VETERINARY COLLEGE AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE, NAMAKKAL

Objectives

• To undertake teaching in the field of dairy science
• To conduct research on need based field and industry oriented problems
• To disseminate research findings to the dairy farmers, entrepreneurs and women self-help groups by conducting training programmes

Education

Under-Graduate

• LPT 311: Milk and Milk Products Technology (1+1)
• VPH 311: Milk and Meat Hygiene and Public Health (2+1)

Post-Graduate

• LPT 608: Market Milk Processing and Dairy Plant Operations (2+1)
• LPT 609: Quality Control of Milk and Milk Products (1+1)
• LPT 610: Technology of Milk Products (2+1)
• LPT 611: Biotechnology of Foods of Animal Origin (1+1)
• LPT 612: In-plant training (0+2)

Ph.D.

• LPT 804: Advances in Milk and Milk Products Technology (3+1)
• LPT 805: Advances in Quality Control of Livestock Products (2+0)
• LPT 806: Biotechnological Techniques and Processes in Animal Products (1+1)

Infrastructure

The department has a well furnished laboratory to carry out under graduate and post graduate practical and also to conduct training programmes. A dairy plant with all the state of the art machineries/equipment to impart hands on training to the students and also to the Self Help Group(SHG) members will be operational soon.

Achievements

Education

Students are being empowered with adequate knowledge of preparation of milk and milk products, their shelf-life, quality assurance, safety aspects, sanitation and hygiene of a dairy plant.

Research

• Investigated the status, characteristics and toxigenicity of pathogenic enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157: H7 in milk and milk products
• Analysed the spoilage of raw and pasteurized milk with special reference to Pseudomonas species
• Determined the yeast and mould contamination in dairy farm and dairy plant environment
• Studied the incidence of Bacillus species in milk and milk products
• Developed a synbiotic ice cream enriched with whey protein concentrate
• Evolved a synbiotic ice cream with probiotic bacteria-L. acidophilus and probiotic yeast- S. boulardii'.
  

Completed Projects

• Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology(TNCST) sponsored student project entitled "Development of Herbal Ice cream"
• National Agricultural Development Project(RKVY) sponsored scheme on "Value added dairy food manufacturing unit to maximize the returns from dairy farming" with a budget outlay of Rs.117.83 lakhs.
• Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) funded scheme entitled, "Establishment of a model dairy unit for processing of milk and preparation of value added dairy products"-funded by New Delhi with a financial outlay of Rs.99 lakhs.
  

Ongoing projects

• A revolving fund scheme on "Entrepreneurship development programme on preparation and sale of milk products"
• NAIP funded sub project -"A Milk Value Chain for the unorganised sector" - Dr.A.Elango, Professor and Head is one of the Co-Principal Investigators and Dr.G.Kumaresan, Associate Professor is one of the Associating Scientists.

Out-reach Programmes

This department is catering to the needs of the farmers and dairy entrepreneurs in mitigating the problems encountered during milk production and processing. In addition, a total of 177 training programmes have been organized for the benefit of members of Self Help Groups(SHG), farmers, entrepreneurs and also for selected beneficiaries under various state government schemes. As a part of the NADP scheme on "Value added dairy food manufacturing unit to maximize the returns from dairy farming", 15 training programmes have been conducted during 2012-13 and a cumulative of 720 persons have been trained on preparation of value added dairy products like khoa, peda, paneer, paneer bajji, paneer chilli, whey drink, ice cream, masala butter milk, gulabjamun mix and gulabjamun. A certificate course of 10 days duration on "Preparation of value added dairy products" was organised during January 2013 and a total of 9 persons were benefitted.

Current Focus

• Development of Iron fortified yoghurt
• Development of microencapsulated probiotic ice cream
• Development of beta glucan fortified functional dairy products
• Development of a tractor mounted mechanical fodder harvester cum chopper for effective harvesting of fodder
• Designing and fabrication of least cost chaff cutter to facilitate efficient utilization of fodder

Experiential Learning unit: Dairy Plant

Student are being imparted Hands-on-Training to prepare a business plan/entrepreneurship for production of dairy products in the area of specialized processing from procurement of raw material to processing including packaging and storage, conduct manufacturing, organize resources and utilities, sell the product, maintain accounts and documents, wind up production and submit the report of performance.

Faculty

• Dr. G.Kumaresan, Professor and Head
• Dr. C.Pandiyan, Professor
• Dr. N.Karthikeyan, Assistant Professor
• Dr. A.Poorani, Assistant Professor
• Dr. S.Banupriya, Assistant Professor