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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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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Nutritional status of women engaged in the coir industry
    (Department of Home Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1996) Lovely, Ranganath; KAU; Vimalakumari, N K
    The study entitled Nutritional status of women engaged in the coir industry was carried out of assess the nutritional status of women engaged in the spinning of coir yarn and to find out its influence on the work output, which in turn could affect their socio economic status. For the evaluation of nutritional status, the study was conducted in two levels – on a macro sample of 200 coir workers and on a microsample of 40 women coir workers. Details of the socio economic survey showed that the majority of families were small nuclear type, headed by male members following Hinduism. The main occupation of the community was coir work and in all the families at least one woman was employed in a coir cooperative society in the vicinity. Many of the families had a monthly income that ranged between Rs.1000 to 2000. Lack of permanent and full time employment, high cost of living , inability to educate their children, problems related to economic burdens imposed by repayment of loans and medical expenses, lack of housing facilities and absence of male earning members in the family were the important economic problems, in the order of priority, as felt by the families, which have led them to a life of miserable existence. Their poor socio-economic background is reflected the fact that the physical amentities available to the coir worker’s household left much to be desired. All the families were found to be poverty stricken when the Rural Quality of life Index (RQLI) was calculated. The families suffered from household food insecurity that their diets were ill balanced and were deficient with respect to pulses, egg, meat, green leafy vegetables and fruits. The poverty and poor food intake by the families were reflected in the socio economic characteristics and low nutritional status of the women coir workers though they were wage earners. The poor nutritional status is reflected in their poor stature which was suggestive of low food intake and dual responsibilities of the household as well as of the work site. Apart from this the dietary inadequacy was reflected in wide prevalence of anaemia among 85.00 per cent of the respondents, from the microsample, which was found to influence their work output. The work output and nutritional status which are interrelated seemed to be further influenced by the poor working conditions, absence of physical amenities, poor food intake insanitary conditions and consequent parasitic infections and infestations. However, it is gratifying to note that occupational disorders were not prevalent to an extent that merits mention. The coir workers when spin the golden yarns of the economic and social fabric of the state of Kerala, the land of palms, re found to be tredding through a path of poverty and food insecurity leading them to poor nutritional and health status. This makes them a vulnerable lot needing economical social support from the rest of the population and from the Government, through a multidimensional approach, so that they may have better health and nutritional status so as to become the torch bearers of our heritage, who may boost our economy paving way to healthy descendants.
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Entrepreneurial behaviour of rural women in Thiruvananthapuram district
    (Department Of Agricultural Extension, College Of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1996) Jayalekshmi, G; KAU; Shilaja, S
    The present study under the title ''Entrepreneurial behaviour of rural women in Thiruvananthapuram district was undertaken to assess the entrepreneurial behaviour of rural women to study the personal and sociopsychological factors influencing entrepreneurial behaviour and the constraints experienced by the rural women in starting an enterprise. Rural women trained in mushroom cultivation and fruit and vegetable preservation were selected from College of Agriculture, Vellayani and Mitraniketan Vellanad. Thirty rural women each were selected from each centre for each enterprise. Thus 120 trained rural women were selected. Another 60 untrained rural women were also selected as control. Thus the total sample comprised of 180 with five groups of respondents. Data was collected using interview schedule and suitable statistical techniques were employed in the analysis of data. An entrepreneurial development index was developed and found that the factors such as economic motivation, risktaking ability, decision making ability, achievement motivation, management orientation, competition orientation and self confidence were the major dimensions of entrepreneurial behaviour. With regard to the profile of rural women, the rural women selected, both trained and untrained belonged to young age group and majority of them belonged to backward caste. Educational status and family educational status of the selected respondents were high school and above. More than 50 per cent of them have land holding ranging from 15-20 cents and annual income between Rs.15000-20000. More than 55 per cent of the rural women have taken up self employment. Above 50 per cent of the rural women have high information seeking behaviour, mass media contact, social participation, level of aspiration and attitude towards self employment. Majority of the rural women have low cosmopoliteness. Cent per cent of the trained rural women have high knowledge of the technology. Except rural women in group II & V all others have high entrepreneurial behaviour. Comparison of the five groups revealed that they were on par with respect to age, landholding, annual income and social participation. Majority of the trained rural women belonged to backward caste and untrained belonged to scheduled caste. The trained rural women differed significantly with the untrained in their educational status, family educational status, occupation, information seeking behavior and perceived knowledge of the technology. There was significant difference among the groups with respect to mass media contact, level of aspiration, cosmopoliteness and entrepreneurial behavior. Relationship of the personal and socio-psychological factors with the entrepreneurial behavior showed that in the case of group I, variables namely educational status of the family, information seeking behavior, mass media contact, level of aspiration, attitude towards self employment and perceived knowledge of the technology were positively and significantly correlated. In the case of group II, caste educational status of the respondents and family, information seeking behavior, mass media contact, social participation, level of aspiration, cosmopoliteness, attitude towards self employment and perceived knowledge of the technology were positively and significantly correlated with the entrepreneurial behavior. Only educational status of the family was found to have a positive and significant relationship with the entrepreneurial behavior of group III. In the case of group IV, caste, educational status of the respondent and family, annual income, information seeking behavior, mass media contact, cosmopoliteness, level of aspiration, attitude towards self employment and perceived knowledge of the technology were positively and significantly correlated with the entrepreneurial behaviour. In the case of group V a positive and significant relationship exists between entrepreneurial behavior and educational status of the respondent and family, annual income, information seeking behavior, mass media contact, social participation, cosmopoliteness, attitude towards self employment and perceived knowledge of the technology. With regard to the constraints experienced by the rural women, ‘Marketing problem and lack of financial assistance were the constraints in both the enterprises followed by non-availability of spawn in mushroom cultivation and high cost of fruits in fruit and vegetable preservation.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Induction of polyploidy in kacholam
    (Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1996) Ajithmohan, N K; KAU; Pushkaran, K
    A trial on induction of polyploidy in Kaempferia galanga L. was undertaken at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, during the period 1994-'95. A local selection Vellanikkara collected from the genetic stock maintained at AICRP on M & AP was used for the study. The objective was to create variability in kacholam by developing polyploids. The rhizomes of the crop were treated with colchicine for inducing polyploidy. Five concentration of colchicine viz., 0.05, 0.15, 0.25, 0.35 and 0.45 per cent (C2 to C6, C1 being control i.e., 0%) was tried for two time durations viz., four hours and six hours (T1 and T2), the same treatment being repeated on two consecutive days. Two methods of treatment were tried the first (M1) being chemical application in a hole drilled close to the sprouting bud and the second (M2) being the ordinary cotton swab method. Rhizomes with two different stages of bud sprouting were used: (1) with just emerging buds (S1) and (2) buds at an advanced stage of sprouting (S2). The treated rhizomes were planted in the field and their growth was examined. In the end of the crop season, 18 variant plants were identified and they were put to detailed morphological and cytological study in the next growing season. Mitotic study of the parent material confirmed that the chromosome number of kacholam is 55. Of the 18 variants identified one was found to contain 110 chromosomes in the somatic cells. As kacholam is proposed to be a pentaploid the induced polyploid must be a decaploid. The polyploid was obtained from the treatment combination S1M1T1C6. It was characterised by small plant size and reduced vigour. The leaves were thick with reduced size. Stomatal size increased conspicuously with their numbers reduced. The rhizome development was found retarded and the per plant yield was also less. The rhizome morphology was on par with the normal plants. The plant flowered neither in the first season nor in the second. In addition to the polyploid, there other stable variants were obtained from the experiment. They were also characterised by reduced vigour and yield.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Induction of autotetraploid in ginger
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1996) Sheeba, P T; KAU; Alice, Kurian
    A study was conducted at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during the year 1994-95 with a view to induce autotetraploids and to create variability in ginger. Induction of autotetraploidy was tried in four commercial varieties of ginger namely Himachal Pradesh, Maran, Nadia and Rio-de-Janeiro using three concentrations of colchicines (0.10, 0.25 and 0.40%) and two methods of application (injection and hole). The effect of colchicines on survival of plants and cytomorphological characters were recorded. Colchicine treatment by the hole method reduced the survival of plants which decreased with increase in concentration. The colchicines treated plants showed slower initial growth which exceeded the control during later stage of growth. Number of tillers, number of leaves and leaf area were not significantly influenced by colchicines treatment. Application of colchicines at low concentration is advocated in ginger to have a stimulatory effect on biometric characters. Hole method of treatment was preferential to injection in having a positive influence on biometric characters. With respect to yield, colchicines at the lowest concentration of 0.10 per cent applied by hole method recorded the highest yield. Stomatal size and frequency were not significantly influenced by varieties, concentrations and methods of application. Individual plants with fewer stomata and larger size were isolated as suspected autotetraploids. Out of the thirteen plants, plants with 2n = 44 against 2n = 22 in control were confirmed as autotetraploids. Two autotetraploids were derived from the variety Himachal Pradesh treated with 0.25 per cent colchicine by injection method and Rio-de-Janeiro treated with 0.10 per cent colchicines by hole method. The autotetraploids were characterized by slower initial growth which surpassed the diploid control during later stages, reduced number of tillers and leaves with increased leaf area and larger epidermal cells and stomata with reduced number/mm2 of leaf. The autotetraploid derived from Rio-de-Janeiro showed increased pollen fertility than the diploid. The autotetraploids recorded higher rhizome yield than the corresponding diploids consistently during the second year also. Morphological variants with higher yield potential than the autotetraploids were also screened out for further evaluation.
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
    Budget estimate 1995-96
    (Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, 1996) KAU
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
    Annual report 1995-96:
    (Kerala Agricultural University, Mannuthy, 1996) KAU
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
    Annual report 1995-96:
    (Kerala Agricultural University, Mannuthy, 1996) KAU
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Effect of Vermicompost on the yield and quality of tomato (lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)
    (Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1996) Pushpa, S; KAU; Prabhakumari, P
    An investigation was carried out at the Instructional Farm, attached to the College of Agriculture, Vellayani to evaluate the Effect of vermicompost on the yield and quality of tomato. The experiment was laid out in Randomised Block Design with ten treatments and three replications. Biometric observations viz. height of the plant, number of leaves and number of floweres were greately influenced by the application of vermicompost compared to farm yard manure. Yield attributes like mean fruit weight and girth of fruits were also found to be significantly influenced by the vermicompost application. Vermicompost application has got a significant influence on the yield of tomato. Plants receiving 25t vermicompost along with full dose of inorganic fertilizers produced maximum yield followed by the plants receiving 25 t farm yard manure along with full dose of inorganic fertilizers. Germination count and viability was maximum when vermicompost was used as the organic source. Maximum germination count and viability was observed when 100t ha-1 vermicompost was used. Vermicompost application has also got a significant influence on fruit qualities. Protein, and carbohydrate content were more in vermicompost treated plants compared to farm yard manure application. Chemical properties of the soil was significantly influenced by the application of vermicompost. pH, organic carbon, available N, P2O5, K2O, Ca and Mg was maximum when 25t vermicompost along with full dose of inorganic ferilizers was used. However availability of micronutrients Mn, Cu, Zn was more in 100t vermicompost applied plots. Application of vermicompost increased the uptake of nutrients by plants. Maximum uptake of all nutrients viz. N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Cu and Zn was found in plants treated with 25t vermicompost along with full dose of inorganic fertilizers. Correlation studies showed that nutrient uptake was significantly and positively correlated with availability of nutrients. Yield and nutrient uptake of plants were significantly and positively correlated with availability of nutrients and so vermicompost can be effectively used for increasing the fruit yield and quality of fruits in tomato.