The Head Prof. S. Rajagopal, and Prof. Appa Rao Podile, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) have arranged an industrial tour to the students of M.Sc. Microbiology and Immunology. Prof. Santosh R. Kanade and Prof. Rahul Kumar accompanied the students to SriBio Aesthetics Pvt Ltd, Patancheruvu, Hyderabad on 13th April 2024. The purpose of the visit was to shed light on the workflow of the fermentation industry and demonstrate industrial processes theory taught to students in this course.
The focus of SriBio Aesthetics Pvt Ltd is in developing products for crop improvement and soil fertility through microbiome preservation. They manufacture different products such as microbial biostimulants, organic biostimulants, biofertilizers and micronutrients in liquid or powder formulations. The students explored their R&D and production units during their visit. The students were demonstrated the manufacturing of two products, namely MycoSignal, a microbial bio stimulant, and a biocontrol agent which utilises entomopathogenic nematodes to kill insects feeding on plants, as explained by the R&D team. The nematode Heterorhabditis indica is cultivated in a model organism Galleria mellonella (wax moth).
Altogether, this was a holistic and valuable learning experience for the students and insightful to some potential entrepreneurs among them who might start an agri-biotech startup for sustainable agriculture in the future.