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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Open Access
Forecasting models for crop yield in cashew (anacahdium occident ale l.)
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1987) Usha, Menon R; KAU; George, K C
Open Access
Pattern of growth in domestic fowl
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary,Mannuthy, 1981) Jacob Thomas, M; KAU; Surendran, P U
Under uniform feed formula and identical management practices, 30 Australorp (ALP) males, 26 (ALP) females, 25 white Leghorn(WL) males and 31 (WL) females, were reared for 24 weeks in Kerala Agricultural University Poultry Farm, Mannuthy to study their growth patterns. The initial mean body weights of chicks were 35g. for ALPmales, 34.4615g. for ALP females, 33.04g for WL males, 32.0645g. for WL females. Throughout the experiment males in each genetic group had a higher mean weight than females. A plateau on the body weight was reached by the end of 23 weeks in almost all birds, indicating that 24 weeks completely covered the growth period. By the end of the experiment the mean body weight was 1858g for ALP males, 1488.4615g. for ALP females, 1556.8g. for WL males, 1306.1290g for WL females. Though there was no significant difference between the groups at the end of the fourth week, significant differences between pairs were observed after 16 weeks. Exponential (y =aebx), Gompertz (y = abcx) and Logestic (105/y = a + bcx) curves were found to be suitable for fitting body weights for 24 weeks. The first two gave extremely good fit. Modified exponential was good only for data of twelve weeks. When growth rates for twenty four weeks were compared on the basis of the fitted curves for all birds the conclusion arrived at was the same for exponential and Gompertz curves. The rates of growth for ALP males, WL males, ALP females WL females and were in the descending order of magnitude; they were significantly different. Same was the inference obtained when Rao’s method of comparing rates of growth was adopted. The result obtained for comparing the rates of growth by fitting Exponential and Modified exponential for the body weights of birds for 12 weeks were similar. Both the curves gave very satisfactory fit to the data. The coefficient of correlation between the observed and expected body weights was nearly unity in almost all cases.
Open Access
Statistical approach on the pattern of development of shank length in ducks
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1989) Sunanda, C; KAU; George, K C
The present investigation entitled ‘‘statistical approach on the pattern of development of shank length in Ducks’’ has been undertaken to study the following objectives. 1. To examine the pattern of development of shank length in two breeds of ducks in University Duck Farm, Mannuthy. 2. To compare them (a) between genetic group (b) between males and females within each genetic groups (c) between males of genetic group (d) between females of genetic group and 3. To fit appropriate growth curves for prediction of body weight through shank length at different stages of growth. For this purpose shank length and body weights on 14 males and 25 females of Desi ducklings and 26 males and 26 females of White Pekin (WP) ducklings were utilized. The ducklings were reared for twelve weeks in Kerala Agricultural University Duck Farm, Mannuthy under uniform feed formula and identical management practices. In the day old and the twelfth week of age uniformity could be seen in the mean shank length of the four groups. But at the fourth and eighth week of age, mean shank length of the four groups was not uniform. Upto ninth week of age, Desi females had higher shank length than the other three groups except at the fifth week. But during the fifth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth week of age Desi males had the highest shank length. The least shank length was always observed for WP males. During the entire period, Desi ducklings had higher shank length than WP duckling. The growth pattern of body weight was not uniform in the four groups except the initial body weight. High correlation was found between the body weight and shank length. It revealed that shank length can be made a criterion for selection for higher body weight. The method of comparison of growth rates recommended by Rao (1958) was found unsuitable for the present study. Among the functional relationships worked out linear, exponential and second degree equations were found to be unsuitable for fitting shank length as a function of age. Modified exponential, logistic, Gompertz and Von-Bertalanffy equations were found to be suitable for fitting shank length over a period of time. Among these four, Gompertz was found to be the best fit. The second best fitted equation was logistic. Graphs of the best fitted equations ie. Gompertz and logistic were drawn for all the six group along with the observed values. This also confirms above result. Among the two functional relations ie. linear and exponential used for predicting body weight from shank length, exponential was found to be most suitable.
Open Access
Milk marketing in the organised sector- a programming approach to optimisation of collection and distribution
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1987) Asokan, M V; KAU; Ravindranathan, N
Two milk collection and one distribution route were taken for suggesting a suitable transportation model for optimizing the cost of collection and distribution of milk in dairy plants. Three Vehicle Scheduling Models, viz. saving model (model 1) suggested by Clarke and Wright (1964) λ model (model II) and ∏ model (model III) suggested by Gaskel (1967) were used in this study. Since there was high variation in supply of milk by each society to chilling plant, median and third quartile values of daily supply of milk of two selected months for each season was taken as expected availability of milk. Maximum distance that can be travelled by a truck in a route was calculated by considering the time. Morning and evening routes were formed with median and third quartile values as expected availability of milk in each season. Routes obtained in all cases indicated that routes formed by model 1 were the best. In the case of distribution of milk routes obtained by the model I was found to be the best. Using traveling salesman problem technique, an attempt was made to check the optimality of the routes obtained by each model and found that the routes were not optimum in most of the cases. Refinement method suggested by Holmes and Parker (1976) was tried out for knowing whether any further improvement is possible in model I. In certain cases better routes could be achieved. From this study, it is suggested that for the route formation in dairy plants for collection and distribution of milk, three techniques, viz. Clarke and Wright method (model I). Refinement method and traveling Slaesman problem technique should be used in the order stated. Forty four dairy co-operative societies were considered in the analysis of performance rating and grading of societies. Seven parameters were taken and subjective weights were given to each of them. Total score for each society was calculated and based on it the societies were graded as A, B, C and D.
Open Access
Pattern of development of shank length in chicken
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1982) Indirabai, T K; KAU; Surendran, P U
Shank length and body weight measurements on 30 male and 30 female chicks from each of White Cornish (WC) and White Plymouth Rock (WR) breed were utilized to study the pattern of development of shank length in chicken. The birds were reared for eight weeks in Kerala Agricultural University Poultry Farm under uniform management. Upto the end of three weeks uniformity could be seen in the pattern of growth of shank length of the four groups. Thereafter WR male had a lead over the rest. The growth pattern of body weight was not uniform in the groups from the beginning. At the end of eight weeks the growth pattern was found to differ between sexes and breeds. Uniformity in growth rates was found in females of the two genetic groups as also between WC male and WR female. All the other pairs were heterogeneous. High correlation between body weight and shank length revealed that longer shank length can be made a criterion for selection for higher body weight. Shank length at the end of the first week was found to be most suitable for this purpose. Shank length has high positive correlation with age. The method of comparison of growth rates recommended by Rao (1958) was found unsuitable for the present study. Among the functional forms examined Modified Exponential, Gompertz and Logistic were found to be unsuitable for expressing shank length as a function of age. Most suitable patterns for expressing shank as a function of age in weeks were found to be linear and exponential. Among these two exponential turned out to be better than the other.
Open Access
Determination of the size and shape of plots for trials on cashew
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1981) Remesh, B Nair; KAU; Prabhakaran, P V
The present study whose objective is to evaluate the problems concerned with field experimentation on cashew was undertaken using the yield records of 625 uniformly treated cashew trees collected from cashew research station, Madakathara for a period of five years starting from 1976. A single row of trees was discarded on either side of the experimental field to eliminate border effect. Thus the experimental material consisted of 576 trees raised from same parental stock in a 24 x 24 compact block arrangement. The period 1976 to 1980 for which there was no change in treatment was considered to be the pre-experimental period and the year following the application of treatment was considered to be the experimental period. Observations on certain yield contributing characters pertaining to the year 1978 to 1979 such as height, spread and trunk girth were also gathered. Plots of different sizes and shapes were formed by combining yields of adjoining trees in various possible ways, a single tree being considered as the ultimate unit. The plots were grouped into blocks of different sizes and cv was worked out for plots of different dimensions when plots were arranged in blocks and not arranged. The trees were found to be highly heterogenous even though they were raised from the same parental stock. Single tree plots were found to be the most efficient when viewed from the point of view of maximum relative percentage information and consequently could be recommended for conducting field experiments on cashew. Two tree plots could also be recommended due to certain practical considerations shape of plot did not seem to have a consistent effect on variability. Fair field Smith’s equation gave a good fit to the data and the parameter ‘b’ was found to be high in both the cases when trees are arranged in blocks and when they are not arranged. It was observed that 2 plot blocks were the most efficient for conducting field experiments on cashew. The efficiency of blocking decreased with an increase in plot size. The result showed that experimental error could be considerably reduced by the use of incomplete block designs. As an effective method of controlling tree to tree variation the method of ranking based on their past performance can be adopted. Efficiency of local control was considerably increased by ranking of trees as compared to mere grouping of trees with respect to their geographical contiguity. Pre-experimental year’s yield was found to be the most important yield contributing character. Trunk girth of tree was also found to have significant influence on the inherent yielding ability of the trees. A selection index evolved was found to be strongly correlated with experimental yield. The correlation coefficient observed for this variate was higher than that for other yield contributing characters. Maximum efficiency in analysis of covariance was noted by using selection index as covariate. Efficiency of covariance analysis decreased with an increase in plot size. The optimum pre-experimental period for calibration and covariance analysis was found to be two year’s immediately prior to the start of the experiment.
Open Access
Weather paddy crop relationship
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1981) Krishnan, S; KAU; Surendran, P U
An effective regression method for the examination of the stability of the treatments in repeated experiments was introduced by Finlay and Wilkinson (1963). A new justification for the employment of this method was evolved and this does not require the logarithmic transformation of the data to induce linearity of regression. A treatment has greater than average, average or less than average stability according as the regression coefficient b 1. The data from permanent manorial trials conducted at Rice Research Station, Pattambi from 1973 to 1979 were used to show that the method of regression coefficients to study stability and the method of analysis of groups of experiments are equivalent. This was the first attempt in that direction. Method of analysis of principal components was used to suggest a new weather index based on rainfall and temperature which are considered to be important weather para meters. The number of wet days did not have any significant correlation with the mean yields of treatments. In the kharif season mean daily humidity was significantly correlated with the yield. Whereas all other parameters such as mean daily rainfall, mean daily temperature, mean daily maximum temperature, mean daily minimum temperature, maen daily maximum humidity, mean daily wind velocity and mean daily hours of sunshine did not have any significant correlation. In the rabi season mean yield of Jaya had a correlation of -0.5713 with the mean daily temperature, 0.91131 with mean daily maximum temperature, -0.6802 with mean daily minimum temperature -0.5888 with mean daily minimum humidity and 0.88193 with hours of sunshine. A modified procedure was suggested to estimate the weekly rainfall of a place. This was obtained by applying the method of Surendran et.al. (1977) to logarithms instead of the weekly annual rainfalls. Incidentally it gave a method for suggesting the adequacy of the length of the date for estimation. Theoretical distribution of the weekly rainfall at Pattambi were indicated. All of them were found to obey beta distribution.
Open Access
Optium plot size for field experiments on brinjal
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1981) Hariharan, V; KAU; George, K C
A uniformity trial in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) was conducted at the Main Campus of the Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara during the third crop season, 1980. Observations on yield, number of fruits, primary branches and height of each plant was recorded at time of harvest in small units each of size 1.08m2 (2rows x 2 plants at 60 x 45 cm spacing). The variability of each plot size and shape was determined by calculating the coefficient of variation. It was observed that an increase in the plot size in either direction decreased the CV. But the decrease was more rapid along N-S direction. Long and narrow plots yielded lower CV than approximately square plots. The observed relation between plot size and variance was in conformity with the Fairfield Smith’s variance law. At larger plot sizes, the regression line showed a tendency to curve down although negligible. The optimum plot size observed through Smith’s method and maximum curvature method was almost the same. From the above considerations, a plot size of 8.64 m2 (9.6m x 0.9m) was found to be most advisable for conducting most of the field experiments in brinjal. The efficiency of the plot decreased as the size of the plot was increased. There is a general decrease of block efficiency with increasing block size. More compact blocks of the same size show a higher efficiency. Blocks laid out perpendicular to the direction of fertility gradient removed largest variation. The number of replications and total area of land required to give 5% SE of the mean were calculated for the same number of plots per block smaller plots require more replication but less total area than larger plots. But increasing the number of replication rather than plot size was found more advantageous for a fixed experimental area. The fertility contour map of the field revealed that the land is not very homogeneous as far as the fertility pattern is concerned. By assuming arbitrary values of the cost proportional to the number of replications and the cost proportional to the total area per treatment, the optimum plot size for field experiments in brinjal was computed using a linear cost function.
Open Access
Comparative study of lactation curves in cattle
(Department of Statistics, College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1985) Mathew Sebastian; KAU; George, K C
An investigation, based on 174 normal lactation records of 93 Jersey crossbred cows and 90 normal Isolation records of 55 Brown Swiss crossbred cows belonged to the University Livestock Farm, Mannuthy, was undertaken : (1) to compare the relative efficiency of various isolation curve models and to select the best one (ii) to compare the two genetic groups based on order of Isolation and season of calving and (iii) to develop equations for predicting total milk yield from part yields. Records upto the 4th Isolation were included in the study. The observations spread over a period of six years from 1978 to 1983. The year was delinested into dry, rainy and moderate seasons.

Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

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