EB-20, EB-38 and EB-43 were found as Gram positive and endospore forming and were identified as Bacillus spp. The other two endophytes viz. EB-22 and EB-45 responded negatively to Gram staining and identified as Pseudomonas spp. Based on the cultural and morphological characters the endophytic fungus EF-2 was identified as Trichoderma harzianum Rifai. A pot culture experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of selected endophytes in managing leaf blight disease, promoting plant growth characters and inducing systemic resistance in amaranth. Their effects were compared with standard cultures of fungal and bacterial bioagents and fungicide, mancozeb. The results revealed that the endophytic bacteria isolated from red amaranth EB-22 and EB-43 were found to be efficient in reducing leaf blight disease severity in amaranth whereas EB-20 , EB-22 and EB-43 showed the ability to promote plant growth characters . The isolates EB-20 and EB-22 recorded maximum peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity where as the standard cultures of bioagents viz. T. harzianum (IISR), P.fluorescens (KAU) and P.fluorescens (TNAU) showed high phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity. The uninoculated healthy plants recorded higher peroxidase activity but lower PPO and PAL activity than control.
