PG Thesis

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    Standardisation of in vitro techniques for rapid multiplication of Trichopus zeylanicus Gaertn
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1997) Seema, B J; Keshavachandran, R
    Studies were conducted on standardisation of in vitro techniques for rapid multiplication of Trichopus zeylanicus Gaertn at the Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory of the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 1995-1997. Surface sterilization was standardised for different explants. Treatment with 0.1 per cent mercuric choloride for 5 min was found to be the best for all the explants. Explants collected during January to April showed lower contamination and maximum survival. Soaking seeds in water for one hour was found to reduce the number of days for germination but lower germination percentage. Young, purple shoots were observed to show maximum establishment and growth. Establishment percentage and maximum number of buds was observed to be highest in SH media supplemented with BA compared to 2iP and KIN. Also exposure to light was favourable for better establishment of buds. Proliferation rate was higher at higher concentration of BA but shoot development was better at lower concentration of BA. Addition of adenine sulfate increased the proliferation rate of buds and development of shoots but supplements like yeast extract and casein hydrolysate were not effective in promoting shoot growth. Tender leaf and petiole explants were found to respond better than mature explants and percentage of callus initiation and callus index was higher in combinations of NAA and 2,4-D with BA. Direct organogenesis was observed in 1/2 MS supplemented with BA and NAA. Regeneration of healthy and longer shoots were obtained in MS medium supplemented with KIN. Somatic embryogenesis was observed in media containing BA and BA + coconut water, and embryoid germination was obtained in MS medium. Maximum rooting was obtained by culturing shoots in media containing brassinolide for one week and thereafter transfer to IBA. Earlier rooting was obtained in liquid medium. Keeping in 1/2 MS with reduced sucrose and increased light intensity in the culture room for two weeks before transfer to hardening unit resulted in better survival of plantlets.
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    Influence of methods of planting and shade on growth ,yield and plumbagin content of ‘Chethikoduveli’ (Plumbago rosea Linn)
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1994) Jalaja S Menon; Nybe, E V
    Investigations on “ Influence of methods of planting and shade on growth, yield and plumbagin content of ‘Chethikoduveli” (plumbago rosea Linn.)” was conducted at the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 1993-’94. The study was undertaken with the main objectives of identifying suitable method of planting for better growth, root yield and plumbagin content and to assess the effect of shade on growth, yield and quality of plumbago. The investigation was also aimed at gathering information regarding the suitability of growing plumbago an intercrop in young coconut garden. A preliminary trial was carried out in order to study the influence of rooting hormone on rooting of plumbago cuttings. Dipping the cuttings in 500 ppm IBA for 30 seconds was found to give a higher survival percentage, higher root number and root length and recorded a lesser time for bud break. Two sets of experiments. One under full sunlight and another under the natural shade of coconut were laid out. The four planting methods tried were ridge and furrow, flat bed, mound and pit followed by mound. The morphological characters studied in the present investigations were the height, spread, number of suckers, total number of leaves, leaf area per plant and internodal length. The yield parameters such as number, length, girth and volume of root and fresh and dry weights of shoot and root per plant, shoot : root ratio and chlorophyll content were also studied. The plumbagin content in the root was also studied. When the two growing conditions were compared, a higher field establishment could be observed under natural shade of coconut. Among the biometric characters studied, shade had a positive influence on internodal length during the entire period of growth. However, the favourable effect of shade on plant height could be observed only during the initial periods of growth. There was not much variation in the total chlorophyll and ratio of chlorophyll a to b under partial and full sunlight. There was no significant difference in the root yield under open and shade conditions. But the crops under partial sunlight recorded a higher shoot weight. Eventhough the crude plumbagin was higher under shade condition, there was no marked difference in the purified plumbagin. The intensity of flowering was found to be high under open condition. The leaf blight incidence, mite damage and nematode attack were also more under open condition. When different plating methods were considered irrespective of shade and open conditions, the four methods studied viz. ridge and furrow, flat bed, mound and pit followed by mound had no significant influence on biometric character, root yield and plumbagin content. The study revealed the possibility of successfully cultivating plumbago as an intercrop in young coconut plantation adopting any method of planting such as ridge and furrow, flat bed, mound and pit followed by mound.
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    Standardisation of top working in nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1994) Beena, S; Alice Kurian
    The present investigations on “Standardisation of top working in nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)” were conducted at the Department of plantation Crops and spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Thrissur during 1991-1993. For the purpose of the study nutmeg trees available at state seed Farm, Mannuthy and farmers’ field at Mannuthy and Ettumuna in Thrissur district as well as Neduvannur in Ernakulam district were utilized. The presence of two type of buds on the bud stick could be distinguished by the bud scare at the inner side of the bark for the viable buds and absence of scar and browning in the non- viable buds. Among the difference methods tried, in situ budding on hard trunk proved to be most successful. Forkert method with bud selected from brown bud wood with fallen leaves and the buds inserted by leaving space on all the four sides gave maximum success. In order to achieve a quicker bud burst stumping the plants two months after budding was most effective. Budding on hard trunk could be done with maximum success in three year old plants and July was found to be the best season. Trials on topping of male trees indicated that heading back the tree above the first tier during August was found to be the best with regard to sprout production and reducing the time for sprouting. Forkert budding on new sprouts gave only initial success which failed to sprout even with physical and chemical treatments. Grafting on new sprouts showed least response among the method tried. Successful graft union was obtained during March with scion shoots having mature leaf and full green stem and stock having two months growth. The anatomical studies revealed low callus development and sparse differentiation of vascular tissues in the bud shield, presence of necrotic tissues hindering the formation of callus and the lack of union between old and new callus as the probable reasons for bud failure.
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    Organic nutrient management in chethikkoduveli (Plumbago rosea L.)
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2005) Nihad, K; Jessykutty, P C
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    Rooting of microshoots and ex vitro establishment of plantlets of bael (Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr.
    (Department of Plantation Cropsand Spices, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2005) Surya D Aniyan; Sulekha, G R
    Studies were conducted on “Rooting of microshoots and ex vitro establishment of plantlets of bael (Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr.)” for evolving techniques for in vitro rooting, ex vitro rooting and ex vitro establishment of plantlets of bael during 2003-2005 in the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices and Department of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram. The in vitro propagation techniques in bael have already been standardised. The microshoots 3.00 to 5.00 cm long with 3.00 to 4.00 leaves were taken from the cultures of previous study maintained in the Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram. The highest rooting of the microshoots (50.00 per cent) occurred in two treatments namely, MS basal medium supplemented with IBA 2.50 mg l-1, sucrose 30.00 g l-1 and agar 6.00 g l-1 and on the same basal medium supplemented with NAA 1.00 mg l-1, sucrose 30.00 g l-1 and agar 6.00 g l -1. The microshoots took the least number of days (8.00) for root initiation in full strength MS basal medium supplemented with IBA 0.50 mg l-1, sucrose 30.00 g l-1 and agar 6.00 g l-1. The highest number of roots (2.67) was obtained in full strength MS basal medium supplemented with IBA 2.50 mg l-1, sucrose 30.00 g l-1 and agar 6.00 g l-1. The best pre-treatment identified for ex vitro rooting was IBA 1000.00 mg l-1 for 20 s (quick dip) which gave the highest survival rate (50.00 per cent), number of roots (1.67) and length of roots (0.63 cm), compared with IBA 50.00 mg l-1 (slow dip). Different potting media like sand, soilrite, sand and soil (1:1), sand, soil and coirpith (1:1:1) and sand, soil and leafmould (1:1:1) were compared to study their effect on ex vitro establishment.. Sand was found to be the ideal potting media for ex vitro establishment. The highest survival rate (50.00 per cent), leaf number (4.67), plant height (3.67 cm), fresh weight (0.6501 g), dry weight (0.25 g), stomatal conductance (0.1165 cm S-1), leaf area index (0.1370) and crop growth rate (0.0291 mg cm-2 day-1) were obtained when planted out in sand than in other potting media. The effect of VAM (Glomus etunicatum and Glomus fasciculatum) in different potting media were also studied in the ex vitro establishment of plantlets. It was observed that mycorrhiza inoculated plants in a potting media of sand showed higher survival rate (66.67 per cent) than control (50.00 per cent). The highest values for number of leaves (6.00), plant height (4.30 cm), number of roots (2.33), fresh weight (0.6908 g), dry weight (0.2847 g), stomatal conductance (0.0383 cm S-1), leaf area index (0.1478) and crop growth rate (0.9921 mg cm-2 day-1) were obtained for the mycorrhiza treated plantlets in sand, compared to other mycorrhizal treated potting media. In the present investigation, protocols were evolved for the in vitro rooting of microshoots of bael (Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr.). But ex vitro rooting and ex vitro establishment gave only limited success. However, few plantlets could be acclimatized and were transferred to mud pots containing sand, soil and cowdung in the ratio 1:1:1 for observing further growth and establishment.
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    Morphological and molecular characterisation of variability in vitro derived seedlings of vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews)
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2005) Hena, K K; Nazeem, P A
    The research project “Morphological and molecular characterization of variability in in vitro derived seedlings of vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews)” was carried out at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Thrissur during the period 2001-2003. The major objectives of the study was to characterize the existing variability in field established vanilla plants, derived from in vitro seed culture, using morphological and molecular markers. The study revealed that among the 10 morphological characters selected i.e., leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, number of leaves, total growth, leaf shape, phyllotaxy, root origin and number of roots, except leaf shape, phyllotaxy, root origin and number of roots, all other characters showed significant variation. Twenty different accessions which were highly variable could be selected from the 360 accessions studied. In biochemical studies, the protocol for isozyme analysis could be standardised. The study was done based on esterase and peroxidase patterns. Based on the dendrogram constructed, the 20 different accessions studied could be grouped into different clusters. Based on esterase pattern they were grouped into 9 clusters and based on peroxidase pattern they were grouped into 15 clusters. The accessions a82, a481, a58, a370 and a425 showed high level of polymorphism in both the isozyme patterns. Accessions a82, a396, a370 and a425 showed high level of polymorphism in esterase pattern and accessions a555, a136, a46, a428, a47 a159and a425 showed polymorphism in peroxidase pattern. Molecular studies involved RAPD analysis using 10 primers which gave 16 amplification products. Dendrogram constructed based on the study grouped the 20 accessions into 3 major clusters. The 20 different accessions studied were varying from each other in both the morphological and molecular studies. Hence, it can be said that there is considerable variability in the in vitro derived seedlings of vanilla. The study revealed a similar trend for morphological and molecular markers in assessing variability. Morphological markers need more refinement so as to get precise information on the yield characters too which is more important in case of vanilla. Molecular studies based on AFLP, RFLP etc. can be attempted to get exact picture on variability in vanilla.
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    Phytochemistry and anti-microbial property of panikoorka
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices,College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2006) Shankar, H R; Mini Raj
    An experiment was conducted at the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, Thrissur during 2003-2005 to study the influence of stage of harvest, drying method and method of extraction and storage on phytochemistry and antimicrobial property of Coleus amboinicus Lour. Stages of harvest did not alter the quality of the plant Coleus amboinicus to a considerable extent. All the quality parameters viz., total sugars, amino acids and crude extractables were maximum at fifth month after planting, but there was only proportionate increase. The plant also maintained the same sugar and amino acid profile through out the growth period. GC profile of the essential oil revealed that the percent concentration of individual components did not vary much, with one of the components maintaining dominance in its reserve at all stages of harvest. With these results, the study concludes that Coleus amboinicus could be harvested and used as a drug during its entire growth period. Among different methods of drying, ambient temperature drying was more efficient than sun and oven drying as it recorded more sugars and amino acids. GC profile of essential oil from dried leaves showed that the concentration of all the components except component B was very low in all the methods of drying and all the components maintained the same per cent area in samples dried at ambient temperature. When fresh and dry samples were compared, the former was superior in all the quality parameters. Among the various extracts made out of Coleus amboinicus leaves, alcohol extracts and its residues made from fresh leaves recorded highest sugar as well as amino acids contents. When the extracts were stored, the sugar content increased at a slow rate where as the amino acid content decreased at a faster rate. In the studies on microbial growth in the extracts during storage lower microbial load was assessed in alcohol extracts and its residues in comparison to water extract and its residues. Considering the above findings alcohol extracts and its residues seemed to be the best extracts for storing Coleus amboinicus for drug purpose. GC profile of the stored essential oil revealed that the percent concentrations of components did not vary considerably during storage. This may be considered as positive indication for preserving the oil for future use. Anti-microbial assay of Coleus amboinicus water extracts revealed that the extract inhibited the growth of human pathogens viz., Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus species and plant pathogens viz., Collectotrichum species and Fusariam species. Further field and clinical studies are required to confirm these findings. To conclude, the plant Coleus amboinicus was effective as a drug throughout its active growth stage, in the fresh form. Fresh sample was ideal with respect to quality. Drying at ambient temperature was found to be the best method of drying. Alcohol extract was found best for the preparation of crude drug extract of C. amboinicus. Water extract of leaves inhibited the growth of select human and plant pathogens in vitro, however this needs confirmation through massive clinical and field studies
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    Characterization of dioecy and standardization of propagation through cuttings in allspice
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1999) Sreeja, V S; Nybe, E V
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    Anatomical biochemical Investigations on Phytophthora foot rot disease reaction in piper spp.
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1999) Suresh Baban Dagade; Shylaja, M R
    Anatomical and biochemical investigations on Phytophthora foot rot disease reaction in Piper spp. were carried out in the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices and Biochemistry Laboratory of the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 1996 to 1998. The study revealed that the two species viz., Piper colubrinum L. and P. nigrum L. and two genotypes of P. nigrum viz., Panniyur I and Kalluvally differed significantly in the various anatomical and biochemical parameters studied. The immune genotype was characterised by compact arrangement of cells, small epidermal, mesophyll and spongy parenchyma cells, thick palisade and collenchyma tissues, large vascular bundles and mucilage canals, thick lower epiderm with large cells and less number of stomata per unit area in the leaves. The stem was characterised by thin cuticle, epiderm and hypoderm, small sized epidermal cells, thick cortex, large cortical cells with more inter- cellular spaces, thick chlorenchyrna and sclerenchyma, more number of large peripheral and medullary vascular bundles, large mucilage canals and small indistinct pith. It had thick root epiderm,less number of root hairs, small cortical cells, thick endoderm, big stele, pericycle cells and vascular bundles. In contrast, the susceptible genotype was characterised by thin palisade and collenchyma tissues, small vascular bundles and mucilage canals, thin lower epiderm with small ceIls and more number of stomata per unit area. The stems of the susceptible genotype exhibited thicker cuticle with large epidermal cells, more epidermal appendages, thick hypoderm with small cells, thin cortex with small cortical cells arranged with less interceIlular spaces and thin sclerenchymatic tissues. It had thin root epiderm, more number of epidermal appendages, small cortical cells with large stele, thin pericycle with small cells and distantly placed small vascular bundles. The tolerant genotype Kalluvally exhibited somewhat intermediate values to P. colubrinum and Panniyur 1 in all the anatomical characters tested. In the biochemical parameters studied, I). colubrinum registered high content or total phenol, reducing sugar, total free amino acid and higher activities of peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase enzymes. The susceptible genotype: Panniyur I was marked by low of total and OD phenols, reducing sugars, total free amino acids, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activities and 'high glucanase and IAA oxidase activities. The tolerant genotype Kalluvally registered medium values for total phenols, reducing and non reducing sugars, total free amino acid" and enzymes like peroxidase, glucanase and polyphenol oxidase. However, the content of OD phenol was high and IAA oxidase activity was low in Kalluvally. On inoculation with Phytophthora capsici, the content of total phenol, reducing sugar, total free amino acid and enzyme activities like glucanase and peroxidase increased in Panniyur 1 whereas the contents of OD phenol, non reducing sugar and activities of IAA oxidase and polyphenol oxidase decreased. In P. colubrinum the contents of total free amino acids and peroxidase enzyme activity increased at a higher rate than in the other genotypes while the content of OD phenol, reducing and non reducing sugars decreased drastically on inoculation. Kalluvally exhibited similar trend as that of P. eolubrinum and registered somewhat intermediate values between P. colubrinum and Panniyur 1 in almost all the biochemical parameters tested. However, decrease in glucanase activity and a greater reduction in polyphenol oxidase activity were observed in Kalluvally on inoculation. The anatomical and biochemical differences observed in Piper spp. can effectively be used for screening the genotypes for tolerance I resistance to Phytophthora capsici and for the management of the disease.
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    Impact of trading companies jointly sponsored by rubber board and rubber producers societies on growers in Kottayam and Thrissur districts
    (Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1997) Radhakrishnan, T P; Prasannakumari Amma, S
    The impact of trading companies on growers in Kottayam and Thrissur districts was studied. The activities of both the companies include centralised marketing of rubber sheet/ latex and centralised purchase and distribution of estate inputs in order to get maximum ben- efits to growers. . The study revealed that the performance of M/s. Manimalayar Rubbers (P) Ltd. was comparative I y better when compared to M/s. Vallathol Rubbers (P) Ltd. The growers of both companies got reasonable price for their produce (field latex or sheet). Both the companies had distributed estate inputs to growers at a reasonably lower price when compared to the open market. Both the companies could make arrangements to supply the estate inputs at the door steps of RPSs without additional charge. Both the companies participated along with Rubber Board officials in the dessemination of scientific knowledge of cultivation. The major limitations found in the functioning of the, RPSs were (1) they do not own building and (2) non co-operation among members. Major suggestions to improve the activities of the company included (1) starting sheet trading and (2) starting rubber based industry or processing unit. The studies indicated that the following suggestions are to be taken to improve the functioning of the companies (1) increasing the paid up share capital (2) taking initative to start either rubber based industry based on mother unit concept or a processing unit or making good quality sheets (3) centralized I region wise bulk purchasing of all estate inputs.