Alagudurai, SMohan, BTANUVAS2020-11-272020-11-272014-11https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810155866TNV_WS_SA_E_Nov2014(117-122)Livestock play an important role in the rural economy of India by providing employment and supplementary farnily income, which contributes about 25.9 per cent of the total agricultural income and 3.9 per cent of national GDP. India supports nearly 20 per cent of the World livestock and 16.8 per cent human population over a land area of only 2.3 per cent. According to All India livestock census 2007, the country had 529 million livestock population and 648 million poultry population. Although India has very large population of livestock, the productivity of milk and other livestock product per animal is relatively very low compared to many other countries around the world. One of the main reasons for the low productivity of our livestock is malnutrition, under- nutrition or both, besides the low genetic potential of the animals.EnglishVeterinary ScienceAnimal ScienceArticle