Department of Olericulture

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.

 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