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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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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
    All India Co-Ordinated Researched Project On Cashew
    (Kerala Agricultural University, Madakkathara, 2002) KAU
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
    Status of agricultural meteorology : strength ,weakness ,opportunity and threat (SWOT )
    (Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, 2002) KAU
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
    Annual report 2001-‘02
    (Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, 2002) KAU
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Molecular characterization of piper species usiing RAPD technique
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2002) Murugan, C; KAU; Sujatha, V S
    The study on "Molecular characterization of Piper species using RAPD techniques" was conducted in the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices and CPBMB, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Thrissur from December, 1999 to August, 2001. Material included 13 species/accessions of the genus Piper including Piper nigrutn Linn. These were analysed with 20 selected oligomer decamer primers using PCR technique and agarose gel electrophoresis. The selection of ideal DNA isolation technique was done based on observations of purity of bands, quality of the DNA bands and quantity of DNA recovered. The protocol of Edwards et al. (1991) was selected for DNA isolation with additional step of chloroform-isoamyl alcohol treatment. Fifty decamer primers were screened using DNA. of P. nigrum and 20 were selected based on the number of bands produced, reproducibility of the bands and distinctness of the RAPD profile. RAPD profile of the 13 species of Piper were compared for genetic similarity index (using Jaccard's coefficient), with all 20 selected primers separately. Pooled similarity of the twenty primers put together was found out for 9 species which gave amplification for all the 20 selected primers. The results of pooled analysis was subjected to cluster analysis (SAl-IN) and phenetic dcndrogram was constructed employing UPGMA. Four clusters were obtained, comprising of two accessions of P. nigrum In the first, two accessions of P. longum in the second, P. colubrinutn and P. attenuatum forming the third cluster and P. chaba, P. belle and P. arboreum forming the fourth.
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    Institutional PublicationsItemOpen Access
    വാര്‍ഷിക റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ട് 2001-02:
    (Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, 2002) KAU
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Spatial and temporal variations in the development of agriculture in Kerala
    (Department of Agricultural Statistics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2002) Allahad, Mishra; KAU; Ajitha, T K
    Agricultural scenario of Kerala is unique as compared to other states of India. The present study entitled "Spatial and temporal variations in the development of agriculture in Kerala" was undertaken mainly with an objective of constructing composite indices to quantify the development of agriculture based on suitable indicator variables for each district or region of Kerala. The significance of the districtwise and temporal disparities in agricultural development have been studied. The agricultural growth with respect to acreage and gross production of major crops • is also estimated using different growth curves. The time series data from 1970-71 to 1997-98 collected from State Planning Board and Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Kerala, Trivandrum were used for the study. As all the districts were not present before 1985-86 state was divided into several regions. Districts wise analysis was carried out from 1985-86 to 1997-98, whereas region wise analysis was carried out from 1970-71 to 1997-98. For measuring the diversification level of districts or regions five indices viz., Herfindahl Index, Entropy Index, Modified Entropy Index, Composite Entropy Index and Ogive Index were computed. All the quantitative indices were constructed by using the total cropped area of seven major crops of Kerala. It was found that in most of the periods the diversification in cropping pattern was mainly towards plantation crops. The most diversified district was Kollam, where the cropping pattern had equal importance to all the major crops. Based on the real situation, out of the five measures of diversification Composite Entropy Index was found to be better suited. It was also noticed that as time progressed the diversification level among the districts or regions decreased. The Compound growth rates of both production and acreage were computed and it was found that rubber recorded the highest C.G.R. The food crops viz., rice and tapioca showed negative C.G.R whereas cash crops viz., coconut and pepper showed positive C.G.R for both production and acreage. Productivity index were constructed for each district taking into consideration the variety of crops and their relative importance in a particular district. The results revealed that different districts behaved differently with respect to the rate of growth of productivity. Development is a multidimensional process, so instead of analysing a single variable, composite index or development index for different districts or regions were computed by using several indicators, which contributed to the development of agriculture. In the present study three methods were used to compute the development index based on seven indicators. In the first approach i.e. Taxonomic approach during 1985-86, 1990-91 and 1995-96 Emakulam occupied the first place in agriculture development. However, Wayanad and Kasargode were the two least agriculturally developed districts during the above said periods. It was also observed that there was hardly any change in the level of development of agriculture over different periods of study. In Taxonomic approach each variable was considered to have equal contribution towards the development of agriculture. However, it is unlikely to happen so. With this fact, the Taxonomic approach was modified in Modified Taxonomic approach by giving separate weightage to the indicators based on the score given by experts. In the present study separate weightage did not have any significant impact on the classification of districts or regions on their agricultural development status. Obviously the selected variables might be highly correlated. Characteristics in biological experiment are highly correlated. In the present study Principal Component analysis was used to overcome this problem. The first component of both district wise and region wise analysis contributed around 99.5 per cent of total variation. Therefore, without loosing any information supplied by the seven variables, the first component score was taken as the composite index of development. Hence in the present context Principal Component analysis could be considered as the best method, as no approximation is involved. It could be considered as a more comprehensive method. The Potential targets for the under developed districts or regions are also estimated to assess the position of those districts or regions compared to the model • districts or regions. Accordingly suitable development programmes can be launched or special care can be taken to allocate resources optimally on per capita basis to reduce spatial disparities in development.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Response of tomato to varying levels of fertigation
    (Department of Agronomy, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2002) Rajaseelan Kingsly, D; KAU; Jaikumaran, U
    A field experiment was conducted during 2000-2001 at the Agricultural Research Station, Mannuthy, Thrissur to find out growth and yield as well as water use and nutrient relations of tomato, as influenced by different levels of fertigation i.e. continuous nutrition through drip irrigation. The experiment consisted of combinations of three levels of irrigation (0.3,0.6 and 0.9 PE) through drip system and three levels of fertilizer (100, 50 and 150% recommended dose) supplied through drip irrigation. The fertilizer nutrients were supplied in progressive increments for sixty days and the fertigated treatments were mulched using black HDPE sheet. A control treatment, which received 20 mm surface irrigation through furrow method once in three days along with normal soil application of fertilizer without mulch cover was also included to compare with fertigation treatments. The experiment was laid out at randomised block design with three replications. The tomato CV Shakthi was tried in the experiment. The results revealed that the growth parameters viz., plant height, Leaf Area Index (LAI) and ~eaf Area Duration (LAD) were higher in the fertigated treatments than in the control crop. The respective values were 50.48 cm, 5.60 and 113.4 in case offertigated crops and 48.52 cm, 5.46 and 110.9 for the control crop, when observed at final growth stage. The control crop had a significant rooting pattern with higher vertical length (26.8 cm), lateral length (15 cm) and root dry weight of (8.2 g) than the fertigated treatments which had the respective values of 18.65 cm, 11.00 cm and 3.9 g. The ferigated crop produced maximum fruit set of 56.5 per cent and 36 numbers of fruits plant" with mean yield of 31.51 t ha-I. The respective values for the control crop were 42.6 per cent, 22 and 19.31 t ha" only. The treatment which received 150 per cent fertilizer dose with 0.6 PE irrigation gave a maximum yield of37.3 t ha-I which was 93 per cent more than the control crop. This level of production was comparable with that of the crop receiving 100 or 150 per cent recommended dose of fertilizers with irrigation at 0.9 PE through drip. The TSS content was not influenced by different treatments, but higher acidic fruits were produced by the control crop. The fertigated crops in general contained more nutrients in their biomass compared to control crop. The highest NPK content in plant was recorded at 60 DAP and at the stage these nutrient contents were 4.9,0.285 and 3.13 per cent in case offertigated crops and the respective values in control crop were 4.0, 0.245 and 3.07 per cent. The fruit cracking and bacterial wilt incidence were not affected by various treatments. But 72 per cent of control crop suffered by leaf curl virus disease but only 40 per cent, in case of fertigated plants. The mean soil temperature upto 30 cm depth increased "<-;- under mulched conditions over control treatment during morning (7.;3<) 1ST) and 'L.C;;- evening (2.:Mt 1ST) by 3.3°C and 2.6°C respectively. While control crop received 700 mm of water, the crop irrigated through the drip at 0.9, 0.6, 0.3 PE received 506, 358 and 210 mm of water. Field water use efficiency was the highest in the treatment which received 100% fertilizer with 0.3 PE irrigation (14.62 kg fruit per m-3 of water). As the irrigation levels reduced and fertilizer application increased FWUE was increased. The moisture content of the soil was more at 15 cm depth both at 15 and 30 cm radial distances, in all irrigation levels. The economic analysis indicated that the crop under recommended dose of fertilizer with 0.9 PE irrigation gave a maximum BC ratio of 1.92 followed by the crop raised under 150 per cent fertilizer dose with 0.6 PE irrigation (1.91). The saving of water through respective treatments, when compared to control enabled 0.38 and 0.95 ha to be additionally brought under irrigated tomato, if respective treatments were employed. The investigation led to the conclusion that fertigation is a sound technology and produceshigh yields in tomato. If water is not a limiting factor, adopt irrigation at 0.9 PE using 100 per cent recommended dose of fertilizer and if water availability is - constrained, adopt irrigation at 0.6 PE using 150 per cent recommended dose of fertilizer to reap rich harvest.