ICAR JRF Veterinary Science Syllabus 2026 — Code 13 Unit-wise Topics
Complete ICAR JRF Veterinary Science syllabus 2026 — Code 13 unit-wise topics for anatomy, reproduction, medicine, parasitology, pharmacology, pathology, microbiology, surgery, radiology, and public health.
ICAR JRF Veterinary Science Syllabus 2026 — Code 13
Major Subject Group: Veterinary Science
Sub-Subjects: 13.1 Veterinary Anatomy · 13.2 Animal Reproduction, Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 13.3 Veterinary Medicine · 13.4 Veterinary Parasitology · 13.5 Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology · 13.6 Veterinary Pathology · 13.7 Veterinary Microbiology · 13.8 Veterinary Surgery & Radiology · 13.9 Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology
This is the complete syllabus page for ICAR JRF Veterinary Science (Code 13). This paper is broad but still highly pattern-driven: the best scores come from linking basic structure, disease mechanisms, diagnosis, treatment orientation, surgery, and public health instead of studying them as disconnected professional subjects.
Exam Snapshot
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Subject Code | 13 — Veterinary Science |
| Subject Group | Major Subject Group: Veterinary Science |
| Total Questions | 120 MCQs |
| Duration | 2 Hours |
| Marking Scheme | +4 per correct answer |
| Negative Marking | −1/3 per wrong answer |
| Question Type | Multiple Choice (Single correct) |
| Medium | English |
Latest Official Notification Details
| Parameter | 2026-27 Official Detail |
|---|---|
| Notice Date | 08 May 2026 |
| Application Window | 08 May 2026 to 07 June 2026 (up to 5:00 PM) |
| Fee Payment Deadline | 07 June 2026 (up to 11:50 PM) |
| Correction Window | 09 June to 10 June 2026 |
| Exam Date | 04 July 2026 (Saturday) |
| Mode | Computer Based Test (CBT) |
| Pattern | Objective type MCQs |
| Medium | English only |
| Duration | 02 hours (120 minutes) |
| Test Cities | Around 122 cities across India |
| Source | NTA 2026 Public Notice PDF · ICAR Syllabus PDF |
Sub-Subjects Covered
- 13.1 Veterinary Anatomy
- 13.2 Animal Reproduction, Gynaecology and Obstetrics
- 13.3 Veterinary Medicine
- 13.4 Veterinary Parasitology
- 13.5 Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology
- 13.6 Veterinary Pathology
- 13.7 Veterinary Microbiology
- 13.8 Veterinary Surgery & Radiology
- 13.9 Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology
What Is Officially Fixed For Code 13
- Code 13 is the official major subject group for Veterinary Science in AICE JRF/SRF (Ph.D.).
- The paper is conducted in English only, in CBT mode, for 120 minutes.
- The official syllabus publicly covers nine veterinary sub-subjects, from anatomy to public health and epidemiology.
- NTA publishes the notice, exam schedule, mode, and application dates, while the ICAR syllabus PDF fixes the subject coverage.
- NTA does not publish official chapter-wise or discipline-wise weightage for Veterinary Science.
- So any “high-yield” ordering below is exam guidance, not an official marks-distribution grid.
Unit-I: Veterinary Anatomy
This unit gives the structural base for many later questions in surgery, medicine, radiology, and reproduction.
- Gross anatomy of body systems and organs
- Osteology, arthrology, and myology basics
- Histology and microscopic structure of tissues
- Comparative anatomy orientation of important domestic animals
- Applied anatomy linked with clinical examination and surgery
Unit-II: Animal Reproduction, Gynaecology and Obstetrics
- Reproductive anatomy and physiology
- Puberty, oestrous cycle, ovulation, fertilization, and implantation
- Pregnancy diagnosis and gestation basics
- Parturition, dystocia, and obstetrical management orientation
- Infertility, reproductive disorders, and herd fertility basics
- Artificial insemination and semen evaluation orientation
Unit-III: Veterinary Medicine
- General and systemic medicine orientation
- Clinical examination, case history, and diagnosis basics
- Metabolic, nutritional, infectious, and deficiency disorders
- Fluid and electrolyte imbalance basics
- Preventive medicine and herd-health orientation
Unit-IV: Veterinary Parasitology
- General characters and classification of parasites
- Protozoa, helminths, and arthropods of veterinary importance
- Life cycles, epidemiology, pathogenicity, and diagnosis basics
- Host-parasite relationship and control principles
- Zoonotic importance of important parasites
Unit-V: Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology
- General pharmacology and drug action principles
- Chemotherapy and antimicrobial drugs
- Sulpha drugs, antibiotics, antiseptics, and disinfectants
- Drugs acting on major body systems
- Toxicology basics, poisoning, and antidotal orientation
- Residues and rational drug-use basics
Unit-VI: Veterinary Pathology
- Cell injury, inflammation, degeneration, necrosis, and healing
- Disturbances of circulation and growth
- General pathology of organ systems
- Clinical pathology orientation: blood, urine, and tissue changes
- Neoplasia, immunopathology, and diagnostic pathology basics
Unit-VII: Veterinary Microbiology
- Classification and growth of microorganisms
- Bacteriology, virology, and mycology basics
- Culture media, sterilization, disinfection, and lab principles
- Important animal pathogens and disease orientation
- Immunology and host defense basics
- Diagnostic microbiology and vaccination concepts
Unit-VIII: Veterinary Surgery & Radiology
- Asepsis, antisepsis, wound management, and surgical instruments
- Haemorrhage, shock, fracture, and emergency surgery basics
- Anaesthesia and restraint orientation
- Surgical affections of important body systems
- Principles of radiology and imaging interpretation basics
Unit-IX: Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology
- Zoonoses through milk, meat, eggs, and animal contact
- Meat hygiene, milk hygiene, and food safety orientation
- Epidemiology basics: incidence, prevalence, outbreak investigation
- Public-health importance of residues and food-borne infections
- Sanitation, disease prevention, and surveillance orientation
Exam-Focused High-Yield Areas
| Area | Why it is repeatedly important in JRF prep |
|---|---|
| Anatomy + applied structure | Many veterinary MCQs begin with structure-function linkage and move into clinical use |
| Reproduction and obstetrics | A compact but very testable block with strong factual recall and process-based questions |
| Parasite and pathogen classification | Easy for paper setters to convert into direct identification and disease-link questions |
| General pathology | Lesions, inflammation, degeneration, and systemic pathology are core scoring concepts |
| Microbiology and immunology basics | Repeatedly used for organism, diagnosis, sterilization, and vaccination-type MCQs |
| Pharmacology and chemotherapy | Drug groups, antibiotic logic, toxicology, and residue concepts produce straightforward questions |
| Surgery, asepsis, and radiology basics | High-return because the topics are finite and clinically oriented |
| Zoonoses, hygiene, and epidemiology | Small but highly important public-health unit with frequent practical MCQs |
Quick Reference: What To Revise First
| Area | What to focus on first |
|---|---|
| Anatomy | Bones, joints, muscles, histology basics, applied anatomy |
| Reproduction | Oestrous cycle, fertilization, pregnancy, parturition, infertility, AI basics |
| Medicine | Clinical examination, metabolic disorders, infectious disease orientation, fluid-electrolyte basics |
| Parasitology | Classification, life cycles, pathogenicity, diagnosis, zoonotic relevance |
| Pharmacology | Antibiotics, sulpha drugs, chemotherapy, toxicology basics, residues |
| Pathology | Inflammation, degeneration, necrosis, circulatory disturbances, lesions |
| Microbiology | Growth of microorganisms, sterilization, major pathogens, immunity, vaccines |
| Surgery & Radiology | Asepsis, wound healing, fractures, anaesthesia, imaging basics |
| Public Health | Zoonoses, meat and milk hygiene, epidemiology terms, food safety |
How To Prepare The General Agriculture Layer Efficiently With AgriDots
For plant- and agriculture-heavy JRF groups, the common agriculture base is explicit in the official syllabus itself. That is clear in groups such as Agronomy, Soil Science, Horticulture, Entomology, Plant Science, Plant Biotechnology, Social Sciences, and Water Science & Technology. In the animal, dairy, fisheries, food, engineering, forestry, community-science, and statistics groups, the same layer still improves scores because objective papers reward candidates who can quickly eliminate options using basic knowledge of crops, soils, schemes, extension, economics, statistics, and current agriculture.
So the practical rule is simple: do not prepare your subject in isolation. Keep one common-agriculture revision layer active throughout your JRF preparation.
Shared Books For The Common Agriculture Layer
| Book | Best use in common JRF preparation |
|---|---|
| Fundamentals of Agriculture, Vol. 1 & 2 — Arun Katyayan | Best base book for crop production, soils, nutrient deficiency, plant biology, genetics, pests, diseases, and agriculture basics |
| A Competitive Book of Agriculture — Nem Raj Sunda | Best for objective revision once the basic theory is already clear |
| Objective Agriculture for JRF Exam — S. R. Kantwa | Useful for MCQ drilling, recall speed, and mixed-agriculture practice |
| General Agriculture for ICAR Examinations — Muniraj Singh Rathore | Good backup book for one-line revision and broad competitive coverage |
Why AgriDots Is More Efficient Than Reading Books Alone
| Use AgriDots for | Why it is faster than books alone |
|---|---|
| Shared Agriculture Course | It compresses the overlapping JRF base into linked notes across agronomy, soil science, horticulture, genetics, pathology, entomology, economics, extension, animal husbandry, fisheries, ecology, and agricultural statistics instead of forcing you to extract overlap manually from multiple standard books |
| Topic-Wise Agriculture Practice Tests | You can revise chapter by chapter immediately after reading instead of waiting until one full book is complete |
| Agriculture Test Series | Mixed-subject Revision Warrior quizzes train recall across subjects, which is closer to how objective papers actually feel |
| Agriculture Current Affairs Hub | Books do not stay current on MSP, schemes, production reports, fertilizer policy, dairy/fisheries updates, or digital-agriculture changes |
Efficient JRF Workflow With AgriDots
- Read one main subject book for your core discipline and keep the rest of the books as support, not as parallel first reads.
- Use /courses/agriculture to finish the overlapping general-agriculture layer faster than building notes from multiple books.
- After each topic, solve topic-wise quizzes so weak areas become visible immediately.
- Use Revision Warrior mixed tests to train switching between crop, soil, genetics, economics, extension, and current-affairs questions.
- Use agriculture-current-affairs every week so your static preparation stays updated with schemes, policy, production, and report-based questions.
Why this works better than books alone: standard books build depth, but they are slow, repetitive across subjects, and weak on current agriculture. AgriDots is better for speed, revision order, topic linking, and exam-style recall, while books remain your depth source.
Preparation Strategy
- Start with anatomy + pathology + microbiology because they create the strongest disease-understanding framework.
- Then do reproduction, medicine, and pharmacology together so diagnosis and treatment stay connected.
- Revise parasitology as a separate chart-based unit because classification and life-cycle recall improve with repeated short cycles.
- Keep surgery, radiology, and public health for the second half of prep, where concise topic mapping works well.
- Solve PYQs by tracing every question through this chain: system -> agent/lesion -> diagnosis -> management/public-health implication.
Syllabus-Wise Best Books
This list keeps the same book-to-syllabus mapping format used across the JRF subject pages.
| Book | Best use in the syllabus |
|---|---|
| Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy — K. M. Dyce, W. O. Sack & C. J. G. Wensing | Best overall base for Code 13 |
| Reproduction in Farm Animals — E. S. E. Hafez & B. Hafez | Best for anatomy and reproduction support |
| Pathologic Basis of Veterinary Disease — James F. Zachary | Best for pathology |
| Veterinary Microbiology and Microbial Disease — P. J. Quinn et al. | Best for microbiology |
| Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology — R. D. Gupta | Best for medicine and pharmacology |
| Veterinary Parasitology — Geoffrey M. Urquhart et al. | Best for parasitology |
| A Textbook of Veterinary Special Surgery — D. N. Tyagi & Jit Singh | Best for surgery and radiology |
| Veterinary Epidemiology — Michael Thrusfield | Best for public health and epidemiology |
| Minimal rank-oriented plan | Pathologic Basis of Veterinary Disease — James F. Zachary, Veterinary Microbiology and Microbial Disease — Quinn et al., and Reproduction in Farm Animals — Hafez & Hafez + PYQs |
Lesson Doubts
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