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.