Animal Husbandry Optional Syllabus for UPSC 2025

Complete syllabus guide for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science Optional in UPSC Civil Services Examination. Master both papers with our comprehensive study material.

PAPER—I

1. Animal Nutrition

1.1 Partitioning of food energy within the animal
Physical and chemical properties of feeds
Various processing treatments for feeds
Influences of feeding processed feeds to animals
Measures of food energy
Energy requirements for maintenance and production
Energy balance, Energy value of foods
Determination of feed efficiency
Nutrient requirements for growth, maintenance and production
Balanced rations

2. Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology

2.1 Advances in Ruminant Nutrition
Nutrient requirements
Balanced and imbalanced diets
Feeding of dairy cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, camel, horse, pig and poultry
Conservation of fodders and pasture
Prevention of anti-nutritional and toxic factors

3. Animal Physiology

3.1 Growth and Animal Production
Prenatal and postnatal growth
Maturation, growth curves
Measures of growth
Factors affecting growth
Body composition
Meat quality

4. Livestock Production and Management

4.1 Commercial Dairy Farming
Comparison of dairy farming in India with advanced countries
Dairying under mixed farming and specialized farming
Economic dairy farming
Starting of a dairy farm
Capital and land requirements
Organization of dairy farm
Procurement of goods
Opportunities in dairy farming
Factors determining the efficiency of dairy animal
Herd recording, budgeting, cost of milk production
Pricing policy
Personnel Management

5. Milk Technology

Organization of rural milk procurement
Collection and transportation of raw milk
Quality, testing and grading raw milk
Quality storage grades of whole milk
Skimmed milk and cream
Processing, packaging, storing, distributing, marketing defects and their control
Preparation of the following milks: Pasteurized, standardized, toned, double toned
Sterilized, homogenized, reconstituted, recombined and flavoured milks
Preparation of cultured milks
Cultures and their management
Nutritive value of fermented milk products

PAPER—II

1. Genetics and Animal Breeding

1.1 Animal Genetics
Mitosis and Meiosis
Mendelian inheritance
Deviations to Mendelian genetics
Expression of genes
Linkage and crossing over
Sex determination, sex influenced and sex limited characters
Blood groups and polymorphism
Chromosomal aberrations
Gene and its structure
DNA as a genetic material
Genetic code and protein synthesis
Recombinant DNA technology
Mutations, types of mutations, methods for detecting mutations and mutation rate

2. Animal Reproduction

Semen quality
Preservation and Artificial Insemination
Components of semen
Measurements of sperm motility and fertility
Morphological evaluation of semen
Transport and survival of spermatozoa
Factors affecting semen preservation
Composition of diluents
Sperm concentration
Extension and storage of semen
Deep freezing of semen and liquid nitrogen containers
Semen evaluation
Training of bulls for AI
Health management of breeding bulls
Sterility and disease control in AI

3. Livestock Production and Management

3.1 Commercial Poultry Production
Poultry production systems
Role of poultry in rural economy
Planning and management of poultry enterprise
Production planning and monitoring
Capital and land requirements
Organization of poultry farm
Procurement of goods and resources
Economics of production
Record keeping

4. Animal Health and Hygiene

4.1 Epidemiology
Principles and methods of epidemiology
Epidemiological features of air, water and food borne infections
OIE regulations, WTO, sanitary and phytosanitary measures
4.2 Veterinary Hygiene
Zoonoses, prevention and control of important zoonoses
Milk and meat hygiene
Sources of contamination
Hygiene in rural and urban slaughter houses

5. Extension

Basic philosophy, objectives, concept and principles of extension
Different methods adopted to educate farmers under rural conditions
Generation of technology, its transfer and feedback
Problems and constraints in transfer of technology
Animal husbandry programmes for rural development

Recommended Study Resources

Essential Books

• Livestock Production Management by G.C. Banerjee
• Animal Nutrition and Feeding Practices by S.K. Ranjhan
• Handbook of Animal Husbandry by ICAR
• A Textbook of Animal Husbandry by G.C. Banerjee
• Dairy Cattle and Buffalo Production by C.K. Thomas and N.S.R. Sastry

Specialized References

• Poultry Production by R.A. Singh
• Sheep and Goat Production by V.K. Acharya
• Veterinary Medicine by Radostits
• Animal Breeding by G.S. Dhillon
• Principles of Animal Genetics by R. Wright

Online Resources

• ICAR e-Courses (https://ecourses.icar.gov.in)
• National Dairy Research Institute E-Resources
• Veterinary Science Virtual Library
• FAO Animal Production Resources
• World Organization for Animal Health Resources

Practice Materials

• Previous Years' UPSC Animal Husbandry Papers
• Current Science Journals for latest developments in Animal Science
• ICAR NET Study Materials
• Model Question Papers
• Subject-wise Practice Questions