PG Thesis

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://localhost:4000/handle/123456789/2

Browse

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Comparative evaluation of naturally ventilated polyhouse and rainshelter on the performance of cowpea
(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2015) Ajay Gokul, A J; Abdul Hakkim, V M
A study was conducted in the Instructional Farm of KCAET, Tavanur, Kerala, during the period from August to December 2014 to compare the performance of cowpea grown under polyhouse and rainshelter in relation to open field cultivation. Cowpea variety Vellayani Jyothika, a trailing type legume released by KAU, was used for the study. Fertilizers were applied through drip irrigation system using venturi assembly. The variation of weather parameters such as maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature and rainfall during the crop growth period was studied. Mean monthly values of temperature, relative humidity and soil temperature inside the polyhouse was higher than that in rainshelter and open field throughout the growth period. The maximum rainfall (360.7 mm) was recorded in the month of October and minimum rainfall (6.3 mm) was recorded in the month of December. Crop growth parameters such as plant height, internodal length, number of branches and time taken for flower initiation were noted during various crop growth stages for all the treatments. During all growth stages, the plant height and internodal length were significantly higher inside the polyhouse followed by rainshelter and open field. Among the different treatments, early flower initiation (39 days) was noted in the polyhouse. Yield parameters such as number of pods per plant, average length of pods and total yield per plant for each treatment were noted during various crop growth stages. The number of pods per plant was significantly higher in open field. Average length of pods inside polyhouse and inside rainshelter was higher than that in the open field. There was no significant difference in total yield of cowpea harvested from the observation plants under the three treatments. The maximum Benefit Cost ratio of 1.73 was obtained in the open field cultivation. Benefit Cost ratio of polyhouse and rainshelter were 1.06 and 1.34 respectively. Incidence of pests and diseases were also comparatively low inside the rainshelter and higher incidence of pests and diseases were noticed in the open field. From the results of the study it was evident that growing cowpea (Vellayani Jyothika) inside the rainshelter is more profitable than growing it inside naturally ventilated polyhouse.
Comparative evaluation of naturally ventilated polyhouse and rainshelter on the performance of tomato
(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2017) Pooja, B G; Abdul Hakkim, V M
A study was conducted in the Instructional Farm of KCAET, Tavanur, Kerala, during the period from December 2016 to April 2017 to compare the performance of tomato grown under polyhouse and rainshelter cultivation. Tomato variety Akshaya, released by KAU, was used for the study. Drip irrigation system using venturi assembly was used for fertilizer application. The variation of weather parameters such as maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity and soil temperature during the crop growth period was studied. Mean monthly values of temperature, relative humidity and soil temperature inside the polyhouse was higher than that in rainshelter throughout the growth period. The maximum temperature (36.4 0C) was recorded inside the naturally ventilated polyhouse during the month April and minimum temperature (22.3 0C) was observed in the rainshelter during month of January. The maximum relative humidity (83.82 per cent) was observed in the month of December in the polyhouse and the minimum relative humidity (70.2 per cent) was observed in the month of April in the rainshelter in the morning. The maximum soil temperature (37.8 0C) was observed under the polyhouse in the month of March at the morning and minimum soil temperature (25 0C) was observed inside the rainshelter in the month of February. Crop growth parameters such as plant height, inter-nodal length, number of branches, stem girth, number of leaves and time taken for flower initiation were noted during various crop growth stages for all the treatments. During all growth stages, the plant height and inter-nodal length were significantly higher inside the polyhouse than rainshelter. Stem girth of the plant was higher under rainshelter than the rainshelter. The higher numbers of leaves per plant were observed under rainshelter structure than polyhouse. Among the different treatments, early flower initiation (45 days) was observed in the polyhouse and late flower initiation (49 days) in rainshelter. Yield parameters such as number of fruits per plant and total yield per plant for each treatment were noted during various crop growth stages. Number of fruits per plant was maximum under rainshelter than naturally ventilated polyhouse at all the growing stages of the plant growth. The fruit diameters, average weight per fruit are significantly higher in polyhouse compare to rainshelter. The total yield of tomato observed from polyhouse and rainshelter were 1.31 kg/m2 and 4.15 kg/m2 respectively. Quality parameter of tomato like TSS content of tomato under the polyhouse system was found 4.56 0B and rainshelter was found 4.0 0B. Water use efficiency was observed higher under rainshelter (165.41 kg/ha.mm) than the polyhouse (52.12 kg/ ha.mm). Cost Benefit (B:C) ratio for each treatment was calculated. The maximum benefit cost ratio of 2.00 was observed in rainshelter than the 0.46 under polyhouse cultivation. From the results of the study it was evident that growing of tomato inside the rainshelter is more profitable than growing it inside naturally ventilated polyhouse.
Design, development and evaluation of an automated drip irrigation system
(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and technology, 2014) Navneet Sharma; Abdul Hakkim, V M
Development and evaluation of a solar powered automated fertigation system
(Department of Land and Water Resources Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, 2016) Anjaly C Sunny; Abdul Hakkim, V M
Automated fertigation system is a highly advanced system for water and fertilizer administration in irrigated agriculture. It promises the application of water in right quantity along with right fertilizer at right time, thereby reducing fertilizer loss and labour resulting in saving of money with the help of an automated mechanism. The present study was undertaken to develop a timer based automated fertigation system using an FIP and to evaluate the performance of the system. Field evaluation of the developed automated fertigation system was carried out by growing salad cucumber variety ‘Saniya’ in grow bags inside a poly house located at Agricultural Research Station, Anakkayam. A comparative evaluation was carried out between biometric observations and yield parameters of the two sets of crop grown inside the polyhouse, one fertigated automatically with the developed system and the other one with manual fertilizer application and a third group of plants grown in the open field with manual fertilizer application. Data collected was subjected to statistical scrutiny viz., ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and Student-t test. The main crop growth parameters like height of the plant, days to first flowering, days to 50 percentage flowering, days to initial budding, days to first harvest and leaf area index were observed. Yield parameters viz. size of the fruit, number of fruits harvested per plant and average yield were recorded during the study. Values of all these parameters were found to be better for the crops grown inside the polyhouse with automated fertigation compared to the other two. The developed system operates using solar panel generating a power of 250 W on an average along with a battery, which makes the system operations possible up to 4.4 days without sunshine. Hence it can be concluded that the developed automated fertigation system can ensure better yield for salad cucumber variety ‘Saniya’ grown inside the polyhouse.
Effect of land use on water yield from small agricultural watersheds of western ghats
(Department of Land and Water Resources and Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1993) Abdul Hakkim, V M; Xavier K Jacob
Effect of deforestation and other land use changes brought about by human activities of hydrologic cycle continues to be of great concern. A study was conducted to assess the effect of land use on water yield from small agricultural watersheds of Western Ghats of Kerala. Four small watersheds planted with cashew, rubber, coffee and tea were selected for the study. To get information regarding rainfall, temperature, humidity and daily evaporation; raingauges, thermometers and USWB class A Pan evaporimeters were installed in each watershed. The runoff which is of specific concern was measured using stage level recorders along with weirs and flumes. Infiltration measurements were done using double cylinder infiltrometers. Soil samples were collected from each watershed and were analysed for grain size distribution, soil pH and organic carbon content. Different geomorphological characteristics of the watersheds were also worked out. Analysis of rainfall and runoff data indicated that nearly 50 per cent of the total rain fall leaves these watersheds as runoff except in the case of rubber watershed. The infiltration studies indicated that all these watersheds have high infiltration rates even after saturation, thereby absorbing even the most intense storms of the study period. From the hydrograph analysis of these watersheds it was observed that the hydrographs attain a sharp peak immediately as the rainfall and there is a baseflow which is folowing through the 3 watersheds, except in the case of rubber watershed. The rubber watershed is very small and lies adjacent to the Kuttiadi reservoir. The interflow from the rubber watershed was observed to join the reservoir avoiding the measuring channel. From the soil profile analysis of Western Ghat region it was observed that there is an impermeable clay layer lying below the laterite having an average thickness of 3.5 m located at 7 to 10.5 m below the ground surface. The results of the study leads to the conclusion that the infiltrated rain water meets the impermeable layer and there it flows laterally through the soil. This lateral interflow reaches the valley portion of the watersheds where it saturates the soil. This saturated area acts like an impervious layer producing 100 per cent surface runoff and it is responsible for the sharp peak of hydrographs. Runoff is generated from these source areas and Hortanian overland flow is a rare phenomenon in these watersheds. Thus from the study it was concluded that land use has no significant effect on water yield from the selected small agricultural watersheds of Western Ghats of Kerala.
Optimization of greenhouse ventilation for humid tropics
(Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2000) Jinu, A; Abdul Hakkim, V M
In any agricultural sector, the need of the hour is to maximize the yield per unit area to cater the needs of our population, which is exploding at an alarming rate. Protected cultivation or controlled environment agriculture is one of the methods to increase the crop production from unit area. Of the various forms of protected cultivation, greenhouses are most common. Our state falls under humid tropical climatic condition. Greenhouse cooling is to be done during peak hours of daytime under this climatic condition. Ventilation plays an important role in green house cooling. A study was conducted to determine the optimum greenhouse ventilation for humid tropics and to analyze the effect of different cooling methods viz. natural ventilation, fan and pad system, mist system and roof shading on greenhouse cooling. The study showed that natural ventilation could reduce the greenhouse temperature to a great extent. The different percentages of ventilation used for the experiment were 13.8, 11.5, 9.2, 6.9, 4.6 and 2.3. The study was also conducted without ventilation. As percentage ventilation increases, greenhouse cooling increases and inside relative humidity decreases. 13.8 percent ventilation gave maximum greenhouse cooling and this value is taken as the optimum percentage of natural ventilation. But the natural ventilation alone cannot meet the cooling requirement during peak hours. Fan and pad system is found to be not effective for greenhouse cooling in this particular study. Even 2.3 percentage of natural ventilation condition gave better cooling than fan and pad cooling system. Misting is an effective method to lower down the greenhouse temperature within a short period of time. Misting was done along with fans at different percentages of ventilation and the different climatic parameters were studied. The results showed that while misting, the maximum cooling was obtained at 2.3 percent of ventilation. Effect of roof shading on greenhouse cooling was tested with one shade net over the greenhouse. Roof shade has a significant effect on greenhouse cooling. Th inside temperature of the greenhouse was higher than the outside temperature by more than lOoe during peak hours of the day time, when no ventilation was provided and fan and pad system, mist system and shade cover were not used. But when the green house was covered with a shade net, an inside to outside temperature difference of one or two degree was observed. Also, while operating fan and pad system and mist system, shaded condition gave better cooling. Fan and pad system operated without shade cover, could not bring down the greenhouse temperature below ambient temperature. But for the shaded condition, greenhouse temperature could be lowered to a value less than the ambient temperature. Misting under shaded condition at 2.3 percent ventilation gave maximum cooling. Misting inside an unshaded greenhouse at 2.3 percent ventilation could bring down the greenhouse temperature to 32°C, but misting inside a shaded greenhouse at 2.3 percent ventilation lowered the greenhouse temperature to 29°C. Use of two shade net layers did not give any additional cooling, and at this condition the light intensity inside the greenhouse was only 10 percent of the outside light intensity. It only increases the cost of the greenhouse and hence it is not recommended to use two shade net layers for greenhouses.
Soil erosion risk assessment in Kunthippuzha sub-watershed using remote sensing and gis
(Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology Tavanur, 2018) Shaheemath Suhara, K K; Abdul Hakkim, V M