Dr. Simarjeet Kaur, Assistant Animal Geneticist of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University presented a paper entitled “Livestock and Poultry- Futuristic Energy Alternative for Rural India”. It was authored by Simarjeet Kaur, S.S. Sooch and R.S. Grewal in the technical session at the
international symposium on “Sustainable Management of Animal Genetic Resources for Livelihood Security in Developing Countries”. Symposium was organized by the Society for Conservation of Domestic Animal Biodiversity (SOCDAB) and Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) at Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She was bestowed with “Best Oral Presentation Award” for the paper along with cash prize. She was also honored with executive membership of the society SOCDAB during its general body meeting held thereafter.>
The main theme of the paper presented was to make aware the farmers/rural folks about the proper management of cattle dung and poultry droppings which is best utilized for the production of biogas and slurry (manure). Biogas is an excellent alternative source of energy easily made available in the rural areas especially with the livestock owners. Biogas in addition to its main use as fuel can also be put to other multiple uses like power generation. Its byproduct in the form of slurry is a better source of fertilizer which is devoid of any weed seeds. To demonstrate the actual practices to the farmers, GADVASU has installed a biogas plant of capacity 2x90 cu meter. The methane produced by fermentation is used for electricity production. The diesel engine of the generator set has been modified to run on biogas.The power thus generated caters to the needs of Dairy Research Farm for chaffing of green fodder, feed mixing, machine milking of the animals, cooling of milk and to operate fans, coolers and foggers installed in the animal sheds. The slurry obtained from the biogas plant is being used as manure which is distributed through specially built channels to nearby crop production fields. In the far flung fields the slurry is spread through tractor operated vacuum tank. The farmers visiting the dairy farm will be motivated to adopt this practice at appropriate levels at their own farms.
