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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 Physiology × Author: KAU × End date: 2007 × Start date: 2007 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Physiology and secondary metabolite production in genetically transformed brahmi (Bacopa monnieri L. wettst.) with cytokinin synthesizing isopentenyl transferase (ipt) gene
    (Department of Plant Physiology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2007) Vighnesha; KAU; Roy Stephen
    An experiment was conducted in the Department of Plant Physiology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, to overexpress cytokinin synthesizing ipt gene in Bacopa monnieri through Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation and to regenerate the transformed plants through tissue culture for analyzing the influence of overexpression of ipt gene on growth, physiology and secondary metabolite production. The transformation and molecular works were done in Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, Trivandrum. Escherichia coli strain JM 109 was transformed independently with pBI B33 ipt and pBI SAG12 ipt. Triparental mating was done using Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA 105, pRK 2013 and recombinant E.coli. Plasmids were isolated from recombinant E.coli and recombinant Agrobacterium cells to confirm the successful transformation of constructs. Both have showed the insertion release when double digested with restriction enzymes EcoRI and HindIII. Pre incubated leaf explants of Bacopa monnieri were co-cultivated with the recombinant Agrobacterium for two days and transferred to regeneration medium containing MS supplemented with 2mgl-1 BA, 15mgl-1 kanamycin and 300mgl-1 cefotaxime. Putative transformants were regenerated from co-cultivated explants when placed on the selection medium containing 15mg/l kanamycin and 300mg/l cefotaxime. Uninfected explants failed to regenerate in presence of kanamycin. Rooting was not found in the MS medium devoid of growth regulators. Sub culturing of shootlets was done in MS medium supplemented with 1ppm GA and 1ppm IAA. Hardening was done to the fully rooted plants and were kept in five replications for further analysis. DNA was isolated from both wild type and transformants. PCR amplification for nptII and ipt gene specific primers showed presence of gene in transformants but not in the wild type. From the selected transformants, RNA was isolated and RT-PCR was done. RT-PCR analysis confirmed the expression of ipt and nptII gene in all the transformants, while there was no expression in the wild type. Expression of constitutively expressed plant gene –actin was used as loading control. Southern hybridization of PCR amplified products gave the evidence for the presence of ipt gene only in transformants but not in wild type. Physiological and biometric observations were performed on both transformants and wild type which served as control over the transformants. Plant height was more in transformants compared to the wild. Both root length and relative water content was more in wild compared to the transformants. Other parameters like number of branches and number of leaves were higher in the transformants than in the wild. Total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b were found to increase for first five weeks in all treatments, after that there was a decrease in the total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and b in wild type but transformants were able to retain higher contents throughout the period of study. Total soluble protein content was higher in the transformants than the wild type. Stomatal frequency showed a significant difference between the treatments. Higher number of stomata was observed in the transgenics compared to the wild type. The distribution of stomata also differed significantly. In wild type the distribution was equal in both upper and lower surface of leaf but in transformants a higher number of stomata were observed at the lower surface than the upper surface. Cytokinin content was estimated using ELISA. There was a significant variation in cytokinin, iPA concentration between wild type and transformants. Transformants had higher cytokinin content than the wild type. The transformant with B33 promoter had more cytokinin content than transformant with SAG promoter. Bacoside, the major secondary metabolite of the plant was estimated by HPLC and its content between the wild type and transformants were found to be on par. In this experiment, the overexpression of ipt gene in bacopa resulted a higher amount of cytokinin in transgenics and hence had higher growth rate, protein and pigment content. Overexpression of ipt may not increase the bacoside content in the bacopa.