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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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2016 - 20182
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Author: KAU × Start date: 2010 × Rating Count: 4 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Pathogenicity of indigenous entomopathogenic fungi against select lepidopteran pests
    (Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2016) Praveena, A; KAU; Sudharma, K
    The present study entitled “Pathogenicity of indigenous entomopathogenic fungi against select lepidopteran pests” was carried out in the Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2014-2016 with the objective to identify indigenous entomopathogenic fungi and evaluate their pathogenicity to lepidopteran pests of banana and vegetables. Survey was conducted in five agroecological zones of Thiruvananthapuram district at bimonthly intervals during 2015-16, for the isolation of fungi. Fungi from mycosed cadavers and 900 soil samples, collected from cultivated and uncultivated fields were isolated. Of the ten isolates of fungi selected from the 115 fungal isolates obtained, three were from mycosed cadavers which consisted of two isolates of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (SP2 and SP4) and one isolate of Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht (SP1). Of the seven isolates from soil, one isolate was Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. (SP6), five were isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae Metschnikoff (Sorokin) and one isolate was Purpureocillium lilacinum Thorn (Samson). Four isolates of M. anisopliae were trapped using larvae of Galleria melonella L. and one was trapped using grubs of Odoiporous longicollis Olivier. The isolate, S10 was obtained through soil plate method, with selective media. Symptoms of fungal infection varied, which was mainly reflected in the mycelial colour and growth of the isolates. Morphological and cultural characteristics also varied among the fungal isolates. Further, molecular characterization of the fungi was done through ITS sequencing. GenBank accession numbers for all the ten isolates were obtained on submission of nucleotide sequence in National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Among the various indigenous isolates, highest spore count was recorded in the M. anisopliae isolate, SP11 (28.01 x 107 spores mL-1) at 14 days after inoculation. The pathogenicity of the ten indigenous isolates and two isolates from National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR) were evaluated against five lepidopteran insects infesting banana and vegetables at different concentrations. The isolate M. anisopliae (SP8) recorded the highest mortality of 83.33 to 100 per cent and 64.44 to 95.83 per cent against the second instar larvae of Diaphania indica Saunders and first instar larvae of Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee at 107 to 109 spores mL-1 at seven days and five days after treatment respectively. The isolates SP11 and Ma4 of M. anisopliae that caused mortality of 83.33 to 100 per cent and 63.33 to 100 per cent were the most effective isolates against second instar larvae of Sylepta derogata Fabricius and Hymenia recurvalis Fabricius respectively. All the isolates except M. anisopliae (SP11) and B. bassiana (Bb5a) were non pathogenic to the larvae of Spodoptera litura Fabricius. The colour of the mycelial growth varied with isolates. A pot culture experiment was conducted in the Instructional Farm, Vellayani during April to June 2016, for the evaluation of seven indigenous isolates and two NBAIR isolates against leaf webbers in amaranthus, variety Arun. The lowest number of plants infested by webbers, webbings plant-1 and larvae web-1 at 14 days after treatment and the highest yield was recorded in the isolate M. anisopliae (SP11) @ 108 spores mL-1 and it was followed by M. anisopliae Ma4 and SP8 . To conclude, ten indigenous isolates of entomopathogenic fungi were collected from mycosed cadavers and soil and were identified as B. bassiana (SP2, SP4), F. oxysporum (SP1), F. solani (SP6), M. anisopliae (SP7, SP8, SP9, SP11 and SP13) and P. lilacinum (S10) through morphological, cultural characters and molecular characterization. Pathogenicity test to five lepidopteran pests showed that M. anisopliae (SP7, SP8, SP9, SP11, SP13) and NBAIR isolates of B. bassiana (Bb5a) and M. anisopliae (Ma4) were pathogenic to D. indica, H. recurvalis, L. orbonalis and S. derogata. Results of pot culture experiment showed that the indigenous isolates M. anisopliae (SP11) and (SP8) and NBAIR isolate M. anisopliae (Ma4) can be exploited for the management of leaf webbers in amaranthus.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Scenario analysis of cardamom growers in cardamom hill reserves of Kerala
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Anju, S; KAU; Kishore Kumar, N
    The present study entitled "Scenario analysis of cardamom growers in cardamom hill reserve of Kerala "was conducted on March 2018 to April 2018 in three blocks of Idukki district with the objectives: to study the current scenario of cardamom production system and analysis of the socio-economic situation among growers and good agricultural practices (GAP) and to enumerate the present challenges with respect to ecological, climatic changes as well as to explore the health externalities of cardamom growers and labourers. The study was carried out in three blocks of Idduki district namely Kattappana, Nedumkandam and Adimali, which comes under Cardamom Hills Reserve (CHR) zone. Twenty growers and ten agricultural labourers were randomly selected from each of these blocks making a sample of ninety respondents. Data was collected using a of pre- tested and well- structured interview schedule. The data’s were analysed using different statistical tools. On the analysis of data, it was found that the area under cardamom cultivation has significantly reduced in the past years. Cardamom was cultivated in an area of 40,867 ha in 1997 and it declined to 39,080 ha by the year 2017. The productivity of cardamom had increased tremendously from 130 Kg/ha to 400 Kg/ha over a decade. The major findings of the study was that majority of the farmer respondents were middle aged with sufficient farming experience, with agriculture as their primary occupation and none of them were illiterate. Majority (65.00 %) of the respondent farmers had an annual income of more than four lakh and 56 per cent of agricultural labourers had an annual income less than one lakh. Majority (66.66%) of the growers were in medium category of economic motivation, risk orientation, scientific orientation. Nearly three fourth of the growers had medium level of innovative proneness and decision making ability. As high as (81.66 %) of the growers had medium level of credit orientation and market orientation (83.33%). Less than half (48.00 %) and 11.67 per cent of the growers had low and high level of adoption respectively. The data subjected to correlation analysis between good agricultural practices and fifteen independent variables revealed that two variables viz., age and farming experience had negative and significant correlation and education status and credit orientation had positive and significant correlation. The major constraints faced by cardamom growers are: not getting the cardamom registration card was a great concern among the growers, non-availability and high cost of labour, price fluctuation and marketing problem, lack of cardamom grading facilities, lack of support price based on the cardamom production, uneven rainfall pattern and changing climate, lack of irrigation facilities, man- animal conflicts, high production cost, inadequate extension services at village level. The suggestion to improve the cardamom cultivation were, establishment of cooperative societies for the procurement of cardamom will increase the direct selling of the produce through auction centers, minimum support price based on the production of cardamom as like of other food crops, then the cultivation of cardamom will increase and the farmer get the premium price, crop demonstration about improved variety and improved technologies, which will increase the adoption of new technologies and reduce the cost of cultivation of cardamom, subsidies on inputs like bio- fertilizers and pest control agent and to promote microbial products that are much cheaper and more sustainable and give best products and protect environment and the health of labourers and the local public, establishment of cardamom dryers and grading machines, introduction of the oil extraction facilities or factories, eco-tourism/ Farm tourism.