About Department

The Department of Veterinary Microbiology (formerly Veterinary Bacteriology & Hygiene) was created on July 1, 1965 at the College of Veterinary Sciences, Hisar, one of the oldest veterinary colleges in India. The department has taken a lead role for teaching and research activities in the disciplines of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology. The department has contributed excellently in sub disciplines of virology, bacteriology, mycology and immunology. Over a period of time, the department bagged a numbers of research projects from various funding agencies such as PL-480, Indo-USSR, ICAR, DBT, UGC, RKVY, HLDB etc. The department has been consistently making tangible contributions towards prevention and control of infectious animal diseases. On the basis of research work carried out under these projects, several significant achievements of practical importance were obtained. Amongst these, few were considered as major break-through in research. The pioneering and first-time lead studies have been made in the fields of poxviruses, salmonellae and other enterobacteria, foot-and-mouth disease virus, bluetongue virus, equine herpesvirus, bovine rotaviruses, buffalo immunology, experimental vaccines, genetically engineered nanobody production by phage display technology, monoclonal antibody-based assays, molecular diagnostic tests, etc. The faculty and students have won several coveted awards, honours and recognition, including Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Memorial Award, Hari Om Trust Award, ICAR Team Award, National Professor and National Fellows for their outstanding research contributions. The faculty members have also authored/edited several books which have been published by international and national publishers.

The department essentially imparts training to students of under graduates (B.V.Sc. & A.H.) and post graduate degree programmes like MVSc and PhD. The department offers M.V.Sc and Ph.D. degrees in Veterinary Microbiology and Veterinary Immunology. It is one of the few departments in India that offers M.V.Sc and Ph.D. degrees in Veterinary Immunology. The department has ICAR Regional Research Centre on FMD. The Regional Research Centre on FMD, Hisar was adjudged as the “Best Regional Centre” of ICAR-Project Directorate on FMD amongst all the Regional Centres, continuously for four years during Annual Meetings 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14; and received ‘A’ grade for the year 2020.

More than a dozen of the faculty members were awarded and availed Ph.D. and Post Doctoral Fellowships by different international agencies like, Common Wealth countries, France, Germany, USSR, USA and other countries. Many of our faculty and students are occupying positions in both government and non-government organization in foreign countries. Recognizing the significant contributions in the area of Veterinary Microbiology research & education, academic excellence and faculty strength, the ICAR has established Centre of Advanced Faculty Training (ICAR-CAFT) in Veterinary Microbiology since 1995. The ICAR-CAFT has so far organised 35 training course for the faculty of SAUs/ SVASUs/ and ICAR institutes since 1995.