Welcome to College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Thrissur, India

The Department of Olericulture was established as a statutory department of KAU in 1972. Two year postgraduate and three year doctoral degree programmes were commenced during the year 1976 and 1979, respectively. So far, 81 students were awarded M.Sc. (Hort.) degree and 15 students, Ph.D degree from this department. The students of this department had won four national awards while the faculty members had bagged 16 national and state level awards including the prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai National Award. The department was shifted to new full-fledged building on 1st June 2000 with a separate establishment of 12 faculty members, eight technical and administrative staff and 21 permanent labourers.

At present, the department is nationally recognized as a major centre for higher education and research in vegetable science. The department has so far developed and released 35 improved varieties of different vegetable crops at the state level, out of which six were released at national level also. The bacterial wilt resistant varieties, Surya, Swetha, Haritha and Neelima (brinjal), Ujwala and Anugraha (chilli), Sakthi, Mukthi and Anagha(tomato)were well accepted nationally. Amaranth varieties Krishnasree and Renusree and Dolichos bean varieties Hima and Grace are the latest released varieties. High yielding drumstick cultures AD-4 and MO-144 were recommended for release during the 28th ZREAC meeting of Central Zone held at Pattambi. The department has generated several viable and appropriate technologies for crop management, plant protection and seed technology in tropical vegetables.

The department is operating a number of externally aided projects on vegetable crops including AICRP on Vegetable Crops. Large scale production of breeder, foundation and truthfully labelled seeds of different vegetable varieties and their distribution is another important activity of the department. The annual revenue from seed sales is around Rs. 6.57 lakhs. Till date, 26.10 tonnes of vegetable seeds worth Rs.1.35 crores were produced and supplied to farmers, State Department of Agriculture and seed agencies. The faculty members of the Department have so far published 41 books, 586 research papers and 418 extension articles. The department has conducted several training programmes, seminars, workshops and agricultural exhibitions of which Summer Institute on Recent Advances in Tropical Vegetable Production and Xth and XXth national workshops of AICRP on Vegetable Crops deserve special mention.

Genesis

Established in 1972 as one of the statutory departments in the College of Horticulture, a constituent of the Kerala Agricultural University
M.Sc. Programme started in 1976 – 1977
Ph.D. Programme started in 1979 – 1980
All India Co-ordinated Vegetable Improvement Project (AICVIP) Centre started in 1983
Department shifted to new building on 01.06.2000
At present, the Department is nationally recognized as a major center for higher education and research in vegetable science

Mandate

Generation of human resources, skills and technology in vegetable science through higher education, research and extension

Education

UG Programme : Offers two courses for B.Sc.(Ag.)
M.Sc. Programme: Offers five courses for M.Sc.(Hort) & M.Sc. (Ag.)
Ph.D. Programme: Offers three courses for Ph. D
M.Sc.(Hort) students currently on the rolls : 5
M.Sc. students passed out : 81
Ph.D. students passed out: 15
National awards received by the students: 6

Research

Vegetable genetic resources available: 1241 accessions
Ongoing Externally Aided Projects : 7
Ongoing AICVIP Research Projects : 35
Ongoing KAU Research projects : 42
Externally aided projects concluded : 12
KAU Projects concluded : 165

Externally Aided Projects

On going

Sl..No.	Name of Project	Principal Investigator
1	All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Vegetable Crops	Dr. P.G. Sadhankumar
2	ICAR Mega Seed Project	Dr. T. E. George
3	ICAR Network Project on “Improvement of under-utilized vegetable crops”	Dr. K.P. Prasanna
4	ICAR Network Project on “Application of MAP in the storability of seeds of high value vegetable crops”	Dr. K. Krishnakumary
5	UGC Project on “Farmer participatory research on vegetable cowpea”	Dr. Salikutty Joseph
6	SHM sponsored Project on “Establishment of model nutrition gardens in homesteads and schools of Kerala”	Dr. K. Krishnakumary
7	Govt. of Kerala sponsored Project on “Collection and characterization of cucurbit and legume vegetables of Western Ghats of Kerala	Dr. K. P. Prasanna

Concluded Projects

Sl.No.	Name of Project	Principal Investigator
1	ICAR Adhoc Scheme on Breeding for resistance to bacterial wilt in chilli and brinjal	Dr.T.R.Gopalakrishnan
2	ICAR Adhoc Scheme on Heterosis breeding in cucurbits	Dr. S. Rajan
3	ICAR Adhoc Scheme on Breeding bacterial wilt tomatoes for processing	Dr. S. Nirmala Devi
4	ICAR Adhoc Scheme on Evaluation of summer tomatoes	Dr. S. Rajan
5	ICAR Adhoc Scheme on Breeding for resistance to mosaic viruses in chilli	Dr. T. E. George
6	ICAR Adhoc Scheme on Screening for sources of resistance and breeding for mosaic resistant vegetable cowpea	Dr. V. S. Devadas
7	National Agricultural Technology Project on Rainshelter cultivation of vegetables for off season production and employment generation	Dr. P. Indira
8	National Agricultural Technology Project on sustainable management of plant biodiversity : vegetable cowpea and amaranthus	Dr. Salikutty Joseph
9	ICAR Adhoc scheme on Survey, collection, evaluation, and cataloguing of germplasm of under exploited perennial vegetables viz. drumstick, curry leaf, gamboge, Ivy gourd, star gooseberry	Dr. V. K. Raju

Extension

Conducts training programmes on Commercial vegetable production, Vegetable seed production, Cool season vegetable production, Hybrid vegetable seed production, Kitchen gardening, Paprika cultivation and Organic farming in vegetables for Developmental Officers, Field level workers, Master farmers, Housewives, SC/ST youth and Unemployed youth.
Published 41 books/booklets/technical bulletins, 586 research articles and 418 popular articles
Conducted Tenth and Twentieth Workshops of AICVIP in 1988 and 2002
Conducted Summer Institute on ‘Recent Advances in tropical vegetable production’ in 1991
Participates in Agricultural Seminars, All India Radio Programmes, Doordharsan Programmes, Agro-clinics and Agricultural Exhibitions

Seed Production

Vegetable Seed Production Complex comprising ICAR Revolving Fund Scheme, KAU Revolving Fund Scheme and Plan scheme
Annual revenue from breeder/foundation/truthfully labeled seeds around Rs.6.5 lakhs
Till date, 26.1 tons of seeds worth Rs.1.35 crores produced and supplied to farmers.

Accomplishments

Developed and released 35 high yielding / disease resistant / hybrid varieties of different vegetable crops

1	Tomato	Sakthi, Mukthi
2	Brinjal	Surya, Swetha , Haritha, Neelima
3	Chilli	Ujwala, Anugraha
4	Pumpkin	Ambili, Suvarna, Saras
5	Bitter gourd	Priya, Preethi
6	Snake gourd	Baby
7	Ash gourd	KAU Local
8	OP Melon	Mudicode, Soubhagya
9	Ivy gourd	Sulabha
10	Ridge gourd	Deepthi
11	Okra	Salkeerthi, Aruna, Susthira
12	Winged bean	Revathy
13	Cowpea	Vyjayanthi, Lola, Kairali, Bhagyalakshmy, Kairali, Varun, Anaswara
14	Amaranth	Mohini, Krishnasree, Renusree
15	Dolichos bean	Hima, Grace

Of these, six varieties released nationally
Eight Bacterial wilt resistant varieties
Three mosaic resistant varieties
Drumstick cultures AD 4 and MO 144 are in the pipeline of release.
Twelve cultures of different vegetables in advanced stages of testing.
Generated appropriate and viable technologies for crop management, seed production and plant protection of different tropical vegetables
54 Technologies adopted in Package of Practices Recommendations
Recognized as the leading centre for bacterial wilt research in the country

Major Awards

I. Students

T. Pradeepkumar. (M.Sc. Student): Dr. Harbhajan Singh Award (1993)
S. Subhash Chandra Bose (M.Sc. Student): Dr. Harbhajan Singh Award (2000)
Baby Lissy Markose (Ph.D. student): Dr. Harbhajan Singh Award (2001)
V. Kousalya (M.Sc. Student) : Young Scientist Award (2005)

II. Faculty

Dr. K.V. Peter : Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award (1996-1998), Dr. M. H. Marigowda National Award (2000), ISVS Silver Jubilee Medal (1998) and NAAS Recognition Award (2000).
Dr. T. E. George: Young Scientist Award (1991), IAHS Gold Medal (1990), UAS Gold Medal (1990)
Dr. T. R. Gopalakrishnan : Young Scientist Award (1989), Dr. Harbhajan Singh Award (1993) and Krishi Vigyan Award (1996-97).
Dr. K.P. Prasanna : Best research Paper Award (2006)

Resources

Human Resources

Faculty: 12
Technical and Administrative staff: 8
Permanent labourers : 14

Land Resources

Three Research cum Seed production Blocks with irrigation facility, having a total land area of 8.03 ha.

Physical Resources

Main Department building with a built-up area of 12000 sq. ft. having one Class room, UG laboratory, PG laboratory, Research laboratory, Seed Tech Laboratory, Conference hall, Computer room, eight Staff rooms, Office room, Farm office, Museum and two Store rooms
Fully equipped field laboratory of 1200 sq. ft. built-up area
Seed Processing Hall of 1000 sq. ft. built-up area
Dehumidified Walk-in Cold Storage of 1 ton capacity
Protected cultivation structures : 12 Nos

Faculty

Department:

Dr. T. E. George, Professor & Head
Dr. Salikutty Joseph, Professor
Dr. P. Indira, Professor
Dr. Baby Lissy Markose, Professor
Dr. K. P. Prasanna, Professor
Dr. K. V. Suresh Babu, Professor
Dr. K. Krishnakumary, Associate Professor
Dr. T. Pradeepkumar, Associate Professor

AICVIP (VC)

Dr. P. G. Sadhankumar, Professor & PI
Dr. S. Nirmala Devi, Professor
Dr. P. Sainamole Kurien P., Assistant Professor (Sr.Scale)

Contact address

Professor and Head

Dept. of Olericulture

College of Horticulture

Kerala Agricultural University, KAU.P.O., 680656

Thrissur, Kerala

Phone : 0487-2371918(380)

Email. drtegeorge@rediffmail.com

TOP

Designed & Maintained By Bioinformatics Centre, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara

Best viewed in Internet Explorer 6 or above, 1024 x 768 Screen, Flash enabled