Department of Agricultural Process Engineering

Name of Professor & Head

:

Dr. A. K Varshney

Qualification

:

Ph.D.

Specialization

:

Agricultural Process & Food Engineering

Contact Us

:

Telephone Number With STD Code

Office

0285-2671018

Mobile

NIL

Residence

0285-2673378

Fax

0285-2671018

PABX

0285-2672080 to 89

Ext.

392

E.Mail

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Faculty Information

Sr. No.

Name & Designation

Qualification

Specialized subject

1

Prof D. M. Vyas

Associate Professor

M. Tech

Agri. Process & Food Engg

2

Er. S. P. Cholera

Assistant Prof.

M. Tech

Agri. Process & Food Engg

3

Er. A. L. Vadher

Assistant Professor
(Against Post)

M. Tech

Farm Power & Machinery

4

Er. M. N. Dabhi

Technical Asstt.

M. Tech

Agri. Process & Food Engg

5

Er. V. K. Chndegra

Technical Asst.

M. Tech

Agri. Process & Food Engg

6

Dr K. K. Jain

Research Engg.

Ph. D.

Agri. Process & Food Engg

7

Prof V. M. Bhatt

Asst. Biochemist

M. Sc.

Biochemistry

8

Prof. R. D. Dhulashia

Asst. Entomologist

M. Sc.

Entomology

9

Er. J. N. Nandasana

Asst. Res. Engineer

M. Tech

Agri. Process & Food Engg

10

Er. B. B. Limbasiya

Asst. Res. Engineer

M. Tech

Soil & water Engg.

FACILITIES OF FARM / LAB

The department has eight well-maintained laboratory and one computer room, seminar hall, PHTS fabrication workshop and exhibition room for UG and PG practical.

Name of laboratory :

:

Engineering Properties

:

Oil Technology Laboratory

:

Agricultural Process Engineering

:

Storage Engineering

:

Fruits and Vegetable Process Engineering

:

Biochemical Engineering

:

Electrical, Electronics and Instrumentation lab.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENTS

Major Achievements of the Department

Feed Block Making Machine

A feed block-making machine for preparing 4 –5 blocks per hour was developed by the Post Harvest Technology, Junagadh center for wafering of groundnut haulms/vines (1.75 kg) and wheat straw (1.75 kg) by mixing of molasses (0.7 kg), common salt (0.15 kg), defatted groundnut cake (0.5 kg) and urea (0.15 kg) for animal feed The bulk density of the feed block was increased 33 per cent, which indicated large reduction in the requirement of space for transportation and storage. On dry basis, the feed block contains 19.4 % crude protein, 76.2 crude fiber, 36.3 % nitrogen free extract and having 8 % moisture content and other trace elements. The feed blocks were found acceptable by the cattle.

Solar Dryer cum Green House

Groundnut, a major crop in Gujarat, after harvesting is left in the field for 7-14 days for drying. The crop during field drying is subjected to losses due to change in weather, animals, birds and insects. Looking to the need, a farm level dryer having a batch capacity of 200 kg or 2.475 m3 with 600 mm bed thickness was developed by the Post Harvest Technology, Junagadh Center to prevent fungal contamination, uniform and timely drying of crops to safe moisture level.This dryer reduces moisture content from 65 to 17 % within four days instead of 6-8 days as required in traditional method. It also gives 95 % germination of seeds as compared to traditional method (84 %).

Development of Model Agro-Processing Centre

The Agro - Processing Centre at Village - Fareni (District Rajkot, Gujarat) was established in 1996 with the objective to promote the improved processing equipments and technologies among the farmers to reduce post harvest losses and to provide processing facilities at rural threshold to generate employment and strengthen rural based economy.The second Agro Process Centre at Village - Tadka Pipaliya, Taluka Bhesan, District, Junagadh is also being functioning on the similar line.The Honourable Vice- Chancellor, Director of Campus, Director of Research, Deputy Director of Extension and Members of Board of Management, Gujarat Agricultural University, Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology and many other has visited the Agro-Processing Centre. They all have appreciated the working of Agro-Processing Centre.

Standardization of Pre-treatment for Coriander Dhal Milling

Gujarat state is one of the largest producers of spices in the country accounting for over 50 % of all India production. Coriander is one of the foreign exchange earning crops of minor spices. Thus it plays a vital role in the economy of the farmers of Gujarat. Coriander dhal is widely used in Gujarat as carminative. The dhal mills located in Gujarat state produces about 25000 tonnes coriander dhal annually. So, the research work was carried out and the following recommendations for the users / millers were suggested.

1. Dry coriander dhal in sun by taking 100 mm bed thickness for
    lower moisture content i.e. 31 % and 50 mm for higher moisture
    content i.e., 50 % to get better quality product.
2. Use cylindrical or concave de-husker rather than hammer type to
    get better quality product.
3. To get better shelling efficiency and Minimum broken % and low
    power     consumption the coriander should be treated in hot water
    at 40 ºC followed     by cold water at room temperature for 8
    hours of soaking.

Status of Agro - Processing Industries in Gujarat

The major goal of agro processing is loss prevention and value addition. At every stage of processing, value is added to the products. Estimated value addition to the food material through conventional primary and secondary/tertiary processing are 75 % and 25 % respectively. However, with the changing habits of the people and therefore acceptance to the better quality product it can be many folds as seen by the value addition in case of groundnut, maize, potato chips, preparations from fruits and vegetables and cereal snacks etc.Gujarat is one have the highly progressive and development conscious state in the country. The agricultural and industrial developments of the state is taking place at a rapid rate due to the policies of the Gujarat Government and progressive and enterprising nature of the people of the state. There are about 2755 licensed agro processing industries in Gujarat. The major industries are cereal based and oilseed based and they occupy first two places having 796 and 510 in number followed by ice cream and other edible ice (453). The other industries are pulses (164). Tobacco extracts and essence (162), bakery products (156), fruits and vegetable (149), edible mixtures and preparations of animal and vegetable oil (114) and sugar (96) and rest are grain, cattle feed and wafers.

Studies on Increasing the Shelf Life of Kesar Mango during Storage

Kesar mango is mainly grown in Junagadh district. It has very good export potential if its shelf life could be increased up to 30 days after maturity and followed by good ripening. The mature and healthy mango was vacuum packed in 100-gauge polyethylene bag and 700 mm Hg. The fruits were stored at 13 ºC and 90 to 95 % RH. The results revealed that the weight loss, TSS, reducing sugar and total sugar increases with storage period, while firmness, ascorbic acid and titrable acidity decreases. Even in organoleptic evaluation the better performance was observed for the vacuum packed mangoes. The cost of packaging for 1 kg of mango comes to be Rs. 2.86.It may be concluded that in 100-gauge polyethylene bag and 700 mm Hg vacuum level with 13 ºC and 90 to 95 % RH storage condition, mango can retain its maturity up to 32 days.

Studies on Rice Moth (Corcyra cephalonica Stainton) in Stored Groundnut

Studies on relative susceptibility and extent of losses in different improved varieties of groundnut against rice moth (Corcyra cephalonica) during storage were carried out by taking six different improved varieties of groundnut Viz., GG-2, GG-5, GG-11, GG-13, GG-20 and TG-26. The results revealed that on the basis of apparent and real weight loss and population build up in 6 groundnut varieties, the variety GG-20 was found highly susceptible to the Corcyra cephalonica and GG-5 was less susceptible as compared to other varieties.Studies were also carried out to assess the extent of damage caused by corcyra cephalonica at different mechanical injury levels of groundnut i.e., injured pods and injured pods of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 percent levels for GG-2 variety of groundnut. The results revealed that with the increase of mechanical injury levels from o to 14 % there is an increase in weight loss, percent pod damage, and population built up of the insect.

Testing of Insect Removal Bin Developed at TNAU for Groundnut Bruchid

The wandering behaviour of insects, their tendency to move towards well aerated region and also to enter cracks and crevices are being exploited in the bin developed by TNAU. The bin consists of outer container, inner perforated container with five perforated rods, pit fall portion, insect collection device and grain outlet. The whole bin is mounted on a stand.
The insect’s viz., Bruchid (Caryedon serratus Fab.), Rust red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum Hb.) and Corcyra (Corcyra cephalonic stainton) were removed from the improved bin during the experimental period. The improved bin was found effective for removing the insects. However, the percent pod damage of groundnut was observed more in improved bin and galvanized bin over gunny bag during 5 months storage period. The percent pod damage by rust red flour beetle and Corcyra were recorded higher in galvanized bin and improved bin as compared to gunny bag.Thus, the improved bin was found useful in removing the insect but at the same time it resulted more damage to groundnut pods. Which may be due to more favourable mating condition for Bruchid (Caryedon serratus Fab.). Similar results have also been recorded during year 1999. Thus it may be concluded that the improved bin can be used for survey work only.

Effect of Different Drying Methods on Seed Quality of Groundnut

After harvesting the groundnut pods of GG-20 variety (summer) was brought from the college farm. The pods from 42 to 43 percent (w.b.) moisture content were dried to 6 to 7 percent moisture content by different methods such as shade drying, unheated air and heated air-drying. The dried pods were packed in 5 kg capacity jute bag. The bags were stored in the ventilated room under ambient condition. The heated air, unheated air and shade drying were taking five, six and ten days respectively to dry the groundnut pods to reach equilibrium moisture content.In all the treatments the pods weight was increasing with the storage. The highest germination was observed in unheated drying (89.60 %) followed by shade (87.67 %) and heated (83.66 %). The germination count during the entire storage period of seven months was observed promising under the treatment unheated and shade drying. During same period of storage, vigour index in case of unheated drying (545.58) was observed maximum followed by shade (517.30) and heated air-drying (437.66). The percent infestation varies from 5 to 10 %. Considering both quality and drying characteristics unheated air-Considering both quality and drying characteristics, the unheated drying followed by shade drying was observed best amongst all the three treatments.

Design and Development of a Cleaner-cum-Grader for Cumin

For cleaning and grading of the cumin seeds, vibrating double screens type machine was designed and fabricated. The main components of the machine are: feed hopper, sieve box, blower, power transmission unit and frame. The project is continued. The maximum cleaning efficiencies was found at 50 kg/hr feed rate, 150 rpm and 7-degree screen slope. The cost of the grader is Rs. 15000/- and cleaning cost is Rs. 0.31/kg.

Storage and Processing of Custard apple

Vacuum packaging found to be very effective method to increase the shelf life of Mango (PHTS, Junagadh) and & Banana (PHTS, Bangalore). Looking to the success of vacuum packaging in case of above fruits, the same technology was tried with Custard apple. The fruits were packed into polyethylene bags of two different thickness i.e. 100 & 150 gauge, stored at two different temperature i.e. 10± 2º C and Room Temperature (32 ± 5º C). The vacuum inside the bags was kept 760 mm Hg.
The results revealed that fruits stored at room temperature without vacuum were ripened within three days, whereas vacuum-packed fruits also ripened within three days with undesirable appearance and aroma of fruits. Fungi also attacked fruits. Fruits stored at low temperature (10±2ºC) showed chilling injury. Peel turned into black colour and whole fruit became very hard and pulp became fibrous and dried. The fruits could not be ripened and were not suitable for consumption. These features were observed after 2 to 3 days of storage.

Integrated Pest Management in Coriander

Survey work was carried out on farmers, processors and traders level of Unjha and Jagudan area of Mehsana district. Required information and samples were collected and analysed in the laboratory to get concrete results of survey. During the survey work it was observed that very few farmers are growing coriander for seed purpose and they are storing coriander in gunny bag. No major pest problems were reported. Generally the storage of coriander at processor and traders level is carried out in gunny bags. During the analysis of samples, it was found that more than one year stored samples were infested with about 14 % by cigarette beetle Lasioderma serricorne.

Preparation of Value Added Products from Groundnut

nstead of fetching oil from groundnut if milk or other value added products like roasted, salted, coated and spicy nut, groundnut flour etc. is prepared, more remunerative prices of produce can be obtained. Moreover, groundnut milk can be further processed in the preparation of butter, cheese, curd, yogurt, etc. The shell received after decortications can be converted into briquettes or into rough board or paper. These products/ by-products give better prices than the conventional products. The review on the preparation of value added products is in progress.

Studies on Extraction of Essential Oil from Cumin Seeds

The spices are primarily used in food industry for improving the quality of products, mostly after grinding into a powder. The disadvantage of the use of spice powders is quality variation from batch to batch. This problem can, however, be greatly minimized by using the extractives like essential oils which are obtained directly from the raw material by water distillation as the solvents create problem of removal of solvent. During 1995-96, India exported oil from cumin to the tune of 0.6 tones worth Rs. 12 lakh.The extraction of essential oil from cumin by the method of distillation should be carried out with ground cumin having particle size of -35+48 mesh and 2.31 h of distillation time so as to get higher recovery and good quality of oil from cumin.

Development of Agricultural Waste Fired Dryer for Drying of Red Chillies

The drying of red chilies is one of the major processing operations, which prevent it from the attack of insects, pests, and promotes longer storage life. The disadvantages of traditional chilly drying method, i.e., sun drying, can be eliminated by using the developed agricultural waste fired dryer having drying capacity of 100 kg fresh red chillies. The performance of the dryer was evaluated by taking different bed thicknesses and different airflow rates. The temperature of drying was 53 ± 2 °C for the purpose of drying all the trays at a time. The total drying time was 20 to 22 hours as compared to sun drying method, which takes about 15 days to complete drying of the red chillies. To get optimum colour of chillies 10 cm bed thickness may be recommended while using a waste fired dryer. The use of agricultural waste fired dryer was found highly economical.

Studies of Dehydration of Onion

As onion is a perishable crop, it cannot be stored in normal condition for a long time. Presently, about 40 % of the total onion production is estimated lost as the part of post harvest losses during various operations. Dehydration plants are facing problems regarding quality and rehydration characteristics of final product and takes about 5-6 hours time for a batch of 100 kg.It is recommended that the dehydration of Talaja local white cultivars of onion should be carried at 76 °C drying temperature and 27 m/min velocity of air, keeping 3 mm thickness of slice to get the good quality of dehydrated flakes with minimum drying time i.e., 58 min and the bacterial counts of the final product falling in the range of acceptable limit of international standard.

Biotechnology based Process Development for Pigeon Pea Milling

The biotechnology based enzyme solution soaking treatment having 1000 ml soaking volume, 0.05 g enzyme concentration for 2 kg pigeon pea with 7 h soaking time was found the most effective considering the shape of dhal (quality of finished product). The amount of husk removed was to the tune of 76.24 %. Hence, the enzyme solution soaking treatment having above parameters recommended as an effective pre-treatment for loosening of the seed coat of pigeon pea grains. When increase the soaking volume, the recovery of husk increases more than 98 %. A laboratory scale-dehusking machine was fabricated in the Department of Agricultural Process Engineering. The pre-treatment like, soaking in different solutions, hydrothermal treatments, enzymatic treatments as well as the oil treatments were also carried out. The output of the dehusking machine, i.e. dehusked grains, husk and powder were collected and separated for the analysis of husk removal. The cooking time and protein content were measured for the dhal obtained after various pre-treatment. There is a tremendous chance for complete elimination of presently followed treatments by use of biotechnology based cheap and bio friendly enzymatic treatments.

Design and Development of On Farm Sapota GraderA manually operated on-farm sapota grader based on flapper conveying system was designed and developed to satisfy the need of marginal and big farmers, cooperatives societies dealing with fruit marketing and fruit traders.The grader was capable to grade the fruits according to size in three categories as (i) up to 40 mm (ii) 40 to 60 mm and (iii) above 60 mm. The total grading space available was varying from 2 to 8 cm. The grader could be operated by two labours and it cost about Rs 12,000/- at the prevailing rate. The overall grading efficiency found maximum at 14 rpm, which was about 90 % without any damage to fruits. The grading capacity at maximum overall efficiency was 873.10 kg/h.The grading cost for grading 100 kg of sapota fruits by the developed grader was about Rs. 3.60 as compared to Rs. 8.30 by manual grading giving net savings of about Rs 4.70 or 56.63 %.

Studies on Peanut Blended Extruded Products

Extrusion technology is used world wide for the production and modification/improvement of quality of various products. It has been used to produce a wide variety food including snacks, ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals, confectioneries, texturized, extruded crisp breads, and pet food products. Snacks account for 15 % of the total caloric intake of children and adolescents, according to a USDA survey. Overall, the consumption of snacks continues to increase. Thus, enhancing the nutritional value of snack foods may have a positive impact on the overall nutritional quality of the diet of the general public. Partially defatted peanut flour (PDPF) is a good source of supplementary protein for the human diet.The PDPF was mixed with wheat, maida, rice and chickpea in different proportion and extruded products was developed by hand operated extruder machine.Based on the results of all the properties studied and sensory evaluation of extruded products, the maida-extruded products were best-extruded products followed by rice, chickpea and wheat. The optimum extrusion condition for the preparation of extruded products from wheat, maida, rice and chickpea should be 25 % PDPF and 120º C steam temperature for steaming the prepared dough.

Gel Extraction from Aloe vera Leaves

Development of Technology for Production of Peanut Butter from Saurashtra Cultivars

With the growing awareness among people about the importance of balanced diet as well as figure consciousness, the demand of low calorie-high protein foods is increasing, as people tend to avoid consumption of high-fat foods that cause obesity and associated health problems. Peanut butter is the food prepared by grinding shelled and roasted peanuts to which salt and sweetening agents are added. In India, however, this product is available commercially only in the metropolitan cities. In times to come the demand of peanut butter in India is likely to grow owing to its nutritional virtues. Therefore, it was of interest to optimise the important process parameters and develop the appropriate process technology for production of peanut butter from Saurashtra cultivars of peanut.
Following conclusions were derived from the study.

Studies on physico-chemical and rheological changes during ripening of custard apple

Custard apple is considered as one of the delicious fruits, contains protein, fiber, minerals, vitamins, energy and little fat. The shelf life of custard is very short and consumed within 4-5 days after harvesting. It becomes soft at maturity and sometimes burst at even slightly high maturity. To keep pace with increasing demand, fresh fruit must be handled, graded, stored and processed efficiently with minimum damage.From the study, it was found that all the dimensions were proportionately reduced with days of ripening, where as sphericity was unchanged. The weight loss, fruit density, bulk density and coefficient of friction was decreased during ripening. The lowest coefficient of friction was observed for cardboard surface. The percent peel content was decreased, where as per cent pulp and seed content was increased during the period of ripening. The moisture content of pulp was found increasing, while peel’s moisture content was decreasing with ripening.The effect of ripening on rupture force, deformation, firmness, rupture energy and compliance under compression was found significant and was decreasing with ripening except compliance. The results obtained under puncture and cutting were more or less in line with those under compression.The gumminess and cohesiveness was found decreasing, where as no specific trend was observed in case of springiness and resilience during the period of ripening. The starch content was found decreasing, where as TSS, reducing sugar and total sugar was increasing with the days of ripening.The different mathematical models were developed to predict the behavior of the physical, biochemical and rheological parameters with the days of ripening.

Studies on Forced Air Ventilated Storage of Onion

Onion (Allium Cepa L.) is the important spice vegetable crop, grown almost all over the country, which is seasonal in production, but required round the year. Onion bulbs, throughout the country, are stored by conventional methods. There are different types of storage structures used in different parts of the country. They lack proper ventilation system and therefore, the need to keep the onions dry and cool during storage is not achieved. This necessitated a forced ventilated storage of onion for reducing the losses during storage along with keeping its quality.The forced air ventilation system for the existing storage structure was designed considering the quantity of onion to be stored, requirement of air and its distribution system. Storage life of Talaja Red onion could be increased by more than three month under forced ventilated storage. The weight loss could be reduced from 23.74 under natural ventilated storage to 10.24 per cent under forced ventilated storage. Pungency was higher in onion kept under forced ventilated storage. The total sugar content was higher and the reducing sugar content was less under forced ventilated storage. The storage disease at top was higher due to direct effect of atmosphere on the onion. The extent of storage disease was less at bottom and middle layers under forced ventilated storage. Moreover, the stored onion could get higher prices thereby giving 25-30 % more profit.

Research and Development Projects Ongoing

> AICRP on Post Harvest Technology Scheme

> Research on Post Harvest Technology of Important Crops of Saurashtra

Other achievements

Books/bulletin published

Future plans/ thrust areas