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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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ThesisItem Open Access Developing and testing of a collector-cum-storage types solar water heater for domestic use(Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2000) Bijukumar, K; KAU; Mohammad, C PThe present study was undertaken to desi~n and develop a collector-cum-storage type solar water heater of 30 litre capacity to supply hot water for domestic use. Five solar water heaters with different absorber plate positions were constructed. The storage tanks with dimensions of 67 xIl7 x 10 cm were made by using fibre glass, and the top of these storage tanks were covered using single plain glass plates of 71 x 51 x 0.4 cm size. The position of the absorber plate was varied by changing the width of the spacers (4 nos. at an angle of 400 with the side aluminium sheet), which connects bottom aluminium plate and top absorber plate. The absorber plate was of 65 x 45 cm size. The top face of the absorber plate was painted black to absorb maximum solar. radiation. The absorber plate positions were lcm, 3cm, 5cm, 7cm and 9cm from the top glass cover plate and were designated as SWHl 0, SWH30, SWH5.0, SWH7.0 and SWH9.0 respectively. The absorber plate position was optimized by testing the solar water heaters under two different test conditions. Solar water heater II (SWH3.0) outperforms other solar water heaters under the two test conditions. Maximum outlet temperature of 64°C af 3pm and maximum efficiency of 55.72% also at 3pm were observed in solar water heater 11. So it is optimized that the position of the absorber plate should be at 3cm from . the top glass plate. The solar warer heater can easily be handled by a single person since the weight is only 9.5kg. The operating cost per unit of thermal energy obtained withthe solar water heater was found to be 25 paise per kWh.ThesisItem Open Access Simultation of the Effect of Land and Vegetation Management on Runoff and Sediment Yield From a Small Watershed- a case Study(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology,Thavanur, 2000) Vinod Kumar, P R; KAU; Xavier Jacob, KConservation of soil by sound measures forms one of the fundamental premises towards a sustained future. The management of land and vegetation has profound influence in conservation programme. To simulate the effect of land and vegetation management measures on runoff and sediment yield from a waterhed, a study was conducted at Development Unit – IX of Attapadi region, in Palghat district. The relationship between effective rainfall and sediment mobilized due to rain storm was established as; ES = 28.57 ER0.9385., where ES is the effective sediment mobilized in T/km2 and ER is the effective rainfall in cm. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was applied on perstorm basis to estimate the soil erosion. The Modified – USLE (R) factor was used to represent the erosivity factor in the soil loss estimation. The topographic factor (LS) was computed using the USLE and Revised – USLE methods. This particular parameter computed with the USLE was more than that of the RUSLE. The amount of soil erosion predicted with the USLE were more than that of the RUSLE due to greater LS factor associated with the USLE method. However both methods provided an ‘r2’ value of 0.9724. The WEPP – model was applied to simulate the runoff and soil erosion processes during individual rainstorm events. The model provided reliable simulation of the erosion process, but the runoff values were under – predicted for all the simulated events. The hillslopes cultivated with tuber crops gave maximum erosion per unit area during the simulation. The reason could be assumed as the absence of sufficient ground and canopy cover in this areas, which possessed a loosened surface after harvesting. The lands left as barren after tree felling also had increased rates of erosion during the simulation, which could be due to the lack of vegetative protection. While the paddy field had lesser rates of erosion owing to the flatness of land and vegetation cover. The other areas yielded reduced rates of erosion due to good canopy cover as well as surface cover provided by closely growing vegetation.ThesisItem Open Access Development of a powered decoraticator for producing white pepper from black pepper(Department of Post Harvest Technology and Agricultural Processing, Kelappaji College Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2007) Chithra, G; KAU; Santhi Mary, MathewA powered black pepper decorticator for producing white pepper from black pepper was developed, tested and its performance evaluated. The major parts are grinding surfaces, feed hopper, cylindrical collecting tray, water distribution assembly, 0.5 hp motor and reduction gear of 5:1 gear ratio. The decortication of the pepper berries was performed by compressive and shearing forces between the grinding surfaces. The experiment was conducted at different soaking time, speed and grinding surfaces. A 2- factor, experiment in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with speed and soaking time as factors were adopted. The maximum decorticating efficiency observed for MS Plate, rexin sheet, teflon and grinding stone were 46.10, 51.30, 47.50 and 61.52 at 17 h -71 rpm, 17 h -71 rpm, 18 h -57 rpm and 17 h- 71 rpm soaking time - speed combinations. The wholeness of kernels show a decreasing trend at higher speeds that is crushing of berries increases. Generally, the mechanical damage also shows the similar trend. The maximum overall decorticating efficiency for various surfaces were 37.38 of 17 h -71 rpm, 38.99 17h- 71rpm, 35.63 of 18h- 57rpm and 51.06 of 17h -71rpm. The study shows that the parameters of speed and soaking time have significant influence on decorticating efficiency, wholeness of kernels, mechanical damage and overall decorticating efficiency. The quality of white pepper obtained from grinding stone coupled with polyurethane was superior to those obtained by other surfaces. The overall decorticating efficiency of powered decorticator was found maximum (51.06 %) at 71 rpm and 17 hour soaking period. The capacity of the developed machine was 1.23 kg/h.ThesisItem Open Access Performance evaluation of micro-irrigation devices(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2003) Jacob Bijo, Daniel; KAU; Vishnu, BSeveral micro-irrigation emitters were evaluated for their individual performance and were compared among themselves on the basis of different performance parameters, and the results were used to analyse the credibility of the claim of the manufacturers. The emitters were tested for their quality of the workmanship, uniformity of flow rate and for their distribution performance. A total of thirty micro-sprinklers (ten models in three replications) were evaluated. The distribution performance of each of the devices was described by different performance parameters. The performance parameters used for this purpose were uniformity coefficient, coefficient of variation, distribution characteristic etc. The distribution patterns (densograms) were drawn and carefully studied to analyse the nature of distribution performance of the emitters. The values of the performance parameters were used to grade the devices using different statistical and ranking tools. It is generally concluded that only the manufacturer data should not be taken into consideration while selecting the irrigation devices and from the farmers’ point of view it is safer to depend more on the technical information resulting from scientific investigations.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of different shadings on the environmental parameters(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2006) Bindu, P K; KAU; Xavier, K JacobControlled environment agriculture in the form of shade houses, greenhouses, low tunnels and cloches are being practised at commercial levels in many countries. Among these, cultivation under shades is an easier method which is widely used for growing ornamental plants. Considering the scope of cultivating vegetables under shade nets, the thesis entitled ‘Effect of different shadings on the environmental parameters’ was undertaken. Four shade structures of size 6 m x 4 m x 2 m were constructed at the instructional farm, KCAET, Tavanur. The shade nets tested were green and black shade nests providing 50% and 75% shade respectively. The effect of shades on the environmental parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation intensity and light intensity were studied. These parameters were compared with those in the open space. The temperature was reduced by the shade nets, but the reduction was only in the range of 0.5 to 4°C. The temperature under the black nets was higher than that under the green nets. The relative humidity was higher under the shade nets than in the open space. Also the RH under the green nets is higher compared to that under the black nets. The solar radiation intensity and the light intensity were reduced by the nets in varying ranges. The light intensity and solar radiation intensity under the black nets were very less compared to the green nets. The equations developed give a clear idea about the variation in environmental parameters under the shade nets. The growth of tomato was better in the open space than under the shades. The growth of and yield of amaranthus was better under the G50 shade net. The growth and yield of amaranthus grown in the open space was better compared to those obtained under the G75, B50 and B75 nets.ThesisItem Open Access Optimal planning of wind farms using wera model integrated with gis(Department of Power Machinery and Engineering, Tavanur, 2006) Devanand, U Gorate; KAU; Sathyajith, MathewThe present study brings out a systematic procedure for Optimal planning and laying out wind turbine at prospective wind farm site. The Wind Energy Resource Analysis (WERA) model was used here for the wind energy analysis and turbine performance simulation. WERA model was validated using long term as well as short term field performance data from Kanjikode wind farm, Palakkad, Kerala. The velocity-power proportionality for the three bladed horizontal axis wind turbine at the wind farm was computed as 1.75. Wind energy potential of 10 prospective sites were analyzed using WERA among which 5 sites were short listed for possible wind farm activities. The short listed sites are Kayattar, Rameshwarm, Kanjikode, Sultanpet and Andipatti. Performance of a 2 MW commercial wind turbine at these sites was simulated using WERA software. An interlinking programme correlating the result of above analysis with GIS was developed. Economics of wind energy conversion systems at these sites was estimated using above programme. It was found that the cost of wind energy in a kWh basis ranges from Rs.1.28 toRs.1.72 at the short listed sites. Based on economic viability, the site Kayattar was finally selected for the wind farm activity. Considering the wind potential and site constraints, a method was developed for micro-siting of the turbine at this site using Geographical Information System. Accordingly, elevation contour map, digital elevation model, velocity map, distance from boundary map, cut velocity map, suitability map and location map were developed. Optimal locations of the turbines for a 20 MW wind farm at this site were identified. Energy yield of individual turbines installed at the site were computed using WERA software. The total energy output of the wind farm is found to be 45927605.9 MWh.ThesisItem Open Access Groundwater augmentation plan for a degraded western ghat terrain using remote sensing and GIS(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2007) Sooraj, Kannan P V; KAU; Mathew, E KThe safe development of groundwater resource primarily depends upon the groundwater recharge. Artificial ground water recharge is essential in terrains with low natural groundwater recharge. Availability of non-committed runoff, hydrogeologically favourable area for recharge and site specific design of artificial recharge structures are the major requirements of an artificial groundwater recharge system. A quantitative evaluation of spatial and temporal distribution of groundwater recharge is a prerequisite for operating groundwater resource management system in an optimal manner. While enjoying a humid tropic climate with heavy rainfall, Kerala also faces acute shortage of fresh water during the summer season, especially in the high range areas. In this study, an effort is taken to prepare a groundwater augmentation plan for a highly degraded Western Ghats terrain, the Siruvani sub basin ofBhavani river basin. Plan includes the evaluation of spatiotemporal distribution of natural groundwater recharge, delineation of land slide resistant hydro-geologically suitable areas for artificial recharge and to suggestspecific recharge structures adapted to the terrain characters. Using Thornthwaite-Mather water balance method, the spatiotemporal distribution of groundwater recharge was prepared and natural ground water recharge in the watershed was estimated. Penman method and NRCS curve number methods were employed for generating the water balance parameters. Monthly natural recharge varies from 0 to 44 Mm3. the total annual natural recharge was found as 158 Mm3. By analysing the infiltration rate, geology, geomorphology, rechargeable depth, slope and drainage density, land use, relative relief, soil depth etc., hydrogeologically potential areas for groundwater recharge systems and land slide prone areas were delineated through GIS weighted overlay analysis. Land slide prone areas were excluded from potential recharge areas. 46.78% of total area was found to be favourable for artificial recharge. The most suitable recharge structures suitable for the hard rock hilly terrains viz, check dams, subsurface dykes, recharge wells, runoff harvesting structures are suggested and suitable locations for the specific recharge measures were delineated.ThesisItem Open Access Subsurface drip irrigation of ladies finger in sandy loam soil(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2007) Nisha, T V; KAU; Asha, Joseph (Guide)Placing water beneath the soil surface via buried drip lines is slowly becoming the preferred choice of many farmers. No doubt the use of subsurface drip irrigation technology may well be the future of irrigation in the coming years and decades. It holds the promise of reducing the weed growth, fertilizer and chemical use, labour requirement and optimizing water use. Subsurface drip irrigation is an advanced and recent revolutionary variation of drip irrigation. The aim of drip irrigation design is to ensure uniform distribution of water to the crop with pre-determined application of water. Therefore, for uniform outflow from emitter, information on their hydraulic characteristics is very vital. The system is comparatively costly and prone to clogging. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the performance in the field and see whether their performance is meeting the design expectations. Hence the present study was undertaken to analyze the hydraulics of subsurface inline drip irrigation system, soil moisture distribution pattern, the effect of depth of installation of laterals and levels of irrigation on growth and yield of ladies finger and to compare the performance of surface and subsurface drip irrigation. In this study five depths of installations (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm) and three levels of irrigation were studied (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 lit/ day/ plant). The subsurface drip irrigation system was tested for their hydraulic performance in the field at five depths of installations of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm in terms of pressure-discharge relation, emission uniformity, manufacturing coefficient of variation, friction factors, Reynolds number and application efficiency. The discharge from emission points were collected at seven different operating pressures ranging from 0.3 to 1.8 kg/cm2. The power function was found to be good in explaining the discharge exponent in deciding the flow regime. The discharge exponent for the power function was found 0.7717, 0.7266, 0.5973, 0.5416 and 0.5325 for respectively 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm which suggested an orifice type turbulent flow emitter for the present inline dripper. The emission uniformity values of the system were found to range between 74 and 94 % at different depths of installation and varying pressure indicating average to excellent performance. The manufacturing coefficient value (Cv) was found to be vary between 6.2 and 20 , as the pressure varies from 0.3 to 1.8 kg/cm2. This indicated an average to marginal performance of the inline dripper. The Reynolds number increased from 1460 to 6237 for the lateral pipe size of 16 mm with increase in inlet pressure from 0.3 to 1.8 kg/cm2 and it also increased with increase in depth. This confirms that the turbulence of flow increases with increase in pressure. The average values of friction factor decreases from 0.0382 to 0.0365 for the same pressure of 1.5 kg/cm2 as the depth increases from 0 to 20 cm. It was also found that as the pressure increases the friction factor decreases. The application efficiency increased with pressure and was not much affected by depth of installation of laterals. The soil moisture distribution pattern was found to follow a bulb shape in all the contours. The maximum moisture content observed at the emitter position were 19, 24, 25, 22 and 22 % respectively for 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm depths of installation half an hour after irrigation. The maximum depletion was found at zero depth of installation after 24 hrs of irrigation, while the same was considerably reduced in the deeper installations. The best moisture distributions were observed at 10 and 15 cm depths of installation after 24 hrs of irrigation. A field study was conducted to study the effect of depth of installation and levels of irrigation on growth and yield of ladies finger in sandy loam soil. The highest fruit yield obtained was 8.1 t/ha for the treatment D3I2 ie, the depth of installation 10 cm and the level of irrigation 1.5 lit/day/plant. Water use efficiency was found 11.24 kg/ha mm for the treatment D3I2. The analysis on biometric observations also showed that the height, thickness and number of leaves of the plant were found high at D3I2. Hence the subsurface drip irrigation with 10 cm depth of placement of laterals and 1.5 lit/day/plant of irrigation was considered as the best treatment for okra in sandy loam soil. The maximum horizontal and vertical movement of water front in the root zone of okra was found 37.5 cm and 52.5 cm respectively. The moisture movement was observed to go beyond the maximum vertical and lateral spread of roots which indicated that the plant never had any water stress during the crop period under subsurface drip. Therefore it is clear that the adoption of subsurface drip technology should be enthusiastically pursued as an appropriate technology to deal with increasing demand of water, environmental, ecological and economic concernsThesisItem Open Access Grey water treatment by constructed wetland(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2007) Abhijeet, Hindurao Surve; KAU; Rema, K P (Guide)Next to air, water is the most important requirement for human life to exist. With growing population and industrial development, demand of fresh water is increasing. Hence every community should take preventive measures to avoid careless pollution and contamination of the available water resources and reuse the waste water after treating it. For this, on-site grey water treatment with constructed wetland is the cheapest and practical option. To verify the performance of subsurface flow constructed wetland (SCW) for treatment of grey water in climatic conditions of Kerala, the present study was conducted at the instructional farm of KCAET, Tavanur. The experimental scale SCW system for discharge of 110 l/d was designed and constructed with MS sheet as per the USEPA procedure for influent BOD5 of 85 mg/l and expected effluent BOD5 of 5 mg/l. The SCW system was filled with crushed brick, fine river sand mixed with lime and crushed stones in the inlet, filtration and outlet section respectively. SCW system was planted with Canna macrophyte. Raw grey water from the men’s hostel of KCAET was diverted to low lying SCW system site with the use of gravitational force to avoid pumping and energy consumption for the same. The performance of SCW system for removal of TSS, BOD5, total nitrogen, sulphates and phosphates were studied by analysing the influent and effluent grey water samples from the SCW system. On an average the influent concentrations of these parameters were 132 mg/l, 70 mg/l, 14 mg/l, 32 mg/l and 0.17 mg/l respectively while the same for effluent was 5 mg/l, 4 mg/l, 1.2 mg/l, 8 mg/l and 0.00 mg/l respectively. In all the samples the TC counts in influent water were ≥2400 MPN/100ml while it was ≤2 MPN/100ml in the effluent from the SCW system. Excellent reduction of 90 % or above in TSS, BOD5, total nitrogen, phosphates and TC was observed and it may be due to use of fine river sand mixed with lime as filter media and Canna as a macrophite. The effect of HRT on the efficiency of removal of these parameters was studied by storing the raw grey water in SCW system for the required period of time. Statistical ANOVA calculations for HRT study show the significant effect of same on % reduction of these elements. Furthermore the extent of significance was checked with Tukey’s test and it was concluded that to have significant difference in observations the interval between successive observations should be 3 days or more. The effect of raw and treated grey water irrigation on Amaranthus and Golden Duranta plants was demonstrated by irrigating these plants in clay pots. For the Amaranthus plants irrigated with raw grey water, observed average height, number of leaves, stem thickness, canopy spread and yield were 38 cm, 51, 9 mm , 826 cm2 and 158 gm while the same was 51 cm, 71,12 mm, 1573 cm2 and 296 gm respectively for the plants irrigated with effluent from the SCW. Statistical analysis with ‘student’s t’ test showed significant difference for the height, number of leaves, and yield at 1 % level of significance and for stem thickness and canopy spread at 5 % level of significance. The Golden Duranta plants irrigated with raw and treated grey water shows significant difference in height and canopy spread at 5 % level of significance. Besides this raw grey water irrigated plants show discolouration and leaf burning. Hence it was concluded that the raw grey water irrigation is not effective for these plants. From the entire study it was concluded that the SCW system is the reliable option for on-site grey water treatment. This ecological treatment system can reduce many objectionable pollutants from waste water to great extent and make it available for secondary uses. Also it has potential to reduce the health risk due to avoidance of mosquitoes and other undesirable insects.