Adoption of Improved Backyard Poultry Management Practices in Washim District of Maharashtra

The study was conducted in the Washim district of Maharashtra on adoption of management practices into backyard poultry keeping was done through exploratory research design. The sample of 100 respondents was chosen on a random basis, and the information gathered via personal interviews on the basis of a structured schedule. It was analyzed using statistical tools, like frequency, standard deviation and mean. The results showed that majority of the respondents (71) were between the ages of middle-aged (36-50 years), 31 percent had primary education, and 86 percent lived in nuclear families. Almost 47 percent possessed marginal land holdings and 61 percent possessed medium experience (5-15 years) on poultry rearing. It was found that approximately 51 percent of people had reared desi birds, and 75 percent had medium income of poultry. Most of them demonstrated the medium use of information (64%), economic motivation (54%), and knowledge (63%). The correlation analysis revealed that land-holding, type of poultry birds, and knowledge had positive and significantly significant relationship (0.01 level) with adoption. The level of significance was 0.05 in annual income and infrastructure. The relationship between age and information sources was however negative and not significant whereas all other variables were positively but non significantly associated. Significant limitations were incidence of disease (100%), predator attack (84%), scientific knowledge gap (63%), timing (55%) and insufficient veterinary care. The findings suggest that targeted interventions in infrastructure, knowledge dissemination, and veterinary and extension services are critical for improving adoption of scientific backyard poultry management practices in Washim district.