A Survey on Lumpy Skin Disease (lsd) among Dairy Farmers of Palampur Tehsil of Himachal Pradesh, India and Constraints in Adopting Control Measures

Abstract

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is the most fatal viral disease that causes huge economic losses in Cattle farming. The study aims to assess the knowledge, awareness, and practices of dairy farmers in Palampur Tehsil regarding LSD, identify constraints in adopting control measures, and inform effective disease management strategies. The study was conducted from January to June 2025 among 150 farmers from five panchayats (Andreta, Saliana, Sungal, Arla Khas and Paror) in Palampur Tehsil, Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh, India. The survey study on Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle involves systematic data collection and analysis to understand its prevalence, risk factors, and impact on the affected cattle population. The results on the awareness of LSD among dairy farmers revealed that overall, farmers exhibited a neutral or uncertain attitude toward the disease. There was no significant difference in attitude between farmers who had previously encountered lumpy skin disease and those who had not. However, participation in seminars, group discussions, and lectures on lumpy skin disease showed a positive correlation with farmers' attitudes and awareness. Knowledge about the symptoms, modes of transmission, first aid, and preventive and control measures was generally found to be at a high or medium. It is reported that 43.33% dairy farmers exhibited a high level of awareness about lumpy skin disease, while 32.66% and 24% of farmers have medium and low awareness of the disease. Media exposure, interpersonal communication channels, seminars, and workshops attended had a significant role in the general awareness of lumpy skin disease. The majority of the farmers used mobile phones as a source of information (41.33%), other sources are newspaper (33.33%), television (32.66%), and radio (22.66%). The overall distribution of dairy farmers based on awareness of first aid and disease management was also studied, and it is worth stating that the majority of dairy farmers had high awareness of first aid and disease management, i.e. 42.66%, while 36% and 21.33% of farmers had medium and low awareness about disease management. Regarding constraints faced by farmers in adopting control measures, most felt constraints were decreased milk costs during the pandemic (53.33%) and reduction in the production & quality of milk in infected cattle (49.33%).