The Department of Livestock Products Technology came into existence in November, 2005 vide notification of the Registrar, AAU, Jorhat dated 7th November. 2005. The department was created by bifurcating the erstwhile Animal Production and Management Department. A separate full fledged building was allotted for the newly bifurcated Department of Livestock Products Technology. The new department has all facilities offering UG, PG courses along with modern laboratories state of the art slaughter house. Even prior to that, the department/discipline has been offering U.G. and P.G. courses related to meat, dairy, egg and poultry products technology.
At present,the LPT department offers 1 U.G. courses and 12 Masters and 6 Ph.D. courses related to the subject. It is worthwhile to mention that necessary input have been prepared, made available to the concerned authority and special efforts were made by the department soon after its creation and the AAU administration subsequently permitted the opening of M.V.Sc. and later on Ph.D. degree programmes within a year of its establishment. At present, there are 4 M.V.Sc students 5 Ph.D students on roll
The department of LPT is also presently working on a few externally funded research projects/schemes. Out of these, few projects have already been completed and another two are going on in the department.
The teachers/scientist of department further takes part in various extension and training programmes organized by the Directorate of Extension Education, AAU (Kh), time to time. In addition, some of the meat and dairy value-added products and by-products developed by this department were exhibited in State and national level exhibitions/trade fair. The department through the AICRP on PHET developed few machineries and mobile meat processing and marketing carts which are in the process of patenting.
| UG Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | LPT * | LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY | 3(2 + 1) | * courses are compulsory |
| Masters Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | LPT 601 * | FRESH MEAT TECHNOLOGY | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 2 | LPT 602 * | MEAT PROCESSING, PACKAGING, QUALITY CONTROL AND MARKETING | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 3 | LPT 603 * | POULTRY AND FISH PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | LPT 604 * | EGG AND EGG PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 5 | LPT 605 * | ABATTOIR AND POULTRY PROCESSING PLANT PRACTICES | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 6 | LPT 606 * | SLAUGHTER HOUSE BYPRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 7 | LPT 607 * | PROCESSING AND MARKETING OF WOOL | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 8 | LPT 608 * | MARKET MILK PROCESSING AND DAIRY PLANT PRACTICES | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 9 | LPT 609 * | QUALITY CONTROL OF MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 10 | LPT 610 * | TECHNOLOGY OF MILK PRODUCTS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 11 | LPT 611 * | BIOTECHNOLOGY OF FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 12 | LPT 612 | IN-PLANT TRAINING (Non Credit: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) | 2(0 + 2) | * courses are compulsory |
| PhD Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | LPT 701 * | ADVANCES IN ABATTOIR PRACTICES AND ANIMAL BYPRODUCTS UTILIZATION | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 2 | LPT 702 * | ADVANCES IN FRESH MEAT AND PROCESSED MEAT PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY | 4(3 + 1) | |
| 3 | LPT 703 * | ADVANCES IN POULTRY PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | LPT 704 * | ADVANCES IN MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY | 4(3 + 1) | |
| 5 | LPT 705 * | ADVANCES IN QUALITY CONTROL OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS | 2(2 + 0) | |
| 6 | LPT 706 * | BIOTECHNOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES AND PROCESSES IN ANIMAL PRODUCTS | 2(1 + 1) | * courses are compulsory |
Duck occupies the second place in the poultry industry, next to chicken in India. Contrary to this national scenario, the preference for duck meat and egg is much higher in the North Eastern Region (NER) of the country as reflected by the higher price of duck meat and egg than chicken. Unlike chicken, duck rearing is still limited to small scale backyard system by the rural farmers as a source of subsidiary income. Taking up commercial venture for duck production and marketing through value chain will boost up production of duck in large scale to meet the higher demand for meat and egg. Efficient processing technology, preservation methods and proper marketing will help entrepreneurship development and employment generation through duck industry. Although, total duck population is less than chicken and turkey populations in worldwide, Duck meat is one of most commercially expensive types of meat. The efforts to improve the quality and quantity of duck meat have been done in duck industrial system. Increase in availability of duck meat and processed products prepared with duck meat are evidence of a movement to large scale production of duck products (Hird et al, 2005). Both duck meat and eggs are highly acceptable in Assam, however, consumption pattern is very traditional and only fresh meat and eggs are consumed by and large and therefore, a value chain concept in processing of duck meat and egg products will be developed for profitable utilization of these products. Duck meat is highly appreciated as it combines the characteristics of a red meat (containing for example high levels of phospholipids, precursors of aromas) and the dietetic characteristics of poultry meat (containing for example high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, representing around 60% of total fatty acids). By combining genotype, age and nutrition it is possible to achieve modulation within a wide range of intramuscular lipid levels. The duck is therefore a good model to study the metabolic mechanisms responsible for these variations and their consequences on sensorial (particularly the determination of cooked meat flavour) and technological (particularly the storage ability of crude and processed meat) quality. Processing of duck meat occurs through different stages. In a nutshell, it starts with fertile eggs, healthy ducklings and then healthy grown ducks; followed by slaughtering, then defeathering, cutting/chopping, marketing and then consumption (Marel, 2015). There are wide varieties of processed meat products in the market; however, duck meat and egg products are very limited. Processed meat and egg products from duck can be prepared to fulfil the aspirations of consumers and also to increase the profit margin of producers and processors. Production of ground or emulsion type meat products like sausages, meat loaves, nuggets etc. may lead to efficient and effective utilization of tough meat of spent ducks. Addition of binders like cereals and pulses, vegetables and herbs to the meat emulsion, not only reduce the cost of production but also increase the nutritive values, protein and fiber content, palatability of the meat and egg products, may solve the odour problem and also enhances the shelf life of the products due to anti- oxidative activities of phyto-product.
