1. KAUTIR (Kerala Agricultural University Theses Information and Retrieval)

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    Development and characterization of natural gum base Nanocomposite
    (Department of Natural Resource Management, College of Forestry,Vellanikkara, 2019) Meghana Rose Joseph; Gopakumar, S
    Natural gum based bionanocomposite film using babul gum obtained from Vachellia nilotica .L and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) extracted from bamboo culms via steam explosion cum acid treatment was developed for biomedical and packaging applications. Alkali treatment (using NaOH) followed by bleaching (using sodium hypochlorite) of chopped bamboo culms resulted in removal of impurities like pectin, lignin, hemicellulose and other organic compounds. Steam coupled acid treatment of the bleached cellulose pulp resulted in the depolymerization and defibrillation of the fibres to produce cellulose nanofibrils. The structural, morphological, chemical, and thermal properties of CNF were analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). TEM and SEM images showed that the CNF was composed of network like structure of long fibrils of nanocellulose having the size of few micrometres in length and 50-60 nm in width. The CNF had a crystallinity of 54.46% which was greater than that of the raw bamboo fibre (41%). The chemical composition of the raw fibre and the CNF was analysed by FT-IR micrographs. TGA showed that the CNF was thermally more stable than the raw fibre and the results of peak temperature of 10 and 20% weight loss of raw fibre and CNF substantiated the same. The effect of CNF content (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt% based on gum) on the thermal, mechanical, water solubility, contact angle, and moisture content of nanocomposites was studied. Properties of babul gum film such as mechanical properties were improved significantly (p<0.05) by combining with CNF. The TGA analysis revealed that the composites had more thermal stability than the pristine gum film. The tensile and elastic modulus of composites increased significantly (p<0.05) when the concentration of the CNF increased in the gum matrix, while the elastic property decreased with the addition of CNF. The contact angle was found to be increasing with increasing the concentration of CNF added to the gum 64 matrix resulting in less hydrophilic composite with high CNF content. The moisture content tested for the composite films showed no significant difference with the addition of CNF. Water solubility tested showed around 90-95% of the film was dissolved completely in water. The CNF obtained from bamboo fibre can be used as reinforcing agent for the preparation of bio-nanocomposites and they can have a high potential for the development of completely biodegradable edible films which can be used for biomedical applications and packaging.
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    Selection and evaluation of superior planting materials of Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) in Thrissur
    (Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry, College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, 2018) Abijith, R; Jamaludheen, V
    A nursery and field experiment was conducted to evaluate the superior performance of selected candidate plus trees of Ailanthus triphysafrom the Thrissur District, Kerala. The demand of this timber was very much increased because of its fast growing nature and diversity of utilizations. Hence, the tree improvement of this species is the need of the hour that might result increased quality and reduced rotation time. The possible gain expected through the phenotypic selection can also be directly utilised by the tree growers. The candidate plus trees were identified and selected by adopting the comparison tree method. The seeds collected were used to study the germination parameters at tree nursery of College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University. The initial growth performances of the progenies of the selected CPTs were evaluated at nursery in a completely randomised design and also at the field in a randomised block design and the data were statistically analysed using Analysis of Variance technique. The progenies of the selected CPTs showed significant variation in their initial growth parameters. The highest germination per cent of 83.50 was exhibited by CPT-11 and the lowest of 67 per cent by CPT-1. After the six months of observation in the nursery, CPT-11 attained the maximum height of 88.67cm and lowest height by CPT-5 (76.33cm). The maximum plant height (99 cm) and girth (21.04 cm)in the field was also exhibited by CPT-11. The CPT-11, CPT-10 and CPT-9 were the top performers compared to other selections. The CPT-1 was the inferior in the nursery and also in the field. The CPTs that exhibited superiority in germination percentage, germination value and mean daily germination also exhibited distinctively superior growth in the nursery and in the field. In fact, the identification and selection of superior quality planting materials of Ailanthus triphysahas a greater role in the tree improvement. The single tree selection is the best method for the production of superior progenies and this can be useful for the future afforestation and seedling production for getting high quality timber with short rotation period. From this study we recommend CPT-11, CPT-10 and CPT-9 for achieving these objectives.