Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(4): 366-377 366 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.704.042 Knowledge Index of Farmers about Animal Feed Technologies during Various Training Programmes at Veterinary Varsity in Punjab, India Aparna 1* , Suresh Kumar Kansal 1 , Harish KumarVerma 2 , Jaspal Singh Hundal 3 , Parminder Singh 1 and Jaswinder Singh 1 1 Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education, 3 Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Sciences, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana (Punjab), India 2 Directorate of Extension Education, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Ludhiana (Punjab), India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Livestock sector in India is facing the threats of feed deficit due to less allocation of land for forages and huge number of low-producing animals. Though dairy sector is considered minimum input and a resource flexible enterprise but optimum availability of feed and fodder is the prerequisite for its sustenance. Grover and Kumar (2012) reported deficit of 62.76% for green fodder and more than 30% for concentrates. Birthal International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 04 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Veterinary Universities conduct vocational training courses to impart knowledge to farmers. In order to convert knowledge into practice it needs to be retained for an extended period of time. The present study evaluated the knowledge index (KI) of farmers about animal feed technologies after training course at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana (Punjab). A pre, post and delayed post-test study was conducted on 120 farmers through Knowledge test on Mineral mixture, Urea treatment of wheat straw (UTWS), Uromin lick (UL), Silage making, Hay making, Bypass fat (BF), Bypass Protein (BP), Total mixed ration(TMR), Buffer and Probiotics. In pretest the awareness about the existence of technologies varied between 2.5 and 50.0% (Probiotics and Silage) which increased to 95.8 and 100% (Probiotics and MM, UTWS, Silage and BF) in post-test I. In Post-test II awareness decreased and varied between 32.5 and 100% (Probiotics and MM, UL and Silage) and for Hay, TMR, Buffers and Probiotics downfall was significant. KI for pre-test was 9.72 increased significantly to 75.90 for post-test I and decreased significantly to 40.42 for post-test II (P<0.001).Overall gain of knowledge was significant. Knowledge score was highest for Silage in all three tests (1.67, 4.45 and 2.62) followed by Mineral Mixture (0.86, 4.16 and 2.42) in pre, post-test I and II respectively).TMR and Probiotics had the lowest pretest (0.20 and 0.21) and post-test I (2.91 and 3.86) and delayed post-test score (1.39 and 1.05). Socio-personal parameters had non-significant correlation with knowledge score. Initial improvement in KI indicates effectiveness of training and high assimilation by farmers and later loss of KI reflects non practice. Adoption overrides the retention of knowledge hence follow ups of training programmes are put forward to ascertain the cause behind adoption and non-adoption. Keywords Knowledge retention, Evaluation, Awareness, Knowledge Index, Animal feed technologies Accepted: 04 March 2018 Available Online: 10 April 2018 Article Info