Reproductive problems among dairy animals are one of the major causes of loss in dairy sector. These problems can be tackled by imparting appropriate knowledge to the livestock owners. An attempt was made to measure the knowledge of livestock owners by developing a knowledge test on reproductive problems of dairy animals. The study was undertaken in Karnal district of Haryana state, India. Data were solicited from 300 livestock farmers who had at least one milch animal at the time of investigation. In addition to developing schedules for socio-economic variables, a knowledge test was also developed for measuring knowledge construct. Data were solicited on scientific treatment of affected dairy animals and 59.54% knowledge was observed on reproductive traits. Study indicates that majority of livestock farmers adopted scientific methods for treating their animals. Respondents' age, extension contact and milk production were positively and significantly correlated with knowledge. Therefore, imparting quality practical training and periodical assessment of performance of lay inseminators for improving their skills and knowledge regarding estrus detection and insemination needs to be emphasized. Extension machinery has to be an ideal bridge between research/development institutions and dairy farmers for their catalytic effect (Meena & Malik, 2009). Extensive awareness programs are needed for inculcating scientific outlook among livestock farmers on these complex problems. Easy accessibility of veterinary hospital at village level can reduce the adoption of indigenous technical knowledge in treatment of these complex problems.

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Ankit Magotra

varietiesftTC used toTbree commercial Indian wheat 'Sonalika', 'Kalyansona' and 'Jaiak' develop bomogeneous and heterogeneous lines for leaf rust resistance, utilizing diverse sources of resistance from fourteen donors. Four kinds of multilines -ft-ere developed to study coefficients of infection, areas under disease progress cun'es (AUDPC), rates of spread and grain yields over their component means.Heterogeneous populations showed minimum coefficients of infection at initial as well as final stages, whicb w-ere less than or equal to tbe resistant component even in dirty multilines carry-mg up to 50 % susceptible populations. Large reductions m coefficients of infection and in AUDPC were also observed. Rate of spread was independent of coefficient of infection and AUDPC, Grain yield advantage over both component means and recurrent parents -B'as higher in clean multilities. Tbe significance of the use of multilines in limiting losses due to disease is discussed.

Crossbreeding effects for wool quality traits viz. greasy fleece weight (kg), staple length (cm), average fibre diameter (µ) and medulation percentage were estimated using the Dickerson's and Kinghorn's models. The data analyzed involved 15 genetic groups including Nali purebred, F 1 's of two and three breeds, F 2 's and reciprocal crossbred obtained from the crossing of Nali (N), Merino (M) and Corriedale (C) breeds during 1980-96. Nali and Corriedale breeds had non-significant negative additive genetic effects (Dickerson's model) on greasy fleece weight, while effects of Corriedale were negative for staple length only from both models. In general additive genetic effects of all three breeds were non-significant for all the wool traits except medulation percentage. Non significant heterotic and recombination effects (epistatic loss) were estimated from both models. However, the estimates of crossbreeding effects varied between the models both in magnitude as well as in direction barring few exceptions. Undesirable positive heterosis was found on medulation percentage for all types of combinations involving three breeds. Comparison of least squares means of various genetic groups revealed that both two breed and three breed crosses were superior to the Nali breed for all wool quality traits. Fibre diameter of MN crossbreds was significantly less than CN crossbreds. Results also indicated that as the inheritance of Nali breed in a cross is decreased, the medulation percentage decreases which is desirable. Inter se mating of crossbreds (two breed, three breed) has not resulted in a decline in the wool quality traits. These results indicate that the synthetic population derived from three breeds can be stabilized easily for wool traits as there may not be epistatic loss on subsequent inter se mating of crossbreds.