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The article offers information on the importance of progeny testing (PT) of bulls in tropical smallholder dairy sector that helps in the improvement of cattle farming in Kerala, India. It mentions that major source of subsidiary income for the rural sector including smallholding, comes from dairying. It mentions that a cattle improvement programme was started in 1951 with various village schemes and later the Intensive Cattle Development Project (ICDP) was launched.

The dairy sector has been poised for fierce competitiveness due to the commercialization of the dairy sector and the presence of a global market size of 893 billion dollars. It has received a new dimension with the challenge of environmental sustainability. Considering all these challenges, the present research paper studies the major growth factors and the sustainable approach to dairy development in an emerging economy like India. Fifteen major dairy-developed states of India have contributed 90% of the milk production of the country examined from 2001 to 2019. The significance of key growth factors for dairy farming and the dairy value chain is assessed. The opportunity for sustainable dairying is examined. The authors have found that the growth factors of dairy farming and dairy value chain are significant by 1% through the fixed effect (FE) model and random effect (RE) model respectively. Indian dairy farming practices and their approach create optimism about environmental sustainability. The present study has observed a series of operational activities that are conducive to the triple bottom approach. With that, this study has mentioned strategies that can steer growth momentum and support sustainable Indian dairy development in the coming times. [Display omitted] • Three key areas, namely, dairy farming, dairy value chain and environmentally friendly practices for sustainable dairy development. • Two main types of variables (internal and external growth factors) are involved in the development of the dairy farming. • Strategies are formulated to improve milk productivity. • In line with the triple bottom line approach, a series of operational activities are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers in India have been using traditional health care practices in dairy farming since time immemorial. Present paper is an attempt to review the Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) practised and documented across five regions in India viz., North, South, East, West and North East regions to understand the prevalence of ITKs and its dynamics of usage across the country. Cross regional analysis of location specificity of different ITKs, similarities and variation in ingredients usage and researchable issues in ITKs would help in further promoting its widespread usage. Large inter-regional variation in the ITK usage warrants a scope to popularize the validated ITKs among the dairy farmers of other regions where these are not being practised. Concerted research efforts are required in treatment of the important diseases like mastitis which causes heavy economical losses to the farmers, whereas the ITKs may be refined in the form of user friendly package for ultimate solution to the diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]