Loading...
Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Wayanad
Browse
9 results
Search Results
ThesisItem Open Access CONSERVATION OF WILDLIFE THROUGH PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN -WILDLIFE CONFLICT IN THE EASTERN PALAKKAD FOREST AREAS OF KERALA(COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES POOKODE, WAYANAD, 2019) VINOTH P.; T.S. RajeevA study on conservation of wildlife through participatory management of HumanWildlife Conflict (HWC) in the Eastern Palakkad forest areas was undertaken to assess the socio-economic impact of HWC, analyse the attitude and perception of inhabitants of HWC affected areas towards conservation of wild animals and identify the constraints in HWC management and conservation of wild animals. Purposive sampling was used to select thirty non-tribal and tribal conflict affected persons from each division of the Eastern Palakkad forest circle of Kerala, which encompasses Mannarkkad, Nilambur North, Nilambur South, Palakkad and Nenmara forest division. The data were collected through personal interview method using a structured pre-tested interview schedule and using appropriate research tools. It was found that majority (68.9 per cent) of the respondents were elderly and eighty per cent of the non-tribal respondents had primary school to graduate education, whereas 56.67 per cent of the tribal respondents were illiterate. Majority of the respondents were from nuclear families. A majority (73.33 per cent) of the non-tribal respondents had in agriculture as their primary occupation whereas most of the tribal respondents (86.67 per cent) were engaged in petty jobs with honey and wood collection as their secondary occupation. Crop damage was the major type of conflict reported by both categories of respondents who had adopted solar fence as an effective method of mitigation. Majority of the non-tribal respondents had adopted trench as an effective conflict mitigation measure. Both classes of respondents perceived that without wildlife, it is not possible to enjoy the beauty of nature and conservation of wildlife required more financial assistance from government and wildlife conservation included scientific activities that protected the plants, animals and their habitats from extinction. With regard to perception of respondents towards government compensation programmes, both classes of respondents perceived the compensation received for the loss of livestock as meagre; they found it very difficult to fill in compensation forms. With regards to perception towards HWC, both classes of the respondents perceived nature as being important on account of nature’s contribution to human aesthetic values, pleasure, and human welfare. In the case of non-tribal respondents, they had a positive attitude towards conservation of wildlife whereas most of the attitude of tribal respondents was moderate to high level favorableness towards conservation of wildlife. Constraint analysis of participatory management of HWCs revealed that water scarcity during the summer period and inadequate food availability due to climate change and deforestation, shrinkage of grassland/pasture land, lack of proper barriers (solar fence, trench) and proximity to forest land were important that need issues to be addressed. Constraints in participatory management of conservation of wildlife include lack of awareness, lack of training and inadequate financial support for conservation. The study sheds light on the techniques of participatory management to be adopted keeping in mind the important socio-psychological characteristic of people living in close proximity to besides being a blue print for action and policy programmes of the future.ThesisItem Open Access DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF VECHUR CATTLE FARMING SYSTEM IN KERALA(College of Veterinary and animal Science,Mannuthy, 2019) ANJALI K. BABU; R. SenthilkumarAn ex post facto research was conducted among the Vechur cattle farmers in Kerala state to assess the adoption behaviour, attitude towards conservation of native cattle, constraints and the economics of the Vechur cattle farming system. By employing chain referral sampling technique, a total of 60 Vechur cattle farmers from three districts of the state were selected as respondents for the study. Three districts namely Kottayam, Palakkad and Thrissur were selected. The data were collected through personal interview method using a structured pretested interview schedule. The result of the study inferred that majority (68.9 per cent) of the Vechur cattle farmers were middle aged group and had secondary school education. More than one-third of the Vechur cattle farmers had services as primary occupation, most of them opted agriculture and cattle rearing as secondary occupation. The local veterinarian was the most preferred extension contact point of the farmers. Vechur cattle farmers had a medium level of favorableness towards conservation of native cattle. Regarding the overall adoption of recommended scientific farming practices it was observed that nearly one-third of the Vechur cattle farmers were high adopters while the rest fell in the medium to low categories. Poor availability of green fodder round the year, non-availability of artificial insemination service in time, poor quality of available Vechur semen, lack of proper marketing channels for Vechur milk and milk products, low availability of good quality pure Vechur animals and lack of government support to encourage Vechur cattle farming were the important constraint faced by the farmers. Economic analysis of the Vechur cattle farming system revealed that both, the farmers with more as well as a few Vechur cattle animal, were engaged in diversification activities value addition of Vechur cattle products and it also revealed that direct marketing and value addition of products increased the profitability of the farm.ThesisItem Open Access ECONOMICS OF COMMERCIAL BROILER CHICKEN PRODUCTION IN MALAPPURAM DISTRICT OF KERALA(COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR, 2018) SANTOSHKUMAR; T.S. RajeevThe study was conducted among the broiler chicken farmers engaged in non-contract and contract broiler farming. The locale of study was Malappuram district based on its comparative higher production of the broiler chicken than any other district in Kerala and the samples were selected randomly from the Tanur and Perinthalmanna block panchayaths. Thirty farming units each from those engaged in contract and non-contract farming systems were selected randomly from the two blocks (15 each). The data has been collected through personal interview method using a structured pretested interview schedule. Most of the respondents from both farming systems were Upper middle (forty to fifty years) and old aged (above fifty years)with more than ninety three per cent males. More than half of them in both categories completed education upto matriculation with experience of less than five years. Majority of them opted broiler farming as a secondary occupation with less than one fifth had training in this vocation. Most of the respondents from non-contract farming were satisfied with the marketing support offered by various agencies, except for live weight broiler chicken price, whereas incentives and price offered per kilo gram live weight was less satisfying in contract farmers. Private agencies and poultry farmers associations were the most satisfying organizations to offer the organizational support in both farming systems. On detailed analysis of the economics of commercial broiler chicken production among the non-contract and contract farmers, the total cost of production in noncontract farming system was seen as highest on small farms (< 2040 birds) with Rs.72.71followed by medium (< 2040-4420 birds) with Rs.71.00and large farms (>4420) with Rs69.46 per Kg live weight. The gross return enjoyed per kg live was almost same with an average ofRs.78.59 irrespective of the farm size based on the average broiler live weight rate per year and the net return per kg live weight was more in large farms. Majority of the farmers in both systems were landless with annual income below Rs.1,30,000in non-contract farming and between Rs.1,30,000 to Rs.2,30,000 in contract system. In the case of contract farming system, the total cost of production per kilogram live weight was less in large farms while the net return was more in this category of farms. Livability per cent, feed conversion ratio, broiler performance efficiency factor, broiler farm economy index, margin of safety and benefit cost ratio were 97.18 and 96.65 per cent, 1.674 and 1.682, 128.33 and 127.72, 2.97 and 2.94, 10.29 and 22.08 per cent, 1.11 and 1.28 among non-contract and contract farming system respectively. The Analysis of the existing practices in noncontract and contract broiler farming revealed that almost all were owned the farm by themselves who followed the deep litter system engaging temporary labours as and when required for performing routine activities and majority of them following all-in-all-out system of management. Majority of the respondents opted three times vaccination per batch and pit disposal method for disposal of dead birds in both systems. Majority of the non-contract and contract farmers preferred to use their personal savings as capital investment on broiler production and also felt that the broiler farming business has slightly declined in last twelve to twenty four months. The high cost of chicks, high cost of feed, high cost of litter and lower capital were the production constraints while high fluctuation of meat price and seasonal fluctuation in demand were the important marketing constraints faced by non-contract broiler farmers. Similarly in case of contract farming systems high litter cost and competition for contract farming were the major production constraints while seasonal fluctuation in demand for broiler meat and threat of discontinuing contract agreement were the major marketing constraints experienced by farmers involved in contract farmingThesisItem Open Access A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF BUFFALO REARING AMONG THE FARM HOUSEHOLDS OF THRISSUR KOLE LANDS(COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR, 2018) SRUTHY K. MOHAN; Reeja George P.A descriptive analysis of buffalo rearing in the Thrissur kole was undertaken to assess the adoption of scientific buffalo rearing practices, identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the system, map buffalo product value chains and identify value chain actors and their functions. Snowball sampling was used to select fifty buffalo keepers each from North and South koles. Data were collected using a pretested interview schedule and direct observation with unstructured interviews. Over sixty per cent of milch buffalo keepers in both the koles were above 50 years of age and more than eighty per cent were male. Educational levels of buffalo keepers of both koles were generally on the lower side and except for the North kole meat buffalo keepers, majority of the buffalo keepers in both koles had more than ten years of experience. Meat based units of the North kole were larger with an average of seven total livestock units and the units on the South kole were the smallest with just over two total livestock units. Over thirty-six per cent milch buffalo keepers in both koles were high adopters of scientific milch rearing practices. However, ligation of navel cord and aseptic measures and practices related to summer management of milch buffaloes were poorly adopted. The half yearly state government sponsored vaccination programme against Food and Mouth Disease was well received with adoption by over three-fourth of milch buffalo keepers in both koles. Majority of meat buffalo keepers in both koles were high adopters of meat buffalo rearing practices. None of the meat buffalo keepers of North kole had adopted vaccination of calves at four months of age. Strengths of this system included the higher adaptability and disease resistance of the animal while lack of trainings on scientific buffalo rearing practices was an important weakness. The high price for buffalo products was a significant opportunity. Significant threats included the lack of policy measures to contain the disproportionate increase in feed cost as well as the lack of government schemes to promote buffalo farming and significant pollution of the water bodies. Producers, petty traders, commission agents, traders, interstate traders, butchers and consumers were the main actors on the value chains. Commission agents were involved at every point of transaction right from the farm gate. Possible measures to organise farmers into co-operative marketing units or suitable strategies for government initiated direct farm gate pick up of animals could prove to be instrumental in sustaining this venture as an income generating vocation for buffalo keepers of the Thrissur kole lands.ThesisItem Open Access DEVELOPING AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BASED EXPERT SYSTEM FOR HEALTHCARE IN DAIRY CATTLE(COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR, 2012) PRABHU.R; T.S.RajeevThe objectives of the study were to develop an IT based expert system on common dairy cattle diseases and to assess the effectiveness of the expert system developed. The veterinary officers working in Wayanad, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram districts under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Kerala were the respondents of the study. The research was conducted in three phases i.e. need analysis, development of expert system and assessment of applicability of expert system developed. Need analysis was conducted among an accidental sample of ninety veterinarians of the selected districts to prioritize the common dairy cattle diseases occurring in Kerala. The content for the expert system was developed based on the extensive information on healthcare aspects related to the prioritized diseases. The content was validated by experts concerned before incorporating into the system using the Visual basic 6.0 and Microsoft access 2007 software tools. The perceived applicability of the expert system was assessed based on the rating of expert system in terms of utility, simplicity, technicality, feasibility, design and user attributes among a sample of ninety veterinarians selected through stratified proportionate random sampling. Majority of the respondents rated the expert system as highly satisfactory. Simplicity and design aspects of the system received top ranks. Most of the respondents held favorable attitude in computer usage. The veterinarians’ knowledge of computer applications and skills in using computer were found to be high. The personal profile of respondents and variables under computer usage such as access to computer, confidence in using computer and frequency of using computer had no significant association with the perceived applicability of the expert system. However, the respondents’ attitude towards computer usage and their knowledge of computer applications had significant intercorrelations with their skills in using computer.ThesisItem Open Access INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN THE SOUTH ZONE ANIMAL SCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF ICAR(COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES-MANNUTHY,THRISSUR, 2016) CHITHRA CHANDRASEKHARAN., C; .Jiji, R.S.ThesisItem Open Access EMPOWERMENT AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION AMONG LIVESTOCK BASED WOMEN SELF HELP GROUPS (KUDUMBASHREE) IN WAYANAD DISTRICT(Kerala Veterinary and animal science university, Pookode, 2018-01-08) Savale, Siddhartha; Senthilkumar, RThe present study on empowerment and employment generation among livestock based women self-help groups in Wayanad district was undertaken among Ksheerasagaram, Adugramam and Kozhikoottam beneficiaries of Kudumbashree organisation. The objectives were to study different dimensions of the empowerment of Livestock based women self-help groups (LWSHG) members, measure the employment generated by various livestock activities among the LWSHG members and study the constraints encountered by the LWSHG members. The personal profile of beneficiaries under Ksheerasagaram, Adugramam and Kozhikoottam revealed that a majority of them were of middle age with education of primary and secondary level. Most of them had agriculture as primary occupation and animal husbandry as secondary occupation with more than ten years of experience in respective animal husbandry activities. Further, socio-economic profile analysis revealed that most of the beneficiaries were belonging to nuclear family with family size of three to four members. Majority of the beneficiaries in Ksheerasagaram and Adugramam were Hindus where as in Kozhikoottam most of the beneficiaries were Muslims. Majority of the beneficiaries belonged to general caste. Annual income of beneficiaries after joining SHG has shown increase when compared to income before joining SHG. Most of them were having land of below one acre with well irrigation. Livestock possession analysis revealed that majority of beneficiaries in Ksheerasagaram were having one to two cattle, in Adugramam three to four goats and in Kozhikoottam 15 to 20 birds. Majority of Ksheerasagaram beneficiaries marketed milk to cooperative societies and the beneficiaries relied heavily on the local merchants for marketing of male calves, unproductive cattle and goats. Majority of beneficiaries under Kozhikoottam were using eggs and chicken for household purpose. Most of the groups in all three livestock activities were composed of five members. Beneficiaries of both Ksheerasagaram and Adugramam had very low extension agency contact, beneficiaries had less extension agency contact and Kozhikoottam beneficiaries had high extension agency contact. With regard to information source utilization both Ksheerasagaram and Adugramam beneficiaries utilized less information sources and Kozhikoottam beneficiaries utilized more information source. While majority of beneficiaries under Ksheerasagaram and Adugramam had attended more than one training, the Kozhikoottam beneficiaries attended only one training. Members under these three livestock activities were not having membership in other animal husbandry or agricultural organisations. The study further explored the attitude of beneficiaries towards animal husbandry and revealed that the beneficiaries in all three livestock activities had neither extreme unfavourable nor too much favourable attitude towards respective animal husbandry practices. Exploration on knowledge level also indicated that the beneficiaries were distributed almost evenly among categories of knowledge possession from very low to very high. Empowerment of beneficiaries revealed that majority of beneficiaries under Ksheerasagaram and Kozhikoottam were highly empowered whereas Adugramam beneficiaries’ empowerment level was comparatively low. Due to its time consuming activities employment generation was higher in Ksheerasagaram when compared to Adugramam and Kozhikoottam. Constraints faced by SHG members were studied and some of the most important constraints for Ksheerasagaram were difficulty in procurement of green fodder, higher cost of compound feed and medicines, etc., The Kozhikoottam beneficiaries reported mortality of birds, frequent disease outbreaks, lack of knowledge on vaccination, etc. as constraints and kids mortality during kidding, lack of knowledge on scientific goat faming, marketing, etc. were reported by Adugramam beneficiaries.ThesisItem Open Access IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT FOR LIVELIHOOD SUPPORT PROGRAMME IN WAYANAD DISTRICT(Kerala Veterinary and animal science university, Pookode, 2014-05-27) Chethan, G N; Senthil Kumar, RThe impact of LDLS programme was assessed among the beneficiaries of Wayanad district. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the programme as well as, the constraints perceived by the beneficiaries and the implementing officers respectively were also studied. The study revealed that most of the beneficiaries were middle aged with only either primary or secondary education. The communication behaviour in terms of personal cosmopolite source contact and mass media utilization was of medium level. Further, majority of the beneficiaries‟ attitude towards dairying and goat farming was moderately favourable, whereas beneficiaries were highly favourable towards poultry farming. Regarding knowledge majority had moderate level of knowledge in dairying and goat farming, and less or moderate level of knowledge in poultry farming. The direction of income and employment generated in animal husbandry was one towards low to medium level and was the same with milk and egg productivity. The top ranked constraint perceived by the implementing officers was the inability of beneficiaries to avail loan in time due to a failure in winning the confidence of bank personnel. Permitting the willing beneficiaries to meet non-subsidy part of loan from own resources was the solution mentioned. The important strength of the scheme perceived by the beneficiaries was the experience and knowledge beneficiaries felt they had in this sector, whereas livestock obtained under the scheme acting as replacer stock was perceived as the most important weakness of programme. Potential scope for promotion of organic and integrated farming through implementation of the scheme was the most important opportunity, whereas massive death and predation of poultry distributed under the scheme was perceived to be a significant threat.ThesisItem Open Access MILK PRODUCTIVITY AND ADOPTION OF SCIENTIFIC DAIRY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN THE SMALL DAIRY HOLDINGS OF VYTHIRI TALUK OF WAYANAD(Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Wayanad, 2013-06-27) NIJA GEORGE; Senthilkumar, RDespite the changes in the dairy sector, milk production of cross-bred cows in the state remains far from satisfactory. Thus the milk productivity, adoption of scientific management practices and interrelationships between various determinants of milk productivity and adoption of management practices were explored among the small dairy holdings to have a detailed understanding of the situation. Here small dairy holding meant farms with one or two milch animals. Personal interviews and focus group discussions were applied for data collection. Most of the farmers studied belonged to old age category, with secondary education and more than ten years of experience in dairying. Most sought after extension agency was co-operative societies and television was the most used mass medium. Majority of the respondents had only low innovation proneness and medium economic motivation while majority had a high scientific orientation. Overall adoption of scientific dairy management practices was low for majority of the respondents. Experience in dairy farming, land holding, income from dairying, economic motivation, scientific orientation, innovation proneness and information source utilization were positively and significantly correlated with extent of adoption of management practices. Income from dairying, experience and scientific orientation were significant in explaining the variation in the extent of adoption of scientific dairy management practices. Milk productivity of majority of small dairy holdings studied was medium. Land holding and income from dairying were positively and significantly correlated with the milk productivity. Income from dairying was significant in explaining the variation in milk productivity. High cost of feed and scarcity of green fodder were perceived to be the most serious constraints in dairying. High capital investment required for dairying, low price for milk, unavailability of credit, and non-availability of good milch animals were the other constraints.