1. KAUTIR (Kerala Agricultural University Theses Information and Retrieval)
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Item Physiological and molecular mechanisms of water stress tolerance in cardamom [Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton.](Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, vellayani, 2023-12-13) Ashiq Rahman, P K.; Roy StephenThe study entitled "Physiological and Molecular Mechanisms of Water Stress Tolerance in Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum L. Maton)" was carried out in the Department of Plant Physiology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, and Cardamom Research Station, Pampadumpara, Idukki during 2021-2022. The objective of the study was to analyze the physiological and molecular mechanisms of water stress tolerance and the genetic variability for water stress tolerance in cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum L. Maton) varieties. The study was carried out in a completely randomized design with two conditions: stress and irrigated condition (control) imposed on four varieties of cardamom, namely Green gold, PV-1, PV-2, PV-3, with four replications. Cardamom plants were planted in grow bags with a grown-up tiller and a young shoot and maintained at the Cardamom Research Station, Pampadumpara, Idukki. After six months, stress was created by withdrawing irrigation for 30 days during the summer season. Four replications of cardamom plants per treatment maintained as controls were grown in grow bags at field capacity. The observations on physiological, biochemical, and molecular characteristics were taken from stress-induced plants and controls. The physiological parameters of the four varieties of cardamom under stress were compared with the control. The four varieties of cardamom showed a significant difference in relative water content, photosynthetic rate, and stomatal conductance. The least percentage reduction in relative water content, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and instantaneous water use efficiency was noticed in PV-2. Under conditions of stress, the relative water content, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and instantaneous water use efficiency varied significantly compared to the control. There was a significant positive interaction between varieties and conditions (stress and irrigation) in relation to photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance. However, no significant interaction was observed between varieties and conditions of stress and irrigation (control) on relative water content and instantaneous water use efficiency. 57 The main effect of small cardamom varieties, such as Green gold, PV-1, PV-2, and PV-3, on biochemical parameters like total soluble protein, MDA content, and proline content, showed significant variation. Similarly, total soluble protein, MDA content, and proline content differed significantly under conditions of stress and irrigation. However, no significance was noticed in the interaction between varieties and conditions with respect to total soluble protein. The total soluble protein of PV-2 showed a 37.1% reduction under stress compared to the control maintained under irrigated conditions. The maximum mean total soluble protein was recorded in Green gold under stress (35.033). The maximum percentage increase in MDA content was analyzed in PV 3 (117.9%), and the minimum was recorded in Green gold (4.2%). The minimum percentage increase in proline content was reported from PV-2 (85.7%), and the maximum percentage increase was recorded in Green gold (97%). The molecular analysis of cardamom was done using the leaf samples collected from the plants. RNA was isolated from the samples, which were used for cDNA synthesis for RT-qPCR. The relative fold change was analyzed using Ct values, which showed upregulation of the dhn-1 gene under stress for PV-2 (1.151 fold) followed by PV-1 (1.099 fold) with respect to the control. The study confirmed that 30 days of stress as treatment was shown to be affecting the physiological, biochemical, and molecular parameters of all the varieties (Green gold, PV-1, PV-2, PV-3). The treatment caused significant variation in all analyzed variables. The treatment showed a reduction in the values of relative water content, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and total soluble protein while an increase in the values of water use efficiency, MDA content, and proline content in all varieties. The molecular basis of water stress tolerance studied by RT-qPCR using the dhn-1 gene primer showed upregulation of the dhn-1 gene under stress conditions. The results of the study indicated that all varieties (Green gold, PV-1, PV-2, PV 3) are affected by stress and all of them showed resistance to the stress. Among the varieties, PV-2 showed the most resistance.Item Effectiveness of e-marketing of cardamom in Kerala-an exploratory analysis(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture,Vellayani, 2022) Jeena Paul; Gopika SomanathThe study entitled 'Effectiveness of e-marketing of cardamom in Kerala— an exploratory analysis' was conducted in Idukki district of Kerala during the year 2019-21 among the cardamom farmers undertaking conventional marketing as well as e-marketing of cardamom. The objective of the research was comparative assessment of the effectivencss of e-marketing and conventional marketing of cardamom as well as delineation of farmers' perception on benefits and constraints of e-marketing. Six farmers undertaking conventional marketing and six farmers undertaking e-marketing of cardamom each were randomly selected from ten panchayats, totaling the sample size to 120. The independent variables in the study selected through judges rating were age, education, area under cardamom cultivation, experience in cardamom cultivation, production of cardamom, price received, extension contact, attitude towards e-marketing, awareness on digital tools and adoption of digital tools, and dependent variable marketing effectiveness was measured using the index developed for the study. On analysis it was found that majority of the farmers undertaking conventional marketing (51.7%) and e-marketing (40%) belonged to middle age category. Majority (43.3%) of the farmers undertaking conventional marketing had high school level education and 58.4 per cent of the farmers undertaking e-marketing had degree and above level of education. Majority of the farmers undertaking conventional marketing were marginal farmers (31.7%) and farmers undertaking e-marketing had medium area (4-10 ha) under cardamom cultivation (35%). Majority of the fanners undertaking conventional marketing (55%) and e-marketing (45%) had medium level of experience (6-20 years) in cardamom cultivation. Majority of the farmers undertaking conventional marketing (43.3%) had low production of cardamom and fanners undertaking e-marketing (4803%) had medium production of cardamom. Majority of the farmers undertaking conventional marketing (73.3%) and e-marketing (36.7%) received a price between per kilogram of.cardamom. More than half of the farmers undertaking conventional (5166%) and e-marketing (51.6%) had medium level of extension contact. More than half of the fanners undertaking conventional marketing (55%) had negative attitude towards emarketing and more than half of the farmers undertaking e-marketing (61.7%) had neutral attitude towards e-marketing. More than half of the farmers undertaking conventional (66.7%) and e-marketing (75%) had medium awareness on digital tools. Majority of the farmers undertaking conventional marketing (45%) and e-marketing (56.7%) had medium level of adoption of digital tools. Marketing effectiveness has been measured under seven components, four quantitative variables, viz., marketing channel, marketing cost, price spread and producer's share in consumer's rupee and three qualitative variables, viz., market information utilization, timeliness of marketing and ease of marketing. Based on factor analysis, the components were grouped into two factors contributing to a cumulative variance of 91.68 per cent. The factor loadings ofvariables showed that producer's share in consumer's rupee (96.4%) and price spread (94.2%) explained more than 90 per cent variance. Majority of the fanners undertaking conventional marketing had medium (46.7%) followed by low (41.7%) marketing effectiveness and fanners undertaking e-marketing had medium (53.4%) followed by high (38.4%) marketing effectiveness. The comparison between the marketing effectiveness of conventional marketing and e-marketing using z-test showed that there exists significant mean difference between the six components of marketing effectiveness for the two categories of respondents and their marketing effectiveness index scores. The results ofKarl Pearson correlation analysis revealed that out of 10 independent variables selected for the study, six variables were significantly related to the dependent variable marketing effectiveness. The variables, viz., price received, extension contact, attitude towards e-marketing and adoption of digital tools were significant at 0.1 % level of significance and education and awareness on digital tools were significant at 1 % level of significance. Majority of the farmers undertaking conventional marketing adopted marketing channel with five (41.7%) and six parties (41.7%) and farmers undertaking e-marketing adopted marketing channel with five parties (63.4%). Farmers undertaking e-marketing recei ved higher price g 1265.75) for their produce as compared to the fanners undertaking conventional marketing (?1083.75). Majority (71.7%) of the farmers undertaking emarketing store their produce and sells only at remunerative prices, whereas only 28.3 per cent of the fanners undertaking conventional marketing store their produce and wait for better price. Marketing effectiveness index scores of fanners undertaking e-marketing (67.6) was found to be higher than that ofthe fanners undertaking conventional marketing (53.9). Among the e-marketing platforms, social media (89.4) and websites (72.4) showed higher marketing effectiveness index score than e-auction (61). The major benefits of e-marketing as perceived by farmers were availability of proper transaction details and bills (83.3%) and assurance of timely delivery and prompt payment (80%). The major constraints of e-marketing as perceived by farmers were delay in payment up to 20-30 days after e-auction (66.7%) and disfress procurement of credit by the farmers from the auctioning agency to compensate for the delayed payment (60%). Mechanisms to ensure timely and prompt payment for the produce, separate eauctions for farmers and traders, ensuring remunerative base prices for cardamom, regulation and monitoring ofthe e-auction system by the Spices Board to reduce unhealthy practices, approval of registration of the cardamom lands by the Government, minimization of the formalities in credit disbursal by the banks, extending support to the fanner producer organizations (FPOs) to undertake value addition in cardamom and expansion of extension services in the realm of e-marketing are the key strategies to overcome the constraints in e-marketing. It could be concluded that the e-auction mechanism was introduced by the Spices Board for the benefit of both the farmers and traders by promoting healthy competition among bidders and monitoring the auction price elecfronically. But presently fanners are not completely satisfied with the system due to lack of remunerative prices and delayed payment. The scope of the other e-marketing platforms such as social media and websites need to be more popularized among the cardamom farmers.Item Evaluation of beneficial fungal root endophytes against fusarium rot in small cardamom(Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2022) Aishwarya Manoharan; Dhanya, M KThe study entitled “Evaluation of beneficial fungal root endophytes against Fusarium rot in small cardamom” was conducted at College of Agriculture, Vellayani and Cardamom Research Station, Pampadumpara during 2020-21 to evaluate the colonisation and interaction of two beneficial fungi, Piriformospora indica and Glomus fasciculatum, in cardamom and their potential to manage Fusarium rot disease of cardamom and elucidation of the role of gibberellic acid in the endophytic fungimediated disease tolerance. Fusarium infection in small cardamom is characterised by root rotting, eye shaped lesion on pseudostem and panicle rot. Fusarium oxysporum Schledt was isolated from the infected roots of the farmer’s field of Pampadumpara in Idukki district. Koch’s postulate was proved by inoculation of the pseudostem of one year plants using pinprick method where the isolate produced the typical eye shaped lesion within two weeks. A pot culture experiment was conducted at CRS, Pampadumpara to assess the interactive effect of the fungal root endophytes P. indica and G. fasciculatum on the vegetative growth of small cardamom seedlings and suckers using four treatments and five replications. Both individual and combinatorial effects of the endophytes on the vegetative characters like plants height, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf width, root parameters, biomass etc. were evaluated. Successful root colonization was observed in P. indica and G. fasciculatum treated roots at six and seven days after their inoculation respectively. This is the first report of colonization of P. indica in small cardamom. The study revealed that the endophytes inoculated plants were superior to control plants in which maximum shoot growth was shown by the dually colonized plants followed by the P. indica-colonized which was then followed by G. fasciculatum colonised plants. The root parameters were higher for P. indica-colonized plants compared to the combined or G. fasciculatum colonized plants in cardamom seedlings whereas dually colonized plants had better root growth in cardamom suckers. P and K analysis of the whole plant clearly indicated the enhanced nutrient uptake to root, shoot and leaf in the endophytes-colonized plants. The IAA analysis of root samples also revealed a higher IAA content in the endophytes colonized seedlings compared to the control seedlings with P. indica colonized plants recording the maximum value of 83.80 µg g-1 in seedlings and 94.30 µg g-1 in suckers; and least value being observed in control plants recording 44.80 µg g-1 in seedlings and 94.30 µg g-1 in suckers. This study stipulate a scope of better establishment of cardamom in field especially in the case of seedlings during transplantation due to well established root system. There was also a reduction in nursery period by two months in the P. indica and G. fasciculatum dually colonized seedlings compared to the non-colonized seedlings. In vitro evaluation of P. indica against F. oxysporum and in vivo evaluation of both the bioagents against F. oxysporum in small cardamom was carried out to appraise the effect of bioagents in the management of Fusarium rot disease of cardamom. In in vitro evaluation, dual culture assay of P. indica with F. oxysporum was performed in PDA in which a percent inhibition of 64.4 (%), antagonism index of 20.53 and an obscure lysis zone was observed. There wasn’t any presence of inhibition zone, antibiosis, coiling, overgrowth, sporulation etc. In in vivo evaluation, a pot culture experiment was laid out at CRS, Pampadumpara with seven treatments and three replications including a bio agent check of 2% Pseudomonas fluorescens and chemical check of 2 % carbendazim as basal drench. The study revealed that the beneficial interaction with bioagent successively decreased the disease severity and lesion size, among which P. indica treated plants showed the best result having the least disease severity of 38.07 (%) and 31.48 (%) in seedlings and suckers respectively. The disease severity of the control plants were the highest, recording 86.62 (%) and 76.77 (%) in seedlings and suckers respectively. Combinatorial and P. fluorescens treatments were the other treatments showing promising results in disease management. Total Gibberellic acid was estimated from leaf samples of challenge inoculated experimental plants to elucidate the role of GA in endophyte mediated disease tolerance and the authors couldn’t interpret any role of GA in disease development. Moreover, the GA content was higher in P. indica colonised recording 18.60 µg g-1 and 10.65 in µg g-1 in seedlings and suckers respectively; and dually colonised plants recording 18.00 µg g-1 and 9.71 µg g-1 in seedlings and suckers respectively. Thus, the present study proclaims a very pronounced plant growth promotion in cardamom seedlings and suckers by the beneficial fungal root endophytes viz., P. indica and G. fasciculatum just before transplanting to the field and therein advocating better development and establishment in the field condition. Furthermore, the results also indicates an effective management of the destructive Fusarium rot disease in small cardamom using endophyte colonization especially in P. indica colonized and dually colonized plants.Item Nutritional status of soil and plant in relation to the incidence of chenthal disease of cardamom(Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1983) Dileep Kumar, K N; Alice AbrahamAn investigation was carried out at the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, to study the nutritional status of soil and plant in relation to the incidence of chenthal disease in three major cultivars of cardomom viz., Vazhukka, Malabar and Mysore. Soil and plant samples for the study were collected from the cardamom plantations in the High Ranges of Idukki district of Kearala State during March, 1982 (Pre-monsoon period) and September, 1982 (Post-monsoon period)Item Comparison of performance and its determinants of coffee and cardamom in South India : a statistical analysis(Department of Agricultural Statistics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2019) Murugesh Huchagoudar; Brigit JosephItem Economic analysis of production, marketing and price bahaviour of nutmeg in Kerala(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2019) Reshama Sara Sabu; Anil KuruvilaItem Scenario analysis of cardamom growers in cardamom hill reserves of Kerala(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Anju, S; Kishore Kumar, NItem Economic analysis of production, marketing and prices of arecanut in Kasargod district of Kerala(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2018) Janeesa, K P; Anil KuruvilaArecanut is an important plantation crop grown in India, mainly by the small and marginal farmers. India is one among the leading producers of arecanut with an area of 4.55 lakh hectares and a production of 7.25 lakh tonnes in 2016-17. The study entitled “Economic analysis of production, marketing and prices of arecanut in Kasaragod district of Kerala” was conducted with the objectives of analysing the time series properties and formation of prices, estimating the economics and efficiency of arecanut production, identifying the marketing channels and the price spread in different channels and finding out the major constraints in production and marketing of arecanut in Kasaragod district of Kerala. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. The study was conducted in Kasaragod district, which has the largest area under arecanut cultivation in Kerala. Primary data was collected from 100 farmers, randomly selected from two blocks in the district. The data was also collected from 20 market intermediaries including wholesalers, retailers and Central Arecanut Marketing and Processing Co-operative Society (CAMPCO). Trend analysis revealed that area, production and productivity of arecanut in India exhibited increasing trend during the period from 1980-81 to 2015-16. Time series data on area, production and productivity of arecanut in Kerala over the years from 1980-81 to 2015-16 showed an increasing trend with regular ups and downs. Export and import of arecanut have also shown an increasing trend, both in quantity and value terms. The price behavior of ripe and dry arecanut in major markets of Kerala viz., Nedumangad, Telicherry, Kanhangad and Kozhikode were analyzed by decomposing the monthly prices into four components viz., trend, seasonal, cyclical and irregular variations, assuming a multiplicative model of time series. The prices of arecanut showed increasing trend in these markets. While analysing the seasonal variation, it was noticed that arecanut prices showed considerable seasonality. The increasing phase for ripe arecanut prices was observed from March to May, while for dry arecanut, the highest price was observed during April, May and November in Nedumangad, Calicut and Kanhangad markets respectively. Co-integration analysis of arecanut prices in the above markets revealed that the markets were cointegrated. Since arecanut is a perennial crop, its yielding phase was assumed to be 50 years, with a non-bearing phase of five years. The costs and returns were estimated by accounting the establishment and maintenance costs separately. The establishment cost was found to be ₹3,43,386 per hectare and the annual maintenance costs were ₹ 2,13,075, ₹ 2,06,925 and ₹1,58,608 per hectare in yield increasing, yield stabilising and yield declining phases respectively. The cost of cultivation per hectare of the crop was estimated as ₹ 2.67 lakh, while the net return was ₹ 1.30 lakh. It was found that human labour contributed 75 per cent of the total cost of cultivation. The average cost of production in the yielding phase was estimated as ₹ 150 per kg. To evaluate the resource use efficiency in arecanut cultivation, Cobb-Douglas production function was fitted. Plant protection chemicals and human labour were found to be significantly contributing towards the yield. The elastic coefficient for women labour charges was -0.13 indicating that the increase in expenditure on labour by one percent from the mean level. Moreover, a decreasing returns to scale in arecanut production was observed in the study area. The most common marketing channel identified in the study area was channel I (Producer- village trader- wholesaler- retailer- consumers). Even though marketing efficiency was highest in channel III (Producer- CAMPCO- retailers - consumers), farmers preferred channel I over channel III because of the immediate payment. Marketing costs were found to be ₹ 33.9, ₹ 29.44 and ₹ 28.44 per kg in channel I, II and channel III respectively. The highest price spread of ₹ 58.9 per kg was estimated in channel I, while it was lowest (44.94 per kg) in Channel III. Various constraints in production and marketing of arecanut were identified and ranked using Garret’s ranking technique. Among the various constraints faced by farmers in production, scarcity of skilled labour for harvesting and spraying, water scarcity, occurrence of pests and diseases were the major ones. Price fluctuation was the foremost constraint faced in marketing of arecanut. In order to tackle these constraints, mechanization of operations, value addition through product diversification, promoting the use of warehousing facilities and warehouse receipts as negotiable instruments for getting credit and strengthening market intelligence were recommended for ensuring better and stable prices for farmers.Item Farmers level awareness and participation in futures in cardamom market(College of Co-operation Banking and Management, Vellanikkara, 2017) Nimisha Jose; Philip SabuCommodity markets have occupied a very important place in the economic growth and progress of countries offering tremendous potential to market participants for both profit making and managing price risk on account of price fluctuations. With the present era witnessing increased dealings in knowledge of the agricultural produce on commodity exchanges. This chapter presents a Summary of findings based on previous analysis along with suggestions for improvement and conclusion. Cardamom is primarily marketed through auction under the control of Spices Board. Auction system was introduced for the trading of cardamom with the objective of ensuring fare price to the cardamom planters. However, auctioning has not been able to meet fully this objective. In these context futures trading in cardamom was allowed by the central Government. Futures trading provide the farmers opportunity to hedge against price risk and signal about the price trends. With cardamom futures trade having existed for almost a decade, it is worthwhile to assess the impact trading in cardamom futures has had on different participants in the cardamom value chain. Futures trading were intended to bring symmetry information across market participants. Resultantly, it is expected that the planters would be 77 able to fetch a better price for their output, by deciding the best time to sell their harvest and also ease the channels of credit to the planter through effective implementation of warehouse receipt financing. Also, exporters would be able to hedge against input price fluctuations, get standardized input of specified quality and quantity at the right time. Overall, the power of information with middlemen has to come down resulting in reduced supply chain margins. With this objective in mind, this study is conducted to assess to the extent to which the trading in cardamom futures has realized the economic benefits with which it was introduced almost a decade back. The data required for the study were collected from 45 planters, 30 traders, 6 processors, 10 exporters and 7 auctioneers from Idukki district. The major findings and conclusion of the study are presented in the following paragraphs.Item Cardamom futures and spot markets - behavior of traders and price volatility(College of Co-operation Banking and Management, Vellanikkara, 2017) Akhil, U; Philip Sabu