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| One of the representatives from UMM at PIMNAS 2022. (Photo: Istimewah) |
The National Student Science Week (PIMNAS) has been held from 30 November to 3 December. As the host of PIMNAS 2022, the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) sent four team delegations to compete in this national competition. The four teams competed in two different fields, namely the Student Creativity Program (PKM) Cipta Karya (KC), and Research (RE).
One of the delegates from the UMM team, Delsi Anjarwati, explained that at this PIMNAS, her team was conducting research on the benefits of coconut pulp flour and avocado seeds to reduce the glycemic index on white bread. This is done to create alternative food for people with diabetes in Indonesia. Especially with the relatively high number of diabetics.
"The background of this research stems from diabetes. In the world, this disease is ranked first as the highest contributor to mortality. Meanwhile in Indonesia, this disease infected 25.71 million people per year in 2021 with a prevalence rate of 9.3%. With so many sufferers of this disease, our team is trying to find substitute foodstuffs with a low glycemic index that are friendly for diabetics," said the student majoring in Food Technology.
Furthermore, Delsi said that after conducting research, they concluded that mixing coconut flour and avocado seeds on bread can lower the glycemic index by as much as 56.67% compared to plain white bread. This can happen because both ingredients are high in fiber, which automatically reduces the glycemic index.
"Regarding the selection of our research to advance in PIMNAS 2022, we have been optimistic from the start. Only yesterday we were constrained by insignificant data from sources. So we had to retest to get better results. The hope is that this research and product will not only stop at PIMNAS but can be downstream to the wider community. Especially for people with diabetes," said the student who was born in NTB.
On the other hand, one of the UMM representative teams, Muhammad Iqbaludin Zaky, admitted that he was surprised that his team could qualify to represent UMM at PIMNAS 2022. At this PIMNAS event, he and his team made a tool called MONIKEL. The Internet of Things (IoT) concept tool functions to monitor soil moisture using a telegram chatbot that will help shallot farmers. Aside from being a soil moisture monitor, this tool also functions as an automatic plant sprinkler.
"The progress itself from the funding stage to PIMNAS is quite significant. At the funding stage, the prototype we made is still very raw. But at PIMNAS the prototype is mature, both in terms of telegram features and tools," said the Informatics student.
Regarding preparations for PIMNAS 2022, the second child of three siblings explained that apart from preparing prototypes, he and his team also had to prepare mentally and hone time discipline. The hope is that not only can it monitor soil moisture and regulate water in the field, but this tool can also be developed further as a pesticide sprinkler in the future.
“Preparation is very important, especially time discipline. This is important because from there we can know how our team is performing. If the small things are underestimated, then the final result will not be optimal," he concluded. (cdr/zak/wil)
