ADOPTION OF IMPROVED DAIRY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: A STUDY ON GOWLI COMMUNITY.

The present research was conducted during the year 2020-21 in Dharwad district of North Karnataka. The expost facto research design was used in this study. Considering more number of Gowli families, six villages of Dharwad taluk were selected and from each village 20 respondents were selected randomly, constituting 120 samples for the study. The results indicated that 69.17 per cent of Gowlis belonged to the low adoption category. Cent percent (100%) of the Gowlis possessed local and crossbreed cow and upgraded buffaloes for milch purpose and 95.83 per cent had full adoption to keep watch on heat symptoms of cow/buffalo. In feeding practices, 98.30 and 63.34 per cent of them had partially adopted feeding 12 kg green fodder and 5 kg dry fodder per day per animal and feeding 1 kg of concentrates per every 2 kg milk yield, respectively. More than onetenth of Gowlis had fully adopted management practices for Haemorrhagic septicaemia (11.67%) and Black quarter (10.83%). Construction of dairy shed at a higher elevation was fully adopted by only 12.50 per cent of Gowlis and filtering of milk with a sieve or muslin cloth after milking was fully adopted by 76.67 per cent. Cent percent (100%) of Gowlis perceived these constraints as greater extent i.e., non-availability of green fodder, non-availability of emergency veterinary services and low milk yield, whereas, constraints perceived as lesser extent were lack of insurance of dairy animals (99.17 %). Variables such as Cosmopoliteness and Economic motivation had a positive and significant relationship with Adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]