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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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2015 - 20182
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Author: Adarsh, C K × Author: KAU × End date: 2019 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Diversity, distributional status and ecology of poly-pores in forest ecosystems of Kerala
    (Department of Natural Resource Management, Vellanikkara, 2018) Adarsh, C K; KAU; Vidyasagaran, K
    The study was carried out with the objectives to find out the diversity, distributional status and ecology of polypores in forest ecosystems of Kerala. The representative sample plots of major forest types on either side of the Palakkad gap were selected in order to get a good sampling to cover northern, central and southern regions of Kerala and all the major forest ecosystems viz., evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous and shola forest. Three permanent sample plots of 100 m×100 m with subplots of 10 x 10 m were established in three different locations in each ecosystem (5 in south of Palakkad gap and 5 in north of Palakkad gap). Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary and Periya forest range of North Wayanad forest division were selected to represent evergreen forest. Semi-evergreen forest plot was taken in From Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary and Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary. The moist deciduous forest samplots were taken from Peechi-Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. The dry deciduous forest sample plot were taken in Walayar forest range and Marayoor sandal forest. Eravikulam National Park and Brahmagiri shola of North Wayanad division were selected to locate sample plots of shola forest. Apart from the plot based sampling, opportunistic sampling method was also adopted to maximize the documentation of polypore fungal diversity and distribution. As part of opportunistic sampling, all the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries were visited. The polypore collection was carried out during the southwest monsoon (June to September) and north-east monsoon (October to December) from the sample plots. Additionally, labelling, rot character identification, photography, recording macromorphological characters and details of substratum were also made on the illustrated data sheet. All the logs and branches ≥ 20 cm diameter were enumerated using standard equipments. The decay stage of the logs was determined according to a 5-grade scale (based on decay classification system of Pyle and Brown, 1998). An attempt has also been made to find out the effect of substrate features like diameter, type and decay class on the diversity and abundance of polypores. Various polypores associations was worked out along with the different phytosociological indicators like density, frequency, abundance, Simpson’s Index and Shannon-Weiner Index. All the trees in the sample plots (3x10 of 100 x 100) were identified and documented (both host and non host trees).371 Ninety five polypore species in fourty nine genera belonging to eight families were documented. The Polyporaceae was the dominant family with 42 species followed by Hymenochaetaceae (31), Fomitopsidaceae (6) and Meruliaceae (5). Meripilaceae and Ganodermataceae made their presence with 4 species each. The family Schizoporaceae was represented by 2 species. Only one species was reported from the family Phanerochaetaceae. Among the polypores documented, 64 species were annuals and 31 were perennials. While analyzing the rot characteristics of the recorded polypores, it was found that the white rot polypores have notable dominance over brown rot polypores. Of 95 species analyzed, 88 polypores were white rotters and only 7 species were brown rotters. An identification key was developed for the polypores documented from forest ecosystems of Kerala based on the micro and macro morphological features. During the present study, 14 species were found to be new records from Western Ghats and one species is reported for the first time from India. These species have been described based on the macro-morphology and micro-morphology. In evergreen forest at Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary, Simpson’s Index of diversity was observed to be the highest (0.965) followed by evergreen forest of Periya Forest Range (0.958) and semi-evergreen forest at Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (0.957). The lowest Simpson’s Index was recorded at dry deciduous forest at Marayoor and Walayar with 0.873 and 0.916 respectively. The shola forest at Eravikulam National Park and Brahmagiri was also recorded with low polypore diversity with Simpson’s Index 0.921 and 0.923 respectively. Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary showed higher Shanon-Wiener Index value (3.637) followed by evergreen forest of Periya Forest Range (3.458) and semi-evergreen forest at Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (3.354). The Margalef Richness Index was found to be highest in wet evergreen forest at Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary (5.747) while it was 1.798 in dry deciduous forest at Marayoor. The evenness in distribution of polypores was observed to be highest in evergreen forest at Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary and semi-evergreen forest at Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary with Pielou's Evenness Index 0.908 and 0.905 respectively. The shola forest at Eravikulam National Park and Brahmagiri shola showed more Berger-Parker Dominance Index value 0.238 and 0.194 respectively. The lowest Berger-Parker Dominance Index value (0.076) was recorded in evergreen forest at Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary. Sorenson’s Similarity Index was worked out to find the similarity of polypore community in different forest ecosystems of Kerala. The similarity between polypore community372 of each forest ecosystems in either side of Palakkad gap was found out. The similarity between each forest types on either side of Palakkad gap found to be more or less uniform (above 0.75) except the dry deciduous forest at Marayoor and Walayar (0.37). The overall similarity of forest on either side of Palakkad gap is found to be much higher (0.918) The influence of altitudinal variation in the distribution pattern of polypores in different forest ecosystems of Kerala were analyzed based on their occurrence along different altitudinal gradients. In all forest types the diversity and richness is decreasing along the altitude. The evenness of polypore is decreasing along the altitude in all forest types of Kerala. The dominance is increasing along the altitude in all forest types A total of 306 tree species belonging to 68 families were identified to occur in the selected sample plots and out of this, 168 species under 51 families were host species. Leguminosae and Lauraceae contributed 18 and 13 species respectively and they represented the major host families followed by Malvaceae (8), Meliaceae (8), Phyllanthaceae (8), Myrtaceae (7), Clusiaceae (6), Moraceae (6), Rubiaceae (6) and Rutaceae (6). Most of the species were host generalist and more or less evenly distributed among the host tree species. Among the substrate types, maximum polypore occurrence was observed on logs followed by branch/twig and snag while, living trees supported only few polypores in all forest ecosystems. Decay class association of polypores showed that the intermediate decay stages harboured the maximum in terms of number of species, number of fruitbodies and frequency of occurrence. The conceptual framework on primary ecological strategy revealed that polypores exhibits ruderal, combative and stress tolerant behaviours. The polypores documented from forest ecosystems of Kerala was classified into ruderal, combative and stress tolerant categories.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Diversity and distribution of polypores in the wet evergreen and shola forests of silent valley national park, Kerala
    (Department of Forest Management and Utilisation, College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, 2015) Adarsh, C K; KAU; Vidyasagaran, K
    The study was carried out with the objectives to assess the diversity and distribution of polypores in the wet evergreen and shola forests in Silent Valley National Park during three different seasons during 2014-15. An attempt has also been made to find out the effect of substrate features like diameter, type and decay class on the diversity and abundance of polypores. Three fixed size permanent sample plots of 100 m×100 m with subplots of 10 x 10 m were established in three different locations in each ecosystem and these sample plots were enumerated during three different seasons to collect information on influence of seasonal fluctuation in fruitbody production and details on substrate characteristics. Apart from the plot based sampling, opportunistic sampling method was also adopted to maximize the documentation of polypore fungal diversity and distribution. A total of fifty seven species were recorded from the National Park and among this Inonotus pachyphloeus, Phylloporia pectinata, Trametes menziesii, Trametes ochracea and Trametes pubescens were the first report from Kerala. Three species (Inonotus sp. nov., Microporus sp. nov. and Polypores sp. nov.) were found to be new to science and these species have been described based on the macro and micro-morphology. The wet evergreen forest showed relatively high polypore diversity and richness than that of shola forest with higher Simpson’s index of diversity (0.92) and Margalef richness index (3.15). Similarity between polypore communities in two ecosystems was found to be low during all the seasons. The peak fruitbody production of the polypores was observed during the monsoon. The altitudinal variation analysis of polypores revealed a monotonic decrease pattern in species richness from lower altitude wet evergreen forests to higher altitude shola forests. The density of many of the polypore species was also found decrease drastically along the altitudinal gradient. The degree of dominance and evenness also showed a trend of increase and decrease respectively, along the altitudinal gradient. Polypore-host association revealed that, of the 91 tree species under 32 families, 29 tree species (31.87 %) belonging 16 families were hosts to polypores.Among them, Mesua ferrea harboured maximum polypores belonging 13 species followed by Elaeocarpus tuberculatus with 12 species and Cullenia exarillata with 8 species. Most of the polypore were found to be host generalist and only five species showed possible preference for a particular tree species. Among the substrate types, maximum polypore occurrence was observed on logs followed by branch/twig and snag while, living trees supported only very few polypores. The maximum species richness, density and occurrence has been recorded on substrates under 31- < 40 cm diameter class followed by 21- < 30 cm and 11- < 20 cm. Decay class association of polypores showed that the intermediate decay stages harboured the maximum both in terms of number of species, density and frequency of occurrence. The conceptual framework on primary ecological strategy revealed that polypores exhibits ruderal, combative and stress tolerant behaviours. The present study concluded that the diversity and distribution of polypores are determined by seasonal fluctuations, arborescent floral diversity and substrate features.