The present study was carried out in villages of Ludhiana district of Punjab state by selecting 120 mothers of children with the age group of 1-3 years. The requisite data were collected using pretested questionnaire. The cut off for malnourished children was taken as -2 SD below the reference median. The mean knowledge level of mothers was found to be maximum in the area of hygiene and sanitation (93.8%) followed by feeding practices (73.7%) and pregnancy (60.1%). The knowledge level regarding anaemia was very low (9.8%). The nutrition knowledge scores of rural mothers were significantly related to age, education, occupation, caste and family income. Maternal nutrition knowledge exerted a significant intervening affect in improving the nutritional status of their children. Awareness of mothers about the nutrition needs to be further improved with special reference to anaemia with basic nutrition and health education, awareness and proper counseling

Keyword: Anaemia; Children; Nutrition knowledge; Pregnancy; Rural mothers