The department was established as Department of Physiology and Biochemistry in the year 1972 under the Post Graduate Institute of the then Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. In the year 2001 following transfer to Maharashtra Animal and Fishery Sciences University, Nagpur it was separated from Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry and established as an independent Department of Veterinary Physiology. Since the inception in 1972 M.V.Sc. programme was ongoing with admission capacity of four students per year which has been reduced to two students following separation from the parent department in year 2003. The department also has Ph.D. program (by course work ) since 1996 with a admission capacity of two students per year..

The department has conducted research in the fields of reproductive physiology, environmental physiology and ethology apart from identification of some milk constituents as potential markers for detection of mastitis.