A Relationship between Socio-personal Characteristics with the Extent of Accessing Different Information Sources on Dairy Husbandry Activities by Field Veterinarians in Coastal Odisha

Abstract
Background: Veterinarians in field conditions access different sources for gathering information on dairy husbandry activities. The information source used most frequently must be given due importance by the researchers and scientists to provide quality information. Methods: The present study was conducted among 120 field veterinarians of coastal Odisha. The sources used by the respondent veterinarians were identified and analysed for the extent of usage of the sources. The mean was calculated for frequency of accessing different sources for information on dairy husbandry activities as per the data collected in a 3-point continuum scale namely Always (2), Sometimes (1) and Never (0) and ranks were assigned accordingly. The effect of different independent variables on different information sources was analysed using one way ANOVA. Result: It was reported that usage of internet by the respondents was ranked 1st followed by WhatsApp 2nd, Personal contact 3rd, Phone calls 4th, Technical literatures 5th, books 6th, journals 7th, TV 8th, Apps 9th, SMS 10th and email 11th respectively. It was observed that the female respondent veterinarians were using books and journals significantly more than their male counterparts. Significant difference was observed in usage of books for acquiring information between the respondent veterinarians of young age group (up to 35 years) and old age group ( greater than 50 years). Significant differences were observed between the respondent veterinarians with less than 10 years of job experience and greater than 20 years of experience for using personal contact method with the lower estimates for the higher experienced group.