The Hindu              08.08.2013

Protein formulation from bio-waste

Driven by a passion to make a difference in his own small way, agriculture professional R. Suresh Kumar’s favourite pastime of tinkering with test tubes and bio-waste material in his tiny lab at Haritham Horti & Agri Clinics in Vijayawada city led to a significant breakthrough in keratin extraction.

In his clinic, Mr. Kumar developed a technology for extraction of keratin protein from human hair and bird feathers, which could save the municipal authorities from problems of disposal of such waste that poses a huge environmental problem. He has now embarked on a mission to popularise this affordable technology.

A protein formulation developed for farm sector using these two as raw material has given striking result in improving plant metabolism and the farm yield. The product has been in use since 2008 on all crops and cultivators are happily repeating its use in their farms. “The foliar sprayed on crops showed an increase in leaf size and thickness besides lending the leaf a glossy touch. There is more number of auxiliary buds resulting in additional side branches. Even the size of the flowers is comparatively large. The presence of cystein amino acid, the main supplier of organic sulphur, has enhanced the quality of the produce,” says V. Venkata Rao, former SBI chief manager, Sathenapalli branch in Guntur district, who is into organic farming now. Mr. Suresh Kumar’s find has been successfully tried on cotton, chillies and paddy crops.