Small Ruminant Production in India : Strategies for Enhancing

Contents: Preface. 1. Perspectives of small ruminant production for augmenting rural prosperity/S.A. Karim. 2. Goat rearing for Chevon production: national perspective/N.P. Singh. 3. Contribution of small ruminants in red meat production in India/N. Kondaiah and Y. Babji. 4. Nutrition of lambs in pre- and post weaning phase of growth/S.A. Karim, M.K. Tripathi and N.M. Soren. 5. Application of rumen microbiology techniques and biotechnology to improve equality and quantity of mutton production/M.K. Tripathi and S.A. Karim. 6. Rumen manipulation for improving small ruminant productivity/A. Santra. 7. Nutritional manipulation for maximization of pre and post weaning growth/R.S. Bhatt. 8. Strategic supplementation to meet critical requirement of nutrients for sustainable small ruminant production/S.K. Sankhyan. 9. Nutrition of range managed sheep in semiarid and arid regions of India/A.K. Shinde. 10. Synchronization of nutrient balance for optimizing sheep production/Bandla Srinivas, Om Hari Chaturvedi and Raman Malik. 11. Nutrition of small ruminants under arid environment/Tribhuwan Sharma. 12. Interventions to sustain small ruminant productivity during drought conditions/R.C. Jakhmola. 13. Nutritional manipulation for the optimizing wool production/Raman Malik, Bandla Srinivas and Om Hari Chaturvedi. 14. Recent advances in reducing enteric methane emission in ruminants through feeding strategies/R.C. Jakhmola. 15. Bio-conversion of agro-wastes into microbial feed for feed security to small ruminants/Asim K. Misra, M.M. Das and K.K. Singh. 16. Application of In Vitro Gas Production Technique for feed resources evaluation/Narayan Dutta. 17. Sheep genetic resource and strategic breeding for improving mutton production: national perspective/A.L. Arora and L.L.L. Prince. 18. Significance of prolificacy trait in intensive mutton production/A.K. Mishra. 19. Sheep for mutton production in Southern India/L. Leslie Leo Prince. 20. Malpura: a promising breed for enhancing mutton production/A.K. Mishra. 21. Advanced reproductive technologies for improving reproductive efficiency of sheep/S.M.K. Naqvi, Anil Joshi and S. Saha. 22. Nutrition reproduction interaction in farmer's sheep flock/Davendra Kumar, V.P. Maurya and Sajjan Singh. 23. Preservation of ram semen: recent trends/Anil Joshi, Davendra Kumar and S.M.K. Naqvi. 24. Thermal stress and sheep production in semi-arid tropics/V.P. Maurya, S.M.K. Naqvi and R. Gulyani. 25. Measures to ameliorate heat stress under arid conditions/S.K. Kaushish. 26. Shelter management for improving small ruminant production/Rajeev Gulyani. 27. Significance of body condition score on carcass traits of sheep/V.P. Maurya, V. Sejian and Davendra Kumar. 28. Phytoestrogens in mutton production/Bandla Srinivas, Om Hari Chaturvedi and Shaikh Abdul Karim. 29. Scope and prospects of sheep farming for organic meat and wool production in the country/A.K. Shinde. 30. Market trends in goat and sheep meat: national and international scenario/M.K. Agnihotri and V. Rajkumar. 31. Scope of value addition and commercialization in sheep and goat meat/A.R. Sen and S.A. Karim. 32. Food safety regulations with special emphasis on organic residues in meat/Navneet Saxena, D. Lal and B.S. Punia. 33. Meat processing technologies for value addition and higher income generation/S. Sureshkumar and D. Santhi. 34. Pelt processing technologies -- recent trends/R.S. Dhillon. 35. Socio-economic status of small ruminant producers and sustainability of small ruminant production in India/D.C. Gupta, Suresh A. and J.S. Mann. 36. Economic fat lamb production technologies for field application/O.H. Chaturvedi, B. Srinivas and R. Malik. 37. Socioeconomic status of sheep farmers and marketing structure for sheep products in India with particular emphasis on semi-arid regions of Rajasthan/Suresh A., D.C. Gupta and J.S. Mann. 38. Rural employment and business opportunities in value chain of small ruminant production: national and international trend/Maya Kant Awasthi. 39. Organized health care technologies for educing morbidity and mortality in sheep/D. Singh and C.P. Swarnkar. 40. Alternative approach for worm management with emphasis on phyto-anthelmintics/C.P. Swarnkar and D. Singh. 41. Relevance of nematophagous fungi in control of gastrointestinal nematodes of small ruminants/F.A. Khan. 42. Grassland and pasture management systems in arid and semiarid region - an overview/R.K. Jain and R.P. Nagar. 43. Management of CPR, cultivated pastures and silvi pasture in semi-arid and arid environment for sustainable small ruminant production/J.S. Mann and S.C. Sharma. 44. Role of wool in sheep husbandry/N.P. Gupta and R.K. Arora.

"Two-third of world's poor live in Asia below defined poverty lines and more than 65% of them are poor livestock keepers deriving their economic sustenance from small ruminant rearing. Small and marginal farmers or land less labors with negligible land holding for conventional agriculture rely on livestock, particularly small ruminant rearing for their sustenance. Sheep and goat rearing is less capital intensive operated by employing surplus family labor or women and children on community rangeland under extensive range management. Agro-climatically large part of the country is semiarid and arid where conventional agriculture is always a gamble due to erratic rain and frequent failure of monsoon hence livestock particularly small ruminant play pivotal role in agrarian economy. Sheep were earlier reared for wool as the major produce while with paradigm shift in agriculture meat has replaced wool. More than 70 % Indian consumers are non vegetarian by choice with preference for sheep and goat meat. With rapid urbanization and improvement in economic status, the demand for meat is likely to increase further than the present level of 6 kg/person year. Moreover the demand for meat in southern states, J & K and export market is increasing rapidly requiring development of technology to meet the challenge. The advantage of large population size, comparatively leaner meat yield suited for elite calorie conscious consumers, organic production, increasing demand of domestic market and export avenues due render the venture promising for investment by entrepreneurs. Various system of small ruminant production is practiced world over while the existing system of extensive range management and developed system of grazing with supplementation and intensive feeding has relevance in Indian context. Moreover under extensive range management the small ruminants are practically reared on organic production system hence their produce can fetch premium price in high-end domestic and international markets. The need of the day is to increase carcass weight and reproductive efficiency with a strategy to produce more quality meat/animal." (jacket)