Singh, RamDas, Mridupaban2023-04-032023-04-032020-08https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810196020The per capita milk availability in Meghalaya was 83 g/day in contrast to 375 g/day of India. There remains a wide milk yield gap in Meghalaya, especially in local cows. The TYG in milk production is reported to be about 3.78 L in NER (Paul and Chandel, 2010). The study was held in West Khasi Hills (WKH) and South-West Khasi Hills (SWKH) districts of Meghalaya with following objectives- (i) To estimate the milk production at household level and its disposal pattern and (ii) To assess the yield gap and factors affecting the milk yield gap. Multistage sampling technique was executed during the study where a total of 73 interviewee were interviewed. Tabular analysis was done to determine the mean milk yield and its disposal pattern to various milk marketing agencies. Regression analysis was performed using ANCOVA model to analyse the factors impacting the milk yield gap. The mean milk production/milch animal in study area was 0.89 L/day (0.82 L/day in WKH and 1.01 L/day in SWKH). The most important agency for milk disposal in the study area was middlemen/vendors who dispose milk of about 76.71 per cent of sampled households. TYG was 244.83 per cent overall, while it was 279.75 per cent in WKH and 203.03 per cent in SWKH. The study noted that experience in dairy farming (p<0.01), presence of scientific cattle shed (p<0.01), routine vaccination (p<0.01) of cattle, education of household head (p<0.05) and human labour allocated for dairy (hours) (p<0.10) had a significant influence on milk yield gap of local cow in WKH and SWKH districts of Meghalaya.EnglishThesis