Knowledge and practices of dairy farmers relating to brucellosis in urban, peri-urban and rural areas of Assam and Bihar, India

Figures & data

Table 1. Correlation matrix among different independent variables.

Variables	Location	Gender	Age	Education	Farm category	Rearing system	Training on management	Training on disease	Vaccination	Disinfection	Veterinary consultation	Animal movement	Animal introduced	Consumption of raw milk
Location of farms	1.00
Gender	−0.04	1.00
Age	−0.03	0.03	1.00
Education	0.07	0.07	0.12*	1.00
Farm category	0.23*	0.10*	0.17*	0.15*	1.00
Rearing system	0.30*	0.12	0.15*	0.13*	0.70*	1.00
Training on management	0.16*	0.07	0.08	0.03	0.34*	0.27*	1.00
Training on disease	0.09	0.05	0.11	0.07	0.14*	0.10	0.67	1.00
vaccination	0.33	0.04	0.07	0.05	0.62*	0.62*	0.28	0.14	1.00
Disinfection	0.07*	0.11*	0.00	0.02*	0.31*	0.41*	0.08	0.01	0.27*	1.00
Veterinary consultation	0.28*	0.03	0.04	0.109	0.19*	0.30*	0.11	0.05	0.28*	0.20*	1.00
Animal movement	−0.29*	−0.13	−0.17*	−0.13*	−0.70*	−0.98*	−0.28	−0.10	−0.62*	−0.41*	−0.29*	1.00
Introduction of animals	0.12	0.09	−0.10	−0.17	0.48	0.41	0.22	0.10	0.33	0.28*	0.04	−0.42*	1.00
Consumption of raw milk	0.15	0.03*	−0.04	−0.06*	0.15	0.23	0.05	0.09	0.23*	0.13*	0.08	−0.24	0.02	1.00

*p < 0.05

Table 2. Farms and farmers’ characteristics with level of significance (p < 0.05) between Bihar and Assam states.

Variable	Bihar	Assam	Total	p-value
Small farms (1–3 dairy animals)	78.8% (n = 230)	76.5% (n = 185)	77.7% (n = 415)	0.009
Medium farms (4–10 dairy animals)	18.2% (n = 53)	14.5% (n = 35)	16.5% (n = 88)
Large farms (>10 dairy animals)	3.1% (n = 9)	9.1% (n = 22)	5.8% (n = 31)
Age of farmer (40 years or below)	41.1%(n = 120)	21.9%(n = 53)	32.4%(n = 173)	<0.001
Age of farmer (41 years or above)	58.9%(n = 172)	78.1%(n = 189)	67.6% (n = 361)
Gender of farmers (male)	89.72%(n = 262)	95.87%(n = 232)	92.51%(n = 494)	0.007
Gender of farmers (female)	10.27%(n = 30)	4.13%(n = 10)	7.49%(n = 40)
Education (below class 10)	57.9%(n = 169)	70.2%(n = 170)	63.5%(n = 339)	0.003
Education (above class 10)	42.1%(n = 123)	29.8%(n = 72)	36.5%(n = 195)
Fully stall-fed rearing (zero-grazing)	85.3%(n = 249)	27.7%(n = 67)	59.2%(n = 316)	<0.001
Partly stall-fed rearing	14.7%(n = 43)	72.3%(n = 175)	40.8%(n = 218)
Artificial insemination	91.1%(n = 266)	52.5%(n = 127)	73.6%(n = 393)	<0.001

Table 3. Frequency distribution of farmers’ knowing about brucellosis with level of significance (p < 0.05) between Bihar and Assam states.

Knowledge on brucellosis	Bihar	Assam	Total	p-value
Know what brucellosis is	2.4%(n = 7)	4.6%(n = 11)	3.4%(n = 18)	0.30
Heard the name brucellosis but don’t know what it is	4.1%(n = 12)	5.4%(n = 13)	4.7%(n = 25)
Don’t know anything about brucellosis	93.5% (n = 273)	90.1% (n = 218)	91.9% (n = 491)

Table 4. Farmers’ knowledge about brucellosis between Bihar and Assam.

Knowledge on brucellosis	Bihar	Assam	Total
Farmers who knew something about brucellosis	2.4%(n = 7)	4.6%(n = 11)	3.4%(n = 18)
Farmers who knew Brucella affects cattle	2.4%(n = 7)	4.6%(n = 11)	3.4%(n = 18)
Farmers who knew Brucella affects buffalo	1.4%(n = 4)	0	0.8%(n = 4)
Farmers who knew Brucella affects human	1.0%(n = 3)	0.4%(n = 1)	0.8%(n = 4)
Farmers who knew human symptoms	1.4%(n = 4)	0	0.8%(n = 4)
Farmers who knew animal symptoms	2.4%(n = 7)	3.7% (n = 9)	3.0%(n = 16)
Believe Brucella vaccine available	1.0%(n = 3)	1.7%(n = 4)	1.3%(n = 7)
Know Brucella can transmit animals to human	0.3%(n = 1)	1.2%(n = 3)	0.8%(n = 4)
Know Brucella can transmit animal to animal	1.0% (n = 3)	0	0.6%(n = 3)
Know Brucella transmit through milk	1.4%(n = 4)	1.7%(n = 4)	1.5%(n = 8)
Brucella been diagnosed in the farm	0	0.8%(n = 2)	0.4%(n = 2)
Symptoms in human as mentioned	Prolonged fever (n = 3)
Symptoms in animals as mentioned	Abortion (n = 12), vaginal discharge (n = 1), reduced milk (n = 1)

Table 5. Final multivariable analysis of determinants having association with farmers’ knowledge about brucellosis.

Variable name	Odds ratio	95% confidence interval	p-value
Medium size (4–10 dairy animals)* farms compared to small size (1–3 dairy animals)* farms	2.4	0.99–5.69	0.05
Large size (>10 dairy animals)* farms compared to small size (1–3 dairy animals)	6.7	2.18–20.33	<0.001
Fully stall-fed system compared to partly stall-fed	2.9	1.03–7.88	0.04

Table 6. Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of predictors for farmers’ practices relevant for transmission of brucellosis.

Independent factors	Response type	Consumption of raw milk	Use of disinfectant	Movement of animals	Introduction of new animal
Knowledge about brucellosis	Know Don’t know	3.3 (1.2–8.6)* Reference	2.4(1.2–5.0)* Reference	NS	NS
State	Assam Bihar	0.08(0.02–0.3)*** Reference	NS	NS	0.2(0.1–0.3)*** Reference
Location of farms	Urban Rural	NS	NS	0.3(0.2–0.8)*** Reference	NS
Category of farms	Small (1–3 dairy animals) Medium (4–10 dairy animals) Large (>10 dairy animals)	NS	NS	NS	Reference 6.2(0.1–0.3)*** 18.8(7.1–49.0)***
Rearing system of dairy animals	Fully stall-fed Partly stall-fed	NS	2.6(1.6–4.2)*** Reference	0.01(0.0–0.03)*** Reference	NS

*p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, and *** p < 0.001, NS: not significant.