Adoption behaviour towards scientific feeding practices among dairy farmers in Anand district of Gujarat state

Introduction

India is the world's largest milk-producing country and dairy farming is an important source of livelihood and income for millions of rural households. However, dairy productivity is influenced considerably by the availability, quality and efficient utilization of feed and fodder resources. Feed scarcity has been identified as one of the major constraints responsible for economic losses in Indian dairy production (Birthal et al., 2005) [1] , while animal productivity also varies with management and production conditions (Al Kalaldeh et al., 2021) [2] . Gujarat has a well-developed cooperative dairy system and occupies an important position in India's dairy sector. Nevertheless, studies conducted in different districts have reported several deficiencies in scientific feeding management (Kale et al., 2016) [3] . Farmers commonly depend on stall feeding, locally available green and dry fodder, and concentrate feeding based largely on milk production, while practices such as scientific ration formulation and systematic fodder management are not uniformly adopted (Jadav et al., 2014) [4] . Feed cost, non-availability of green fodder throughout the year, inadequate knowledge of balanced ration formulation, lack of awareness about straw treatment and insufficient knowledge of silage preparation are among the major constraints reported among dairy farmers in Gujarat (Patel et al., 2019) [5] . Fodder production itself is also affected by inadequate credit facilities, limited training and on-farm demonstrations, and other resource constraints, particularly in North Gujarat (Pawar et al., 2019) [6] . Improved feeding and fodder-resource management are therefore essential for enhancing dairy productivity, reducing feed wastage and improving farm profitability. Extension services, farmer training, balanced-ration awareness, improved fodder production, conservation technologies and appropriate supplementation can play an important role in addressing these constraints (Rathva et al., 2019) [7] . Therefore, understanding existing feeding practices, fodder-resource management, and constraints faced by dairy farmers is essential for developing location-specific strategies for sustainable dairy development in Gujarat.

Objectives

1. To assess the socio-economic profile of dairy farmers and its relationship with the adoption of scientific feeding practices among high-yielding dairy cattle.

2. To identify and rank the major constraints faced by dairy farmers in adopting scientific feeding practices.

Material & Methods

An ex-post facto research design was employed for the study in Anand district of Gujarat. A total of 150 dairy farmers were selected through multistage random sampling from five talukas, namely Borsad, Khambhat, Tarapur, Anklav and Anand, with three villages selected from each taluka and ten dairy farmers from each selected village. Data were collected using a structured interview schedule in the Gujarati language. The collected data were analysed using SPSS software using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficient and Response Priority Index (RPI) for ranking the major constraints. The socio-economic profile of the respondents revealed that the majority of dairy farmers (56.00%) belonged to the middle-age group (36-50 years), followed by old (24.67%) and young (19.33%) farmers. A large majority were male (88.67%), while 11.33% were female.

Results & Discussion

Regarding education, the highest proportion had secondary education (31.33%), followed by higher secondary (30.00%) and primary education (20.00%), indicating a moderate educational background among respondents. In terms of family size, 54.00% had small families, while 42.67% had medium-sized families. Dairy farming experience was predominantly medium (33.33%) and low (32.00%). With respect to landholding, the largest proportion possessed medium landholdings (31.33%), followed by semi-medium holdings (30.00%).

Nearly half of the respondents (45.33%) belonged to the low annualincome category. Extension participation was predominantly medium (56.00%), while 70.00% had medium mass-media exposure.

Similarly, most respondents (61.33%) exhibited medium innovativeness, whereas knowledge regarding scientific feeding practices was predominantly high (46.00%), followed by medium (36.00%). The overall profile suggests that the respondents were predominantly middle-aged male dairy farmers with moderate levels of education, extension participation, mass-media exposure and innovativeness. Similar relationships between farmers' socio-economic characteristics, knowledge, extension exposure and adoption of scientific dairy practices have been reported by Sabapara et al. (2010) [8] . The present study also found significant associations of education, herd size, annual income, extension training, mass-media exposure, innovativeness, knowledge and attitude with adoption of scientific feeding practices. The correlation analysis presents a clear pattern: adoption of scientific feeding practices was more closely associated with farmers' capacity to learn, innovate and access information than with their basic demographic or resource characteristics. Innovativeness emerged as the strongest positive correlate of adoption (r = 0.355), followed by knowledge (r = 0.272) and herd size (r = 0.268), while education, annual income, extension training and mass-media exposure also showed significant positive associations. Conversely, age (r = -0.167) and dairy farming experience (r = -0.160) exhibited significant negative relationships, suggesting comparatively lower adoption among older and more experienced farmers. Gender, family size and landholding did not show significant relationships with adoption. Overall, the findings suggest that a farmer's openness to innovation, knowledge base and exposure to extension and information sources may be more influential in encouraging scientific feeding practices than land or family characteristics alone. This is in agreement with Jaisridhar et al. (2013) [9] , who reported that education status, herd size, frequency of contact and informationseeking behaviour were significantly correlated with adoption of scientific dairy farming practices among farmers in Tamil Nadu. Overall, the results demonstrate that feed affordability, balanced-ration knowledge, fodder availability and fodder-resource limitations were the major barriers to adoption of scientific feeding practices among dairy farmers. These findings are consistent with those of Sabapara (2016) [10] in coastal Lokhande et al. (2012) [11] in Haryana, both of whom identified feed cost and fodder scarcity as the primary constraints in the adoption of scientific dairy husbandry practices."

Conclusions

Dairy farmers in Anand district were mostly middle-aged, male and moderately educated, with medium adoption of scientific feeding practices. Adoption was driven more by innovativeness, knowledge, and information access than by land, income or demographics. Major constraints were high concentrate feed cost, lack of balanced-ration knowledge and poor fodder availability. The study recommends stronger extension services, farmer training and better access to affordable feed/fodder to improve adoption and dairy productivity.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors are thankful to Director Research, Kamdhenu University, Gujarat for providing necessary facilities for conducting the study.

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