The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), New Delhi,supported E-YUVA (Empowering Youth for Undertaking Value Added Innovative Translational Research) centre in association with the Biotech Council for Establishment of Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology (CoEB), section 8 company of TNAU, organized the Agri PitchFest 2.0, an innovation competition for the students of TNAU under the theme “join hands to innovate the future of food, agriculture & environment)on 3rd January 2025. The competition invited novel ideas under 12 themes related to agriculture, food and environment such as tools for alleviating carbon footprint in agriculture and livestock farming, soil and water conservation methods in agriculture, next generation functional foods, climate smart biofuels, bioremediation of water bodies and so on.
The event started with a formal inauguration. Dr. E. Kokiladevi, Professor and Head, Department of Plant Biotechnology, TNAU, welcomed everyone to the event. Dr. N. Senthil, Director, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, gave the opening remarks about the event. He highlighted the importance of securing the intellectual property in the current scenario and briefed about various incubation forums of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University which are operating at different locations to support the aspiring student entrepreneurs and startups. Dr. V. Balasubramani, Controller of Examinations of TNAU, in his chief guest address motivated the students to pursue their career in the path of entrepreneurship by citing the perks of being an entrepreneur. Dr. L. Arul, Professor and Head, Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics and Chief Coordinator of TNAU E-YUVA centre delivered formal vote of thanks.
For the Agri PitchFest 2.0 competition, 50 student teams from TNAU main campus, various constituent and affiliated colleges of TNAU submitted their ideas. A pre screening was conducted and thirteen best teams among them were invited to pitch their ideas in the final round. Finally, three best ideas among them were awarded cash prizes.
The team ‘waste to wealth’ from Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Coimbatore bagged the first prize for their idea, “Novel Designs – Dripper cum Sprinkler and Dripperfor Treated Wastewater”. A cash prize of rupees five thousand was awarded to them. The idea was under the theme soil and water conservation methods in agriculture and delt with treated waste water for irrigation purpose. The idea attempted to address two sustainability development goals (SDG) goals namely zero hunger (sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices) and clean water and sanitation (ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all). In the present-day scenario, where the fresh water availability is highly reduced, the team proposed to use optimally treated wastewater for irrigation purposes through drips. The team also proposed a novel design for dripper to overcome the problem of clogging.
The second prize of rupees three thousand was won by the team ‘trios tonic’ of Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore.The team pitched an ideaunder the theme climate smart biofuels for biodiesel production and carbon sequestration via liquid tree. The team proposed a novel concept of liquid tree which sequesters the carbon dioxide emitted from vehicles and uses it as a source for production of biofuel using algae.
The team ‘synergy’ from Agricultural College and Research Institute, Vazhavachanur, Thiruvannamalai secured the third prize of rupees two thousand for their idea probiotic plant based paneer from millets and coconut for improving gut health.Considering the unavailability of probiotic rich paneer and othergrowing concerns such as environment sustainability and animal welfare, the team synergy attempted to come up with probiotic rich plant based paneer.With their unique ingredients which are rich in protein,fibre andhealthy fats, they infuse the goodness of probiotics and offer them in ecofriendly packaging in customized forms.
Dr. P. Balasaubramaniam, Director, Natural Resource Management, TNAU, felicitated the winners of the competition.