Punjabi university makes poultry feed supplement from kinnow peel

Tribune News Service
Patiala, October 26

Punjabi University has developed a product, LimoPan, in collaboration with Punjab Agro Juices, Chandigarh, and transferred the technology to Juggernaut Hospitality Services, a partnership firm from Pune.

“The product, a bioengineered nutraceutical derived from kinnow peels, is poultry feed supplement. It will replace the use of antibiotics in poultry feed,” said university officials.

“The unbridled use of antibiotics in poultry feed is one of the reasons that has been attributed to cause antibiotic resistance in humans, who become passive consumers through residues that remain in poultry,” university officials added.

Dr Mini Singh, associate professor, Department of Biotechnology, said, “The product utilises the antimicrobial potential of phytoconstituents present in kinnow peels. Punjab is leading producer of kinnow and processes it into juice, which is exported, thereby generating a large quantity of peel.”

“This technology sets an example of sustainable utilisation of horticulture waste by converting it into a value added product,” she added.

Dr Mini Singh and her team used nanotechnology to develop the formulation, which took nine years of research and development.

Dr Manju Wadhwa’s team from GADVASU conducted application trials on poultry through contract research while safety of the product was ascertained by the National Toxicology Centre at the NIPER.

Vice-Chancellor BS Ghuman congratulated the research team led by Dr Mini Singh.