Traditional knowledge adopted by the tribal farmers of the Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu in animal husbandry

Abstract

The study assessed the awareness and adoption behavior of the tribal respondents belonging to the Kotagiri and Udhagamandalam blocks of the Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu with respect to indigenous practices in animal husbandry and assessed the rationality of the Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK). Three tribal communities viz. Todas, Kotas and Irulas were selected for the study thus comprising 180 as sample of the study.  A multistage random sampling method was adopted for the study. The results revealed that the majority of the ITKs had rationality mean scores above 2.5, revealing their wider usage and application in the field of animal husbandry. Turmeric was used to cure ‘bumblefoot’ in chickens, followed by cinnamon which is widely used as a form of oral medicine with feed to poultry. The tribals cured FMD of animals by giving them spider eggs and the ragi flour viz. The rotten horn was cut away with a backstaw leaving a 4cm stub. Traditional knowledge is built on everyday observation and transmitted from the older generation to the young generation through word of mouth. Although, this is more effective in their habitat, it is believed to be totally unscientific and unreliable because it is not recorded. This is recorded only in the minds of the people. The main novelty of this research work is to document and validate the indigenous practices of the tribal communities which are compatible with their traditions and culture. Thus such documented and meaningfully validated indigenous technologies could be promoted among other tribes and farmers of other localities.