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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Animal Nutrition constitutes 60-65% of total cost in dairy enterprise. The objective to reduce the feeding costs needs emphasis on knowledge and utilization of latest feed technologies which can reduce the productivity gap. Extension plays an important role in diffusion of any such technology and local para-veterinary professionals are one of the key agents for this. Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University (GADVASU) Ludhiana offers two year diploma course in Veterinary pharmacy at Veterinary Polytechnic College, Kaljharani, Bathinda (Punjab). One batch of 55 students were tested for their cognitive domain about animal feed technologies (Bypass fat, Bypass protein, Mineral mixture, Silage making, Tube silage, Total mixed ration, Feed block, Feed pelleting, Urea treatment of wheat straw, Uromin lick and Buffer) during their internship. The study revealed that 63.6% students had their knowledge level in low and medium level category. About 98.2% respondents had awareness about mineral mixture whereas only 5.4 % respondents had adroitness about chelated mineral mixture. 18.2% respondents were aware about the use of anions to prevent milk fever in dairy animals. 70.9% respondents were aware about the urea treatment of wheat straw but technical proficiency varied from 20-60%. About 58.2% knew about Uromin lick but merely 20% knew about its contents. Awareness about silage making was 100% however cognition on technical aspect was 28.2%. Only 25.4% respondents had knowledge about feed pelleting. Total mixed ration and feed blocks approached the awareness level of 60% and 21.8%, respectively. Lowest level of awareness was reported for tube silage (12.7%) and use of buffers (18.2%) in dairy ration. Therefore, from present study it may be concluded that low to medium knowledge level of para-veterinary professionals about animal feed technologies should need to be improved to minimize productivity gap and maximize profitability.