Name of the Head of Department: Dr. R. R. Gajera

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About the Department

The Department of Post Harvest Technology was established in April 2018. This department offers courses as Fundamentals of Food and Nutrition, Post-Harvest Management of Horticultural Crops, Processing of Horticultural Crops, Horticultural Work Experience and Rural Horticultural Work Experience. Fundamentals of Food and Nutrition course cover major topics as energy, carbohydrates, protein, lipid, minerals, vitamins and food additives. Post-Harvest Management of Horticultural Crops covers post-harvest management, structure, maturity indices, pre cooling, sorting and grading of fruits and vegetables, plantation crops, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants along with systems/methods of storage, packaging and transportation. In the course Processing of Horticultural Crops student learns about various preservation methods, food pipe line, losses, unit operations, methods of preparation of juices, squashes, syrups, cordials, fermented beverages, jam, jelly, marmalade, candies, crystallized fruits, pickles, chutneys, sauces etc. along with spoilage, quality control, government policy and food laws. Under the Horticultural Work Experience, students have to undergo for various aspects as market survey, procuring of raw materials, planning and preparation of products, calculation of costs, production and quality analysis at commercial scale, packaging, labeling and marketing. In the course, Rural Horticultural Work Experience, students have exposure of visits of various research stations, KVKs, campus of SAUs, progressive farmers’ field, horticultural based industries, Co-operatives, NGOs, etc.. The department has established PHT laboratories having necessary equipments to conduct various practical. Department is also involved in different research, extension and co-curriculum activities of the college and university.

Courses offered by department in Under Graduates programme (5th Dean’s committee)

On-going research schemes/projects (Collaboration with FPTBE College, AAU, Anand):

Projects completed (Collaboration with FPTBE College, AAU, Anand):

Major achievements of research:

Recommendations:

Development of value added product containing Green Wheat (Ponk) and Chickpea ola (Ponk)

     Name of the scientist: Dr. Gayatree Jadeja,  Dr. H.G. Bhatt (FQA), Er. Amee Ravani (FPT), 

                                         Mrs. Heena Chavda, Dr. R.R. Gajera

Recommendation 1:

A satisfactory green wheat ponk can be prepared by roasting wheat earhead in oven at 200˚C for 20 minutes followed by drying under shadow for 30 minutes. The ponk dully filled in food grade airtight plastic container will have safe storage life of about six months. The farmers, entrepreneurs and agro processing units interested in production of green wheat ponk are advised to use the technology developed by Anand Agricultural University.

Recommendation 2:

A satisfactory chickpea ponk can be prepared by roasting green chickpea pods in oven at 200˚C for 20 minutes followed by drying in oven at 100˚C for 1 hour. The chickpea ponk dully filled in food grade airtight plastic container will have safe storage life of about four months. The farmers, entrepreneurs and agro processing units interested in production of chickpea ponk are advised to use the technology developed by Anand Agricultural University. 

Recommendation 3:

A healthy value added Jadariyu can be prepared by using 35% wheat ponk flour, 15% chickpea ponk flour, 25% ghee, 20% sugar and 5% milk. The Jadariyu duly packed in food grade airtight plastic container will have safe storage life of about fifteen days. The farmers, entrepreneurs and agro processing units interested in production of Jadariyu are advised to use the technology developed by Anand Agricultural University.

Recommendation 4:

The farmers, entrepreneurs and agro processing units interested in production of satisfactory value added ponk khakhara are advised to use the technology developed by Anand Agricultural University.

a) Wheat ponk khakhara can be prepared by incorporating 70% wheat ponk flour with wheat flour. The product duly packed in aluminium foil will have safe storage life of about 75 days.

b) Chickpea ponk khakhara can be prepared by incorporating 35% chickpea ponk flour with wheat flour. The product duly packed in aluminium foil will have safe storage life of about 45 days.

1.  Production Technologies for Clarified Wood Apple Juice 

Name of the scientist:

Dr. Harsh Prakash Sharma, Dr. R.R. Gajera, Dr. D.C. Joshi  

Recommendation 1 (Thermally treated clarified wood apple juice) :

The entrepreneurs and food processors interested in production of thermally treated clarified juice from wood apple fruit are recommended to use the technology developed by Anand Agricultural University, Anand. This technology involves clarification using centrifugation and bentonite treatment with thermal processing of wood apple juice at 85oC temperature for 4 min for preservation. Clarified wood apple juice (Thermally treated) can be stored safely up to 135 and 165 days at ambient (30°±2°C) and refrigerated (7o±2oC) temperature, respectively.

Recommendation 2 (Non-thermally treated clarified wood apple juice) :

The entrepreneurs and food processors interested in production of non-thermally treated clarified juice from wood apple fruit are recommended to use the technology developed by Anand Agricultural University, Anand. This technology involves clarification using centrifugation and bentonite treatment with gamma irradiation processing of wood apple juice at 1 kGy dose for preservation. Clarified wood apple juice (Gamma irradiated) can be stored.

1. Development of whey based RTS beverage from muskmelon and lime (2018)

Name of Scientist(s): Dr. R.R.Gajera, Mr. A.M.Patel, Er. A.Ravani, Dr. D.C.Joshi

Recommendation:

The entrepreneurs interested in the production of dairy whey based ready to serve (RTS) beverage from muskmelon and lime are advised to adopt processing technology developed for the purpose by Anand Agricultural University. The technology involves formulation of ingredients and thermal processing of prepared beverage. The develop beverage can be stored safely for 3 months at the ambient condition. 

1. Development of Osmotically Dehydrated Whole Aonla Fruit (2016)

Name of Scientist(s): Er Amee Ravani Dr D C Joshi, Dr R R Gajera, Er Swati Anadani  and Er H Pandey

Recommendation:

The entrepreneurs and fruit processors interested in production of osmotically dehydrated whole Aonla are advised to use processing technology developed for the purpose by AAU,Anand. The technology involves ultrasonication, osmotic dehydration in sugar syrup (580 Brix) followed by hot air drying and results in good quality whole sweetened dehydrated Aonla. Final product packed in HDPE (200 gauge) bags can be stored at ambient storage condition (27±2°C, 65% RH) for six months.

Publications:

List of departmental publications

Extension activities:

Radio/Tv talk:

Department infrastructure and museum:

List of Equipment/Instrument/Machine in PHT Laboratories:

Future plans/thrust areas:

1. Emphasis on development in contemporary technologies which have vast scope for rapid improvement and progress in Post Harvest Technology.
2. Concentrating on large crop and material base processing, this is offering good potential for agro processing activities.
3. Research on to prepare newer process products from the horticultural crops having long self- life without adding chemical preservatives.