UNS — Students of Diploma in Animal Husbandry Study Program, Vocational School (SV) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, is awarded Third Place in a National Scientific Writing Championship (LKTI) entitled “Innovation of Animal Science Competition VIII”, Sunday (27/6/2021). The outstanding students are Dwi Elmi Fitrianingrum and Fadilla Agustin, both students succeeded to be the only finalist from the Diploma Study level. The students won with an initiative to process Azolla plants into cattle feeds.
The winners of the championship organized by the Faculty of Agriculture (Fapet) Universitas Brawijaya (UB) Malang, are announced during the main event, which coincidence with the International Conference “Innovation of Animal Science.” The conference itself was attended by numerous regional and international participants, such as those from Thailand.
Dwi Elmi Fitrianingrum states that their team wishes to establish Azolla as an alternative source of protein, especially for the local cattle and poultry farm feed. “Currently protein is obtained from the Soybeanmeal that needs to be imported from other countries. To compete with the soybeanmeal, local material such as Azolla must be processed using proper technology to reduce cost,” explains Dwi in their official statement from the vokasi.uns.ac.id.
Additionally, the idea can be implemented using a mix of mechanical and enzymatic processing methods. This method aims to achieve high-quality protein and increasing the Azolla digestibility level significantly.
The Struggle to the Final Stage
To fight in the LKTI and reaching the final stage, Dwi admits that great effort and strong determination are needed. This was proven with their accomplishment to eliminate their competitors from Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Universitas Diponegoro (Undip) Semarang, UB, and Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU). To achieve this, at first they must compete against tens of scientific essays. After went through substantial selection and plagiarism checking, the top 20 essays submitted from agriculture students from all across Indonesia are determined as a finalist.
Fadilla Agustin, as the team member, reveals that their effort to compete in the championship is not easy. Both students must deliver a video presentation and direct presentation in front of the judges.
“This is our first experience. I still cannot believe that we won third place because we just went through several nerve-wracking assessment stages,” Fadilla said.
With their accomplished achievement, Dwi Elmi Fitrianingrum and Fadilla Agustin are both proud and happy. They hope with this LKTI they will be able to bring home many other Champion titles in future competitions.
“We will always learning and striving forward, and do not lulled by the current result,” Fadilla concluded. Humas UNS
Reporter: Yefta Christopherus AS
Editor: Dwi Hastuti