Connect with:
Tuesday / February 4. 2025

logo
mobile-logo
HomePosts Tagged "Punjab Agricultural University (PAU)" (Page 2)
Agro Universities, Agrotech, R&D, Trade, Water

The laboratory carries out tests for heavy metals and other trace metals in water complying with BIS and a variety of fresh and processed food products for compliance

The Punjab Horticultural Post-Harvest Technology Centre (PHPTC) at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has recently been granted NABL Accreditation in accordance with ISO17025:2017 for analysis of trace metals (including heavy metals) in water wide accreditation certificate number TC- 10329. The quality control laboratory of PHPTC is equipped with sophisticated equipment such as an inductive coupled plasma mass spectrophotometer (ICP-MS) and microwave digestion system (MDS) for heavy metal analysis.

Dr BVC Mahajan, Director, PHPTC, emphasised that the authentication of a testing report is a major challenge faced by the farmers, exporters, entrepreneurs and various food industries all over India. Owing to this, FSSAI is emphasising the food testing laboratories all over India to get NABL accreditation. NABL’s accreditated report from a laboratory signifies authentication of quality and its technical competence, he added. The reports issued by NABL accredited laboratories are acceptable internationally, catering to the export requirements of industries and exporters. This laboratory is funded by Punjab State Mandi Board to provide testing services to farmers, entrepreneurs, government and private institutions, he informed. The laboratory carries out tests for heavy metals and other trace metals in water complying with BIS and a variety of fresh and processed food products for compliance with the requirements laid down by FSSAI under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, he told.

The other testing services such as estimation of quality attributes in fresh and processed food products, portability of water including biochemical and microbiological parameters are also provided by the laboratory. The centre is also creating awareness among the farmers and new entrepreneurs regarding accreditated testing of water and food in its training programmes, he said.

Dr Ritu Tandon, Quality Manager of the laboratory, told that with the increasing pace of industrialization, heavy metals (Arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and chromium) are getting accumulated and have started becoming an integral component of the food chain through drinking and irrigation water. She informed that heavy metals monitoring in drinking and irrigation waters is the need of the hour as these metals have a deteriorating effect on human and animal health. The ICP-MS is a highly sensitive and accurate instrument for analysing all heavy metals and other nutritional elements in water and food, she added.

Dr Swati Kapoor, Technical Manager and Dr Pooja, Deputy Technical Manager of the laboratory, highlighted the criticality of analytical operations of the equipment to generate the authenticated results. The detailed list of test parameters and their charges can be accessed on the website of PHPTC.

The laboratory carries out tests for heavy

Agro Universities

Under the grant, PAU will be conducting training sessions and awareness programmes

The Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), has been granted the prestigious Department of Science and Technology (DST) funded project ‘DST STUTI’ ‘Synergistic Training Programme Utilizing the Scientific and Technological Infrastructure’ programme, by the Government of India, New Delhi. 

Dr Sandeep Singh, Senior Entomologist (Fruits), is the Program Coordinator of this project in collaboration with Dr GR Chaudhary, Professor of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh with hub and spoke arrangement. The special programme aims at human resources and its capacity building through open access to science and technology Infrastructure. 

According to Dr Sandeep Singh, the objectives will be achieved by organising short-term courses/workshops on the awareness, use and application of various instruments and analytical techniques. Under the grant of this programme, PAU will be conducting training sessions and awareness programmes under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.’

The main focus will be to popularise science and research among the budding science students by organising various activities like quizzes, declamation, poster making competition and visits to analytical instrumentation facility, he said. The lab tour will create awareness among the school students about the role and application of analytical instruments in scientific research, he added.

The PAU Vice-Chancellor DK Tiwari; Dean Postgraduate Studies Dr Sandeep Bains; Director of Research Dr AS Dhatt; Dean, College of Horticulture and Forestry Dr MIS Gill; Additional Director Communication Dr TS Riar; and Head, Department of Fruit Science Dr HS Dhaliwal congratulated Dr Sandeep Singh for this achievement and wished them success in their future endeavours.

Under the grant, PAU will be conducting

Agro Universities, Agrotech

The multigrain atta helps to meet the nutrient requirements effectively for people of all age groups including the elderly

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has inked a pact with Punjab Agri Export Corporation, PAGREXCO, Chandigarh for commercialisation of mutigrain atta formulation designed by the University. Dr AS Dhatt, Director of Research, PAU and Mr Taraun Sen, Manager, Punjab Agri Export Corporation Limited (PAGREXCO), signed the MoA. Dr GS Mangat, Additional Director of Research (Crop Improvement) and Dr NS Bains, Former Director of Research, under whose guidance the MoA was initiated were also present.

Dr Amarjeet Kaur, Principal Food Technologist, said that this multigrain atta would help to meet the nutrient requirements effectively for people of all age groups including the elderly.

Dr Kamaljit Kaur, Assistant Professor, stated that multigrain atta was made from whole grains namely wheat, maize, gram, barley, defatted soya and oats, which were carefully ground on “Chakkis’ and mixed in proportion to balance colour, taste and nutrition. Dough made from the atta was smooth, absorbed more water and the chapatti stayed soft for longer, she added.

Dr Usha Nara, Plant Breeder, TMIPRC, informed that this was the 277 MoA and third MoA of the concerned technology.

The multigrain atta helps to meet the

Agro Universities, Biofuel industry, Sustainable Energy

The construction of the plant is easy and it is an all brick masonry structure

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has inked a pact with SP ECO FUEL, Anand, Gujarat, for commercialisation of Modified PAU fixed Dome Type Janta Model Biogas Plant having capacity from 25 m3/day to 500 m3/day technology.

Dr GS Mangat, Director of Research, PAU and SP ECO FUEL signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on behalf of their organisations. As per the agreement, the university offers non-exclusive rights to the above-mentioned firm for making Modified PAU fixed Dome Type Janta Model Biogas Plant having capacity from 25 m3/day to 500 m3/day within India.

Dr Ashok Kumar, Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology and Director of Extension Education, PAU congratulated Dr Rajan Aggarwal, Head, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering for commercialization of this technology developed by Dr Sarbjit Singh Sooch, Principal Scientist, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering.

Dr Aggarwal said that animal waste (cattle dung, poultry droppings, etc.) can be digested anaerobically for the production of biogas as a fuel for thermal applications as well as for power generation.

Giving details about the technology, Dr Sooch explained that the construction of this type of plant is easy and it is an all brick masonry structure. This design is suitable for all regions of the country, he added. Informing that the life of this plant was around 25 years, he said its advantage was that the whole plant is underground.

Dr Usha Nara, Plant Breeder, TMIPRC, informed that PAU has signed a total of 276 MoAs. “This is the eighth MoA of Modified PAU fixed Dome Type Janta Model Biogas Plant,” she said.

The construction of the plant is easy

Agro Universities, Bee keeping

The registration of Bee Revolution Portal was done by Dr Jagdeep Singh, Nodal Officer

Under the guidance of Dr Ashok Kumar, Director of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has organised a monthly webinar for the members of Progressive Beekeepers Association (PBKA). A total of 68 participants attended the webinar.

Dr TS Riar, Additional Director Communication and Programme Associate Director, while reviewing the activities of the club, said in view of dwindling income, many entrepreneurs be it farmers, farm women and youths are adopting beekeeping as a subsidiary occupation. Entrepreneurs are getting remunerative returns from this enterprise, he said, while stressing upon the members to motivate fellow farmers and youths also to adopt apiculture on commercial level.

Dr Jaspal Singh, Entomology expert, explained the management of honey bees in summer season. The registration of Bee Revolution Portal was done by Dr Jagdeep Singh, Nodal Officer.


The registration of Bee Revolution Portal was

Agro Universities, Agrotech

The MoA was signed for the commercialisation of technology of tractor operated Mat Type Nursery Seeder

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Sardar Gurdeep Singh, son of Sardar Surjit Singh of Rajarh Agricultural Works, Ludhiana Road, Mullanpur Dakha, for the commercialisation of technology of tractor operated Mat Type Nursery Seeder.

The Director of Research, Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt and Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Dr Ashok Kumar congratulated the scientists who worked in developing the machine.

Dr Gursahib Singh Manes, Additional Director of Research (Farm Mechanization and Bioenergy), in his speech, talked about the mechanical paddy transplanters, which make use of the mat type nursery for transplanting paddy seedlings. Tractor operated seeder for mat type paddy nursery is a tractor-drawn of 35-40 HP, PTO operated machine, that accomplishes all the operations in one go, he added.

“The machine lays the polythene sheet and prepares one-meter-wide soil bed with simultaneous uniform seed placement and covers it with soil”, he added.

The HOD of the Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Dr Mahesh Kumar Narang spoke about the machine and its contribution in saving of cost by 64.3-67.9 per cent and labour by 93.8-94 per cent as compared to the conventional manual method of mat type nursery sowing. Stating that the technology will address the problem of labour scarcity during the peak season, he disclosed that in a single day, the machine can sow mat type nursery which is sufficient for transplantation in 150-200 acres paddy field area.

Dr Sandeep Kapoor, Comptroller and Dr Amarjeet Kaur, Director, Technology Marketing and IPR cell, PAU said the new machine will help in increasing the area under mechanical paddy transplanting.

The MoA was signed for the commercialisation

Agro Universities, IT

The app will help in hiring in and hiring out of agricultural machinery and will benefit small and marginal farmers

Sardar Randeep Singh Nabha, Agriculture Minister, Punjab, launched a Farm Machinery App of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) during the Farm Expo organised for the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh recently. He also released Punjab Agriculture Vision CD for the next five years, compiled by PAU. In his remarks, the minister hailed the remarkable contribution of PAU in making the nation food secure and updating the farmers, farm women and the rural youths about the latest developments in agriculture through ICT tools during COVID-19 times. He said, “The app will help in hiring in and hiring out of agricultural machinery and at the same time, will benefit small and marginal farmers.”

DK Tiwari, Financial Commissioner (Development), Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Vice-Chancellor, PAU said, “The CD and app are the new achievements of PAU that wish to enrich the knowledge of the farmers through digital technologies.”

Dr JS Mahal, Director of Extension Education, while sharing the benefits and importance of the app, said that more than 65 per cent of farmers in Punjab own less than five acres of land and cannot afford the farm machinery. The app will be bridge the gap between the farmers who want machinery and the farmers who are into custom hiring of farm machinery, he added. It will connect the farmers with the farm machinery owners, who can get good returns through this technology. It is available in Google Play Store, he mentioned.

Present on the occasion were Dr GPS Sodhi, Additional Director of Extension Education; and Dr GS Manes, Additional Director of Research (Farm Mechanization and Bioenergy).

The app will help in hiring in