WANAPARTHY: Students guided by the professors of the College of Horticulture, Mojerla, Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University, continue to raise the bar for the innumerable possibilities in making the best use of horticultural produce. After formulating and making many products like soaps, gels, face packs, shampoos, processed foods, nutritive capsules and many others which the college has been marketing through their app ‘Plantaessence’ and on e-commerce sites, the college has now introduced some more useful natural products to its rather lengthy list.
Black mulberry fruit, which has anti-ageing properties has been used to prepare wine, replacing grapes as the ingredient. The extract from the fruit has been used to prepare cosmetics like soaps, gels and face packs made of biodegradable cotton towels.Dr J Shankaraswamy, Assistant Professor and Head of Post-Harvest Technology, Department of Fruit Science, who has formulated the products, claims that he has found a way to standardise the juice extraction of black mulberry without using machinery, the result being that it will not change colour and remain fresh for years - without using any preservatives.
His department has found a way to make medicated chewing gum using chikoo (sapota) and rumi mastagi (medicinal plant-based gum) which have anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Natural flavours of different fruits good for health are being used in the chewing gum, to provide nutrition in an enjoyable way. Using garcinia cambogia which is found in places like Sirsi in Karnataka, capsules have been prepared for disorders pertaining to metabolism and digestion. From Cichorium intybus plant which produces a sugary starch called Inulin, prebiotic capsules have been made.
The college’s innovative team has found a way to make dried slices of guava fruit retain their nutritive value without losing its flavour and has standardised the process of keeping them fresh that way.
The guava seeds which have 60 per cent more potassium than a banana (useful to control blood pressure) have been used to make a powder from the seeds, to be consumed orally. Moringa pod capsules and incense sticks made of horticultural waste produce are some of the other products.
Ripening of fruits through ‘green pod technology’ using plant-based volatiles is presently under experimental stage at the college.Dr Shankaraswamy has recently received the “Outstanding Supervisor Award” at the Innovate FPGA Design Contest held at BITS PILANI Hyderabad campus.