The present study was carried on Dahlem Red chicken breed to assess the effect of age on egg quality traits. Total 250 eggs were collected from birds at different age groups, i.e. 21, 28, 40, 52 and 64 weeks of age for studying the external and internal egg quality parameters. The external characters like egg weight, egg length and egg width were measured. Thereafter, the egg was broken and the internal traits like albumen length, height, width of albumen, yolk height, yolk width, shell thickness were recorded using standard procedure. The derived traits like shape index, albumen index, yolk index and Haugh unit, were estimated. Most of the egg quality traits differed significantly at different age of measurements. Egg weight increased as the age of bird advanced and egg weight varied from 39.35±0.69 at 21 week of age to 59.3±1.22 at 64 week of age. Analysis of variance revealed that shape index did not differ significantly with age. Length, width and height of albumen increased as the age of bird progressed. Albumin index was significantly higher at 21 and 40 weeks of age. Similarly, yolk height and width increased as the age of bird advanced. The differences for Haugh unit scores were non-significant among the different age groups and varied within a very narrow range (96.94–98.94) at different ages indicating uniform internal egg quality over the age. Significant differences in shell thickness were observed among different age groups. Correlation coefficient between egg weight with egg length, egg width, albumen length, albumen height and yolk width were positive. Albumen index and Haugh unit were negatively correlated with egg weight at 21, 52 and 64 week of age. The result indicate that the age of bird significantly affects the egg quality parameters.
Aim: The present study was conducted to assess the animal welfare measures for safe and wholesome meat production as well to understand different roles performed by delegated institutions in ensuring quality meat production. Materials and Methods: Semi-structured interview schedule was administered to 40 butchers and 40 veterinary officers of state department of animal husbandry, Himachal Pradesh. Result: It was found that open slaughtering was common (87.50%), animals did not have sufficient water provisions and often the lairage premises were devoid of adequate light thereby making ante-mortem and post mortem inspection difficult. Off feeding, offering potable water to animals before slaughtering was also less followed practice. Therefore, many a times the welfare of animals was not taken into consideration. Regular meat inspection was performed as an additional duty, by few (22.50%) veterinarians only. It was found that veterinarian's role was restricted to meat inspection only. The issue of license for slaughtering activities was the responsibility of district administration/municipal bodies. Conclusion: The study recommends appropriate legislations for greater role of veterinarians so as to promote quality meat hygienic practices thereby promoting animal and human welfare.
The present study compared the production performance of DR, Native, DN and DND crosses under intensive system of management. DN and DND crosses showed better growth and production performance compare to local Native parent birds. DND (75% DR inheritance) chicken performed better than DN cross (50% DR inheritance). The better performance of crosses indicated effective utilization and propagation under rural poultry farming system as low input technology birds. It is more beneficial to rear the crosses than local Native birds in Himachal Pradesh. Based on better performance of DND than DN, the former was recommended for development and propagation of Himsamridhi; location specific poultry variety. There is need for wider propagation of these birds in the state by development agencies. Future efforts are required for adaptability assessment of Himsamridhi birds in different agroclimatic region of the state under prevalent village poultry farming system. This will ascertain the suitability of developed cross at farmer’s level.
Tick infestation is a major problem affecting farm animals and the problem is acute in hilly regions. Livestock owners who owns small herd for their sustenance, food security find it difficult to seek alternative options. Demanding physical work and lack of interface with institutions hinders their imagination thereby any new measures of control. The collaborative work of National Innovation Foundation-India and Dr G C Negi, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Palampur Himachal Pradesh resulted in sharing a model of exchanging technical know-how from research station/University system to farm field. The study had noticed that rate of infestation at predilection site was 10.90±6.84 ( ±α) number of ticks. The data were analyzed statistically using paired ‗t' test. The calculated value of t0.05 for 20 d.f was 6.89 ( at 24 hour); 5.78 ( at 48 hour) intervals was more than ‗t' table value (t0.05, 20=2.08) confirming significant efficacy of indigenous medication. It was found that herbal medication had shown 75 percent efficacy over tick infestation upon second day of administration. These in-situ herbal preparations which can be prepared at farmers field needs to be diffused for benefit of livestock owners. Sustaining environment friendly technology is paramount and is more imminent in Hilly regions. The research work demonstrated importance of leveraging animal husbandry department for technology demonstrations.
Questions are raised in effective utilization of farmer’s wisdom by communities in their farming. Planners support to livelihood emphasize mostly of inputs from outside and not setting up sustainable goals. Formal institutions and planners of program are finding constraints and sceptical in wider dissemination of indigenous knowledge research system (IKRS). This is in spite of evidence that considerable number of farmer’s in livestock sector depends on IKRS. In this context, it is pertinent to showcase dissemination potential of these knowledge system(s) in larger geographical areas. The review illustrates different challenges encountered while control of livestock ailments like ectoparasite infestation through IKRS. Several times, it was opinioned to provide or share IKRS to thwart ailments in a specific region. This is interesting as it was narrated how formal system is unable to recognize farmer’s problem and challenges in integrating these sustainable practices. It has to be noted that disseminating activities seldom takes into account the experimental potential of farmers. This review paper articulates various evidences generated in enhancing diffusion thereby dissemination of IKRS. The nature of support extended by IKRS in entrepreneurial activity of smallholder farming units did not get adequate recognition. There needs to be minimum standard protocol in deriving benefit from such low-cost alternative technologies. This will enrich incremental innovation activities as per location specific need and provide scope for wider dissemination.
The opportunities of information access to livestock owners especially from institutional sources are minimal under Indian context. Social media tools such as WhatsApp have remarkable ability to reduce the transaction cost as well as increase the coverage of extension services. WhatsApp, a hugely popular medium of information exchange can be a cost-effective tool to improve livestock advisory services since skilful use of WhatsApp can overcome limitations of time and geographical barriers faced by these services. The current study explored and experimented with the possibility of using WhatsApp in livestock advisory work. Under the experimental study, WhatsApp emerged as a most preferred choice of referring to a diverse set of livestock-related information. Furthermore, advice through WhatsApp helped farmers in seeking the timely interventions and information support from other relevant sources. Hence, state development departments must promote its use through suitable models among which one discussed in this paper to enhance the scope and coverage of livestock advisory services.
| Worldwide stakeholders have acknowledged the role of Indigenous Knowledge Research System (IKRS) as cost effective, readily accessible and sustainable solution. Several studies reflect documentation and assessment of indigenous veterinary practices. However, limited research studies have been conducted to demonstrate suitable model for integrating IKRS with livestock health intervention system. This exploratory research study explains utilization of IKRS in Gujarat and Manipur state of India. The study revealed that farmers were keen to embrace IKRS due to availability of practices, failure of conventional medications against certain ailments. Farmers were found to be aware of medicinal properties of plants, and acclaimed knowledge holders in usage of IKRS in their regions. These indigenous technologies or practices were location specific and innovative. The findings reiterated that State Department of Animal Husbandry (SDAH) alone cannot provide quality livestock health care. The support of SDAH, dairy societies and university research system is paramount for conservation and wider diffusion. Advancement of systemic response to indigenous healers can enable them to organize and acknowledge each other's effort through co-operative spirit. These frugal innovations can complement existing health care system and enhance livestock welfare, if only natural resources are conserved. Willingness, abilities of knowledge holders, farmers being part of research system, their experimental learning and knowledge of medicinal plants have to be reflected while designing disease control programs. Non-monetary incentives and diverse ways of engagement with knowledge holders are pre-requisite for sustaining, scaling knowledge systems. A suitable framework is shared for invigorating IKRS through utilizing, conserving natural resources with the help of existing formal and informal veterinary institutions. Keywords | Biodiversity, Frugal innovation, Integration, Indigenous knowledge, Livestock RavikumaR
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