The Directorate of Extension Education, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana organized a first Research-Extension Interface of faculty of university, KVKs, RRTCs and Veterinary Officers of the Department of Animal Husbandry on “Advances in Dairy Animal Production” to discuss and address the challenges to increase the productivity of dairy
animals. Dr. Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, said that dissemination of information on latest innovations in the livestock sector is the most pressing need of farmers involved in livestock rearing. Extension functionaries share a huge responsibility to help the farmers adopt these innovations which can drastically improve livestock production and benefit the farmers. Therefore, they must have a sound knowledge of the latest developments in the sector.
Dr. Parkash Singh Brar, Director of Extension Education said that extension services of universities, KVKs and line departments of the state government must look for innovative ways to equip the farmers with knowledge and technical inputs related to animal husbandry. He added that research-extension linkages must be strengthened for generating farmer-friendly technologies which can be easily adopted by farmers. In this context, the research-extension interface will pave the way for researchers and extension workers to develop close association for knowledge dissemination and technology transfer to the farming community.
Dr. Parminder Singh, Additional Dir. of Ext. Edu. shared his thoughts on feed quality and standards for dairy animals wherein he Underlined the key requirements to design the diet of dairy animals. Dr. R S Grewal talked about the latest concepts in preparing and feeding silage to dairy animals to ensure balanced nutrition. Dr. M Honparkhe focused on improving the fertility of dairy animals as a means to improve production through a combination of managemental practices and disease prevention. Dr. S S Randhawa discussed the application of diagnostic techniques for early identification and management of diseases. Dr. R K Sharma shared Ethno-Veterinary Practices for maintaining the health and production of dairy animals. Problems and challenges faced by dairy farmers and experts to elevate animal production were also discussed along with possibilities of conducting need-based joint research and extension activities.
