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Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi
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ThesisItem Open Access Transfer of Improved Animal Husbandry Practices in the Adopted and Non -adopted Villages of Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi A Critical Review(Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, 1992) Kameshwar Sharma; Dr. R. M. SrivastavaA comprehensive study should be planned to cover more areas of Chotanagpur and Santhal Parganas to assess the rate of adoption of improved Animal Husbandry practices.ThesisItem Open Access Impact of Extension Education Programmes on Dairy Husbandry Practices in Integrated Rural Development Areas of Kanke and Ormanjhi Blocks of Birsa Agricultural University. Ranchi District(Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, 1980) Kailash Prasad Sinha; Dr. M. SinhaThe finding indicated that respondents of IRD villages had significantly higher mean scores than those of Non-IRD village with respect to education, extension contact, exposure to massmedia and economic motivation. This leads to the conclusion that the respondents of IRD villages had higher level of education, extension contact, exposure to massmedia and economic motivation than those of non-IRD village. It was also found that there were no significant differences in the mean scores of the respondents of IRD and Non-IRD village with respect to age, size of holding, socio economic status and herd size. It was found that there were highly significant difference in the knowledge,attitude and adoption scores of the respondents of IRD and Non-IRD village.The respondents of IRD villages had higher level of knowledge ,more favourable attitude and higher level of adoption than those of Non- IRD villages with respect to improved dairy husbandry practices . The finding indicated that a very large percentage of respondents of IRD village had adopted improved practices of breeding(such as A.I.,presenting animals between 12 to 18 hours after observing heat symptoms for A.I. ,presenting animals within 2 to 3 months after parturition and culling of less productive dairy animals) as compared to the respondents of Non IRD villages. The findings indicated that a very high percentage of respondent of IRD villages had adopted the improved feeding of mineral and concentrate mixture than respondents of Non-IRD villages. The findings indicated that a very high percentage of respondents of IRD villages had adopted the improved feeding practices,like,fodder cultivation,feeding of mineral and concentrate mixture than respondents of Non-IRD villages. The findings showed that a very high percentage of respondents of IRD villages had adopted improved management and housing practices, like castration of male calves at the age between 1 to 2 years,maintaining milk recordes and production of clean milk than respondents of Non –IRD villages.ThesisItem Open Access Participation of tribal women in decision making process related to animal husbandry practices(Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, 1984) Vinay Kumar Verma; R. M. SrivastavaAll the villages under Kanke Block were stratified into two groups on the basis of distance from Birsa Agricultural University, number of livestock population and concentration of tribal communities. Fifty tribal women engaged in animal husbandry were randomly selected from each of the four villages viz, churitola, Semertoli, Jiddu and Pussu. The total number of respondents were 200. Data were collected by personal interview method with the help of a structured interview schedule, informal interview and discussion with the respondents for indepth analysis. Suitable statistical tools and techniques were employed to test the efficacy of the data. The results and conclusions drawn are summarized below: 1. The tribal women irrespective of acculturated or isolated areas participated in larger proportion (51 %) in Dairy husbandry as compared to Goat (23.5 %) and Poultry (3.5%). Impact urbanization, nearness of agricultural university and popularity of cross breeding programme had influenced this trend. 2.Data regarding participation of tribal women in selected animal husbandry practices clearly supported the view that while male tribal engaged themselves in agricultural operations, service or outward activities, it was tribal women around whom the animal husbandry programme revolves.ThesisItem Open Access Impact Of Animal Husbandry Programme In Model Villages Adopted By B.A.U.(Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, 1989) Pandey, Alok Kumar; R.M. SrivastavaRural development is not merely the agricultural development but rural transformation as a whole which includes development of all the facets of human resources like, social, economic, cultural and spiritual and the like of rural system. Therefore, rural development has to be viewed in its totality rather than fragmented approach. The role of animal husbandry in maximizing the income of farmers particularly the landless and marginal farmers, is immense as the agro-climatic condition of Chotanagpur and Santhal Pargana region is not very much suitable for agriculture. The undulating nature of terrain, fragmentation of land holdings, light taxture of soil with low organic content, erratic rainfall, faulty cultivation practices, other biotic factors like uncontrolled grazing and destruction of forests are the most critical phenomenon throughout the plateau region in Bihar. Under Model Village Development Programme for long term socio-economic improvement based initially on transfer of technology works, five villages under Ranchi District of different socio-geographic regions were selected by Birsa Agricultural University. The villages are Belangi (Ratu Block), Sosai (Mandar Block), Gangaghat (Angara Block), Rarha and Boreya (Kanke Block). Since the inception of programme no systematic effort was made to evaluate the manifold contributions made by this programme towards raising the socio-economic status of theThesisItem Open Access EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION SOURCES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ICTS FOR TRANSFER OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY TECHNO(Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand-6, 2019) Kumari, Shobha; Pandey, Alok KumarSince most of respondents were educated up to primary level and low level of literacy is one of the main cause of non utilization of ICT, therefore strong policy should be formulated for enhancing educational level of the community to enhance the access to ICTs. Awareness and access of ICT should be increased amongst people as ICT is an important media to increase the knowledge level of people. Mass media has been very instrumental in increasing the awareness of farmers towards different social issues but has a very limited impact on A.H sector. The level of interaction of the people to different types of mass media should be increased as for example more organization of KisanMela, KisanGoshthi, circulation of Newspapers, Magazines and increased internet literacy among the people. Significant difference was found between Near the block and Away from the block respondents as T value was significant (P ≤ 0.05) for various parameters which were important indicator of their knowledge. So effective plans and schemes might be made to increase the radius and extent of people oriented extension programme by the government to make it more far reaching. Knowledge level of adoption of various animal husbandry practices is still dissatisfactory (Medium or Low), which means that the agriculture and animal husbandry practices should be made on more scientific lines for which farmer should avail proper knowledge and training.ThesisItem Open Access AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF STATUS OF KHATALS IN AND AROUND RANCHI CITY(Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 2007) Singh, Ranbir Prasad; Pandey, A.K.Indian dairying is emerging as a sunrise industry. India represents one of the world’s largest and fastest growing markets for milk and milk products due to the increasing disposable incomes among the 250 million strong middle class. With an annual growth rate of over 5 per cent the country’s milk production has reached 90.7 lakh tones in the year 2004-05. The upsurge in milk production has thrown up unprecedented challenges in milk marketing. The country is blessed with an enormous domestic market which is magnet attracting multinationals to India. Liquid milk offers a vast scope for expanding sales in the short term in the market. About 35 per cent of the milk produced is consumed in the urban areas. Of this, the cooperatives supply about 20 per cent, private dairies about 2 per cent, government managed dairies about 2 per cent and a highly significant share by Private traders. The milk is supplied to the urban consumers by periurban and urban-based milk producers. The continued strong presence in the urban areas of traditional vendors provides a yardstick for marketing. On ground of hygiene, prevention of adulteration and other malpractices as well as environment-friendly urban development, the importance of the traditional khatal needs to be de-emphasized or his operations modernized. This offers tremendous marketing opportunities. However, such a change is possible only if the organized sectors are demonstrably better than the traditional vendors in such consumer services as door delivery, credit etc. Little efforts have been made to study the small privately-owned khatals that are coming up at every nook and corner of the cities to cater to the needs of the local people residing nearby. The present study was taken up as an effort to throw some light on the existing conditions of these khatals in and around Ranchi city with the following objectives: To study the existing A.H. practices followed by the khatals owners. To study the extent of knowledge and adoption of improved A.H. practices. To study the reproductive performance of dairy animals kept by the khatals owners. To study the prevalence of diseases and remedial measures taken by the khatals owners. To work out the economics of milk production of dairy animals maintained by the khatals owners. To identify the constraints and highlight the perceived needs of the khatals owners. The present study was carried out in purposively selected Ranchi city of Jharkhand. Ranchi city was purposively selected as a large number (Approximately 1200) of khatals were located in this city. The khatals were located in various areas of Ranchi, for the shake selection of samples from Ranchi city and its surrounding, the city was divided into six zones namely, South West (ZI), South (ZII), Central (ZIII), East (ZIV), North (ZV)m, West (ZVI) on the basis of distribution of khatals in these regions. From each zone 30 khatals were selected randomly. Thus a total of 180 khatals were selected for the study. All the khatals owners were interviewed personally with the help of a structured schedule. The data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule incorporating all the items on which information were required. The respondents were individually contacted at the khatals. The data thus collected was compiled, tabulated and subjected to the statistical analysis viz; frequently, percentage, mean, standard error, analysis of variance and coefficient of correlation were used to test the accuracy of data. The overall age of the respondents was found to be 42.65 ± 0.82 years. Majority of respondents were educated (52.22 %) up to middle school level. Majority (80 %) of respondents belonged to Yadav caste. The respondent’s family size was medium consisting of 6-9 members. Livestock rearing was main primary occupation of the respondent. Most of the family belonged to landless (62.77 %) category and possessed large herd size (> 6 milch animals). Zone-I, Zone-II, Zone-III and Zone-V members had taken some credits, whereas Zone-IV and Zone-VI people were less oriented towards credit. The average amount of credit taken ranged from Rs. 27500 by Zone-V members to Rs. 45000 by Zone-I members. Most of the farmers had high economic motivation. Majority of Zone-II, Zone-III and Zone-V members had favourable attitude, whereas, Zone-I, Zone-IV and VI farmers had neutral attitude towards dairy farming. Use of communication sources was found to be quite low in all the Zones. Most of the respondents (94.44 %) did not receive any training whereas only 5.56 per cent respondents had received training. It was found that none of the khatal owner in the Ranchi city were maintaining local cattle, all the khatal owners were keeping crossbred cattle and 87 percent of the respondent were also rearing buffalo. The cattle were kept on stall feeding and were not sent for grazing, whereas 76.66 percent of the respondents kept their buffalo on grazing and stall feeding. Grazing was mostly performed by the children, preferably during evening. The main ingredients of concentrate mixture was reported to be Dal chunni (95 %), wheat bran (93.33 %), mustard cake (84.44 %), G.N. cake (93.33 %), crushed maize (67.77%), salt (85.55 %) and Gur (58.88 %). Only about 14 per cent of the respondents were feeding ready made Pashu ahar. Only few respondents (27.22%) were feeding mineral mixture to cows in milk, and 12.65% per cent of the buffalo owners fed mineral mixture to buffalo in milk. Any cattle and buffalo heifer and calves were not fed with mineral mixture. Majority (86.66 %) of the cattle were artificially inseminated, whereas majority (46.87 %) of buffalo were bred by natural service of known pedigree bull and 30.62 per cent by natural service of unknown pedigree bull and only 22.50 percent through artificial insemination. Majority of the respondents identified heat in their animals by seeing the sign like bellowing (100 %), mucus discharge from vulva (81.11 %), mounting on other animals (41.11%) and frequent urination (34.44 %). Majority of the respondents could know that their animals are pregnant by the sign that animal was not coming to heat after service (73.33 %) external symptom (26.66%) and rectal palpation (27.77%). Majority of the khatal owners were keeping their animals in shed of thatched roof with no wall (61.66 %) and thatched roof with thatched wall (11.66%). Majority of the respondents were providing bedding (mainly straw) to their young stock, colostrum was fed to new born calves after the placenta is shed. Only 31.11 percent of the respondents were deworming their calves as specified by the veterinarians. Naval cutting was not followed by majority of the respondents and it was left to fall off naturally. Most of the khatal owners were preventing their pregnant animals from grazing during last 15 days and were also providing extra ration. Usually assistance was provided during parturition and Replanta or boiled Paddy along with bamboo leaves were given for easy expulsion of placenta. If placenta was retained, they consulted veterinary staff. To avoid ingestion of placenta by the animals, it was either buried (88 %) or thrown away (8.33 %). Warm water, Haldi and Molasses were the common feed given after parturition by the khatal owners. Majority of khatal owners were milking their animals by themselves and most of them adopted full hand milking (92.22 %). All the respondents were washing their hand before milking. Only 5.55 per cent of respondents were found washing their animals before milking, but majority (96.66 %) of respondents was cleaning its udder before milking. Negligible percentage of respondents were giving water to the animal before milking. Generally bucket was used for milking. The utensils were cleaned by using Detergent (61.11 %) or only water (21.11 %) or by Rakh (17.77 %). Age of the first calving was found to be 30.25 ± 0.34 month in case of cattle and was significantly different in different zones and 41.08 ± 0.12 in case of buffalo. Lactation length and dry period was reported to be 9.97 ± 0.04 and 2.12 ± 0.01 months in cattle and 7.14 ± 0.22 and 3.09 ± 0.l01 months in buffalo. The calving interval in cattle was 15.20 ± 0.20 months and in buffalo it was 18.78 ± 0.14 months. 70 per cent of respondents were getting vaccinated their animals, 60 per cent vaccinated their animals against FMD, 6.66 per cent against BQ and 3.33 per cent against H.S. About 57 per cent of the respondents were consulting veterinarian, 30 per cent were consulting Stockman/ Coumpounder, 9.4 per cent local quack and only 3 per cent were doing self medication when their animals were sick. All the respondents were maintaining cleanliness in the house, but majority (88.88 %) of respondents were not segregating their sick animals. Anoestrous (48.88 %), Repeat breeding (40 %), Mastitis (34.44 %), Tympany (31.1 %), FMD (25.55 %), H.S. (25.55 %), Milk fever (22.22 %), Theileria (10 %) and Surra (10 %) were found to be common diseases encountered in khatal during the last five years. Majority of the respondents had high knowledge level in Zone-I (93.33 %), Zone-II (86.66 %) and Zone-VI (73.33 %) and medium knowledge level in Zone-III (80.0 %), Zone IV (70.0 %) and Zone-V (80.0 %). The knowledge about scientific dairy husbandry practices was found to be highly significantly correlated with adoption at 0.05 level and with size of family, milk production, milk sale and net income from dairying at 0.01 level. xviii. The adoption level was found to be medium (35.55 %) and high (57.22 %) and was correlated with knowledge (0.05 %) and size of family, herd size, milk production, milk sale and net income from dairying (0.01 %). The average milk production per khatal was 57.53 ± 3.85, 61.13 ± 3.10, 43.46 ± 2.90, 50.40 ± 5.51, 41.86 ± 2.53 and 41.46 ± 2.52 litres per day in Zone-I, Zone-II, Zone-III, Zone-IV, Zone-V and Zone-VI respectively. The average milk production per milch animal was found to be about 5.58 litres per day. Milk consumption by all the khatal members was found to be 3.12 ± 0.14 litres per day. The ‘F’ value revealed that the difference between situation (zone) was non-significant. Milk sale per khatal per day was found to be 45.60 ± 1.24 litres. The F value revealed that there was highly significant difference between zones with regard to milk sale per day. Majority of the respondents (86.66%) sold their milk directly to consumer at khatal, followed by home delivery (7.77%), to middle men (3.33 %) and to hotel or halwai (2.22 %). The highest net income per dairy animal (Rs. 16932.40) was obtained by Zone-II members followed by Zone V (Rs. 15884.88) Zone-I (Rs. 14345.52), Zone-III (Rs. 14958.77) and Zone-IV (Rs. 14572.42) and Zone VI (Rs. 11195.43) members. High cost of concentrate mixture (93.33 %), high cost of modern medicine (87.77%), problem of anoestrous and repeat breeding in dairy animal (84.44%), lower price of milk (67.77 %) were expressed as the most serious constraints by the khatal owners. Whereas lack of guidance (training facilities) about the management of milch animals (65.55 %), difficulty in obtaining loan (57.77 %) and charging exorbitant amount by the Veterinarian (47.77 %) were serious constraints expressed by the khatal owners. Neglect by the Veterinarians (21.11 %) and lack of drinking water facility (21.11 %) were also regarded as constraints by the khatal owners. Subsidy on loan for dairying (66.66 %), treatment facility at door step (63.88%), availability of A.I. facility at door step (63.88 ), availability of cattle feed at reasonable cost (61.11 %), infertility comp once in a month (56.66 %), reasonable price for milk (22.77 %), education of scientific dairy husbandry practices (46.66 %), drinking water facility for animal (42.22 %), existence of milk cooperative society in the area (38.88 %), availability of bank service in the area (33.33 %) were perceived as important need by the khatal owners in descending order.ThesisItem Open Access PLACE OF POULTRY IN CULTURE AND ECONOMY OF TRIBALS OF RANCHI DISTRICT OF JHARKHAND(Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 2008) Kerketta, Anil Kerketta; Pandey, Alok KumarThe findings and experiences of the present study open the gateway to the horizon of new research endeavour. Some of the further research possibilities could be as follows:- 1. The present study was conducted in only (4) four Blocks of Ranchi districts, State of Jharkhand keeping in view of the popularity of the poultry rearing in this area. A study could be carried out taking the all tribal and weaker section of Jharkhand. 2. An in depth studies of the poultry farming may be taken up to suggest the best combination of poultry enterprises in terms of money. 3. A full-fledged study to develop a suitable communication strategy to bring about behavioral changes specially in the knowledge of the poultry owners, could be undertaken. 4. A deep probe, from anthropological angle can be targeted to study the place of poultry in culture and economy of tribal farmers.ThesisItem Open Access ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF PIG FARMING IN ORGANIZED AND UNORGANIZED FARM IN RANCHI DISTRICT OF JHARKHAND(Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 2008) Mahto, Varun Kumar; Oraon, J.In Jharkhand, pig rearing is a traditional occupation of tribals and some weaker section of society. Pig can be reared economically with minimum expenditure on housing and equipments. Pig husbandry requires minimum labour with quick handsome return, which serves as important source of income for rural people. With the adoption of improved pig rearing practices under rural conditions, there will be significant increase in income of the poor farmers in the country who traditionally rear pigs. However, no effort have been made to study the adoption and knowledge of the improved pig farming practices. Also there is very limited attempt to estimate the economics of pig enterprise in the field condition. 2 Keeping the above facts in view and the importance of pig in economic upliftment of poor farmers of Jharkhand state, the present study is planned to have a comparative study of the organized and un-organized pig farms of Ranchi district and also to see the gap between the existing practices and the recommended scientific practices. The present study entitled “ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF PIG FARMING IN ORGANIZED AND UN-ORGANIZED FARM IN RANCHI DISTRICT OF JHARKHAND” has been designed with the following objectives :- 1. To study the socio-personal profile of the pig owners. 2. To study existing pig rearing practices followed by the pig owners of organized and un-organized farms. 3. To study the knowledge and adoption of improved pig rearing practices in organized and un-organized farms. 4. To estimate the cost and return from pig enterprise for pig production. 5. To study the marketing of pig and pork in organized and un-organized farms of Ranchi district. The present study was carried out in Ranchi district of Jharkhand. A list of all the organized farms in Ranchi district was obtained from Pig Breeding Farm, Ranchi Veterinary College, Kanke, Ranchi. 25 organized pig farms were selected randomly from the list and equal number of un-organized farms were selected from the adjoining areas. Thus a total of 50 respondents were selected for the study. The data was collected personally through a well structured and presented interview schedule supported with personal observation and guided field walks. The data thus collected was compiled, tabulated and subjected to the statistical analysis viz., Frequency, Percentage, Mean, Standard deviation, t-test, correlation were used for proper interpretation of data. Majority of the respondents were found to be middle age group (31 to 50 years), large family size and low extension contacts. 3 Majority of the respondents (60.00%) of organized pig farm was found belonging to ST category whereas in un-organized pig farm, majority of the respondents (48.00%) was found belonging to SC category. Majority of the respondents (40.00%) of organized pig farm were matriculate where as majority of the respondents (52.00%) of un-organized pig farm could read and write only. The „t‟ value indicated highly significant difference between the respondents of organized and un-organized pig farms. Majority of the respondents (68.00%) of organized pig farm had pig rearing as primary occupation whereas majority of the respondents (84.00%) of unorganized pig farm had pig rearing a secondary occupation. Majority of the respondents (64.00%) of organized pig farm possessed large land holding size (above 10.0 acre), whereas majority of respondents (48.00%) of un-organized pig farm had marginal land holding (0.1 to 2.5 acre). There was highly significant difference between the respondents of organized and un-organized pig farm. Average livestock size of organized pig farm was found to be 38.48 whereas in un-organized pig farm, it was found to be 15.6. Majority of the respondents (52.00%) of organized pig farm had high extension contact, whereas majority of the respondents (56.00%) of un-organized pig farm had low extension contact and there was highly significant difference between the respondents of organized and un-organized pig farm. Majority of the respondents had experience of about 5 years in pig rearing. Average litre size in organized pig farm was found to be 11.72 whereas in un-organized pig farm it was found to be 6.48. Most of the respondents of organized pig farm had high level of management whereas most of the respondents of un-grganized pig farm had medium and low level of management. The „t‟ value indicated highly significant difference between respondents of organized and un-organized pig farm. Most of the respondents of organized pig farm had high level of knowledge whereas most of the respondents of un-organized pig farms had medium 4 and low level of knowledge. There was highly significance difference between respondents of organized and un-organized pig farms. Most of the respondents (52.00%) of organized pig farm had high level of adoption of improved pig rearing practices, whereas in un-organized pig farm, most of the respondents (56.00%) had low level of adoption. There was highly significance difference between respondents of organized and un-organized pig farms. Zero order correlation revealed that education, occupation, stock size, extension contact and net annual income were found to be significantly correlated with knowledge. Cost and return analysis revealed that the respondents of organized pig farm were able to fetch the net income of Rs. 1588.36 per pig per annum, whereas incase of un-organized pig farm, respondents were able to fetch the net income of Rs. 974.60 per pig per annum. IMPLICATIONS : Based on the finding of the present work following implication can be made : 1. Results of the study indicated that pig rearing is being carried out mostly by ST & SC category. There is need to promote pig rearing on scientific lines among other sections of the society. 2. Results of the study further show that extension contact of un-organized pig farm was low in the study area. Therefore, there is an urgent need that the extension agencies should make regular visit to the villages for motivating about scientific pig rearing practices. 3. Research finding of the study makes evidence that pig owner of unorganized farm had a low level of knowledge, adoption & management towards pig rearing. Therefore, it becomes necessary that the pig owners of un-organized farm are provided proper training in scientific pig rearing so as to enhance their knowledge, adoption and management. 5 4. A major finding of the study, the sale of pork product was not found. So, training camps need to organize on preparation of various pork products such as ham, bacon, sausage etc, which would help in enhancing the income of pig owners from this enterprise.ThesisItem Open Access AN ASSESSMENT ON WORKING OF LIVESTOCK DEPENDENT SELF HELP GROUPS (SHGs) IN RANCHI DISTRICT OF JHARKHAND(Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 2010) Rewani, Sanjay Kumar; Oraon, J.Indian micro-finance sector dominated by Self Help Groups (SHGs) addresses issues like actualizing equitable gains from the development and fighting poverty. Livestock development through SHGs are, therefore presently on the limelight due to their immense impact on capacity building and demographic enlightenment in rural India. The SHG-bank linkage programme has not progressed in the state of Jharkhand at the same pace as in other parts of country. With this backdrop of poor progress of SHGs in Jharkhand, the present study entitled “An Assessment on Working of Livestock Dependent Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Ranchi District of Jharkhand” was conducted with the following objectives: 1. To study the socio-personal, communication and psychological characteristics of SHG members. 2. To understand the structure and function of selected SHGs. 3. To study the social empowerment of SHG members. 4. To assess the economic empowerment of SHG members. 5. To compare the performance of Government promoted and NGO promoted SHGs. 6. To study the perception of SHG members towards the programme. The present study was carried out in purposively selected Ranchi district of Jharkhand owing to the presence of large number of SHGs in this area, which were predominantly involved in livestock rearing. Three blocks of Ranchi district namely Kanke, Angara and Ormanjhi, having maximum number of livestock dependent SHGs were purposively selected for the study. Two government promoted and two NGO promoted SHGs were randomly selected from each block. Thus, a total of twelve SHGs were selected. All selected SHGs were Women SHGs. All members of the randomly selected SHGs were taken as respondents for the study. Thus, a total of 140 respondents were selected. They were interviewed personally with the help of a structured schedule. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed by using appropriate statistical tools. The salient findings of the study were : majority of the SHG members were middle aged (53.57%), illiterate (75.71%), belonging to ST category (61.43%), possessing small sized family (51.43%) and having agriculture as primary (57.14%) and livestock rearing as secondary (41.43%) occupation ; majority of them were having marginal land holding (67.86%) with annual income upto Rs. 25,000 (62.14%) and 6-10 years experience in animal husbandry (51.43%) ; a great majority of the respondents had low level of extension contact (80.71%), mass media exposure (89.29%) and availability of technical inputs (81.43%) ; most of the members (93.57%) had taken training for animal husbandry and a large number of them were having either neutral or favourable attitude towards animal husbandry (43.57% and 42.14%, respectively) ; majority of the respondents had high level of economic motivation (57.86%) and medium knowledge about animal husbandry practices (60.71%). Majority of the SHGs (83.33%) were medium sized having 10 to 15 members and all the SHGs were homogenous in terms of social and financial background of their members ; structure and conduct of SHGs especially with reference to size, homogeneity, conduct and attendance of meetings, utilization of savings, record keeping etc. were broadly in conformity with the guidelines of the programme ; all the SHGs had passed the Ist grading and had received the revolving fund but only half of them were able to cross the IInd grading and of them only one-third had availed bank loan for Income Generating Activities (IGAs) ; half of the SHGs had taken pig rearing, one-third had taken goat rearing and rest (16.67%) had taken cattle rearing as their IGAs, and only some of the members in all SHGs were involved in IGAs. There was a positive and significant change in the self confidence level, participation in decision making within family and membership in other organizations of the members after joining SHG, however, there was no significant change in economic independency, control over their income and participation in decision making of the members at group or community level ; there was a significant increase in the annual household income of the members from livestock rearing and total annual household income, and a considerable increase in the possession of the assets like home appliances, type of houses, vehicles etc. of the members after joining SHG ; there was no significant difference in the performance of government promoted and NGO promoted SHGs ; almost all the SHG members were in agreement with the positive statements about the SHG and majority were in disagreement with the negative statements.