<p>Thiruvananthapuram: As the Axiom 04 mission took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, a group of agriculture scientists from Kerala has more reasons to cheer.</p><p>Various seeds developed at the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) are part of the mission for space agriculture experiments.</p>.Axiom-4 mission, with Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla on board, lifts off from US.<p>Six high-yielding crop varieties developed at the College of Agriculture at Vellayani in Thiruvananthapuram under the university are part of the mission. </p><p>Two varieties of rice, horse gram, sesame, brinjal and tomato are selected for space agriculture research.</p>.Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!: Shubhanshu Shukla enroute to space.<p>Roy Stephen, who is dean (agriculture) and professor of plant physiology at the College of Agriculture, told DH that after the 14 days mission the seeds would be brought back and the changes happened in the space environment would be analysed. </p><p>"It's for the first time that KAU is becoming part of such a space agriculture mission and hence it is more exciting," he told DH.</p><p>KAU has joined the mission in association with the European Space Agency, ISRO and Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology. </p><p>Analysing the germination and growth of the seeds in zero gravity is the key objective of the mission. The mission assumes significance as India is gearing up for manned space missions.</p>
<p>Thiruvananthapuram: As the Axiom 04 mission took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, a group of agriculture scientists from Kerala has more reasons to cheer.</p><p>Various seeds developed at the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) are part of the mission for space agriculture experiments.</p>.Axiom-4 mission, with Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla on board, lifts off from US.<p>Six high-yielding crop varieties developed at the College of Agriculture at Vellayani in Thiruvananthapuram under the university are part of the mission. </p><p>Two varieties of rice, horse gram, sesame, brinjal and tomato are selected for space agriculture research.</p>.Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!: Shubhanshu Shukla enroute to space.<p>Roy Stephen, who is dean (agriculture) and professor of plant physiology at the College of Agriculture, told DH that after the 14 days mission the seeds would be brought back and the changes happened in the space environment would be analysed. </p><p>"It's for the first time that KAU is becoming part of such a space agriculture mission and hence it is more exciting," he told DH.</p><p>KAU has joined the mission in association with the European Space Agency, ISRO and Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology. </p><p>Analysing the germination and growth of the seeds in zero gravity is the key objective of the mission. The mission assumes significance as India is gearing up for manned space missions.</p>