Ethnoveterinary Practices: An age-old Medicine in Bovine Care
Ethnoveterinary medicine
The application of traditional medicine to veterinary medicine has been termed as ethno veterinary medicine. It is mainly concerned with folk beliefs, knowledge, skills, and methods and practices which are used in the healthcare of animals (Fasil, 2001). According to Misra and Kumar (2004), it is the community-based local or indigenous knowledge and methods of caring for, healing and managing livestock. This also includes social practices and the ways in which livestock are incorporated into farming systems. This knowledge and methods varies from region to region, and from community to community. EVM is defined simply as the traditional treatments and practices that livestock keepers are using now, other than modern synthetic drugs. It is described as the holistic interdisciplinary study of the local knowledge and the socio-cultural structures and environment associated with animal health care and husbandry. It has some synonyms. At times it is referred to as veterinary anthropology or traditional animal health care and practices. It involves different aspects of traditional animal health techniques and practices. Such aspects include pharmacology and toxicology, vaccination, surgery, management and Magico- religious practices and beliefs. It is also holistic comprehension of the indigenous systems of animal health, their interpretation through western medicine and the development of effective and appropriate technologies (Mathias and McCorkle, 1989).
Ethno veterinary practices concern to animal healthcare is a century old practice stated back to domestication of various livestock species. It involves use of domestic knowledge, belief, practices and skills pertaining to healthcare and management of human, animals and birds (Mc Corkle, 1986) . This branch of science, known as ethnoveterinary practices or EVPs is becoming a growing concern in the field of ethnobotany in the West (Lans et al., 2006) [13] . India being a developing country with rich ethnoveterinary knowledge, is sought to be a ‘EVP hub’ owing to practice with decades of experiences. Since time immemorial, the practice is mainly based on the use of plant formulations and other locally available cheap ingredients. Livestock raisers and local people with a strong knowledge of veterinary medicine usually follow traditional ways of classifying, diagnosing, preventing and treating common animal ailments. The traditional medicines that are commonly used for animal healthcare can cut down costs considerably. Moreover, they are readily available to the ordinary farmer.
Ethnoveterinary Research and Development with its introduction highlighted folk-based knowledge, beliefs, techniques, and skills related to animal health and production. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80% of people in developing countries rely heavily on indigenous practices to control and treat various diseases that affect both humans and animals (SriBalaji & Chakravarthi, 2010). The majority of the rural and tribal population of India is directly or indirectly dependent on agricultural practices and livestock farming for earning a living. Marginal farmers and livestock rearers rarely manage to visit veterinary clinical facilities for addressing their animal health issues. Due to the high cost of modern medicines, different geographical barriers, and the lack of proper communication systems, farmers have preferred using old traditional ways to heal their animals. Ethnoveterinary treatments are readily available, simple to manufacture, and administer, and they come at little or no expense to the farmer. Ethnoveterinary medicine differs not only from region to region but also among and within communities. Depending upon the terrain and diversity of an area, different ethnoveterinary practices are being performed.
Current status and future perspectives of ethno veterinary practice in India
In India, ethnoveterinary practices are common since time immemorial. The knowledge are imprinted and carried to future generations in the form of text manuscripts, by word of mouth and most of the folk health practices largely remain undocumented. A few oldest existing book of ancient era form the asset or repository of livestock health care practices in India. It includes Asvayurvedasiddhanta (Ayurvedic practices for horses), Asvacikitsita (therapeutics of horses), Asvavaidyaka (medicines of horses), Hastyayurveda (Ayurveda of elephants) (Tiwari and Pande, 2010) . The contemporary India classifies ethnoveterinary systems on the basis of caste, religion and ecosystem. Therefore, sophistication, characteristics and intensities of these systems differ greatly among individuals, societies and regions. Also knowledge of ethnoveterinary medicine reported in different regions of modern India were documented and published.
Ethno veterinary practice: An alternative treatment approach
India being a developing country, where nearly 80% of the population is below poverty line, mainly adopts agrarian economy. Animal agriculture is now a growing concern as it can satisfy unmet needs of the poor and can provide some income to the family. Being poor and weak, they can hardly afford for their own living, while to think for better animal living is still a long way to go. The practice is a cost effective and dynamic solution to the poor farmers for whom, fulfilling the basic amenities are always priority. Also it can be a major alternative to antibiotics use for the purpose of promoting growth and production performance or for prophylaxis and treatment of various pathogenic organisms. This way it could be of great help to reduce the emergence of multidrugresistant pathogens or superbugs and to avoid antibiotic residues in food of animal origin, like meat, milk and egg. The constitutional ingredients of ethnoveterinary medicine are easily and locally available, easy to prepare and administer. Furthermore it has covered ever areas of veterinary specialization and all livestock species.
Ethnoveterinary practice:
Elements Added advantage to combat drug resistance and have fewer damaging side effects on health and environment than western medicine has a positive effect on the growth of this traditional wisdom. Traditional healing practices include three most important elements. These are application of natural products, appeal to natural forces and the last one is manipulation and surgery (Balaji and Chakravarthi, 2010) . Natural products used are medicinal plants and by-products, edible earth and minerals, parts and products of animals and other ingredients (Balaji and Chakravarthi, 2010) . There are various review reports stating various aspects of indigenous medicinal practices followed in different regions of the country for treatment and control of various diseases affecting both human and animals.
Medicinal plants and byproducts
Plants constitute most common and most easily available source of ingredients in the preparation of ethnomedicine. Almost all parts of plants, including leaves, bark, roots, fruits, flowers and seeds are used in medicinal preparations. The plants belonging to different families have property of healing and preventing various disorders. Some plant families have wide range of usage by ethno practitioners such as Acanthaceae, Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Apocynaceae, Asclepideaceae, Caesalpinaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Liliaceae, Mimosaceae, Moraceae, Poaceae, Rutaceae, Rubiaceae, Solanaceae and Zingiberaceae. The primary and secondary metabolites synthesized and accumulated by these plant such as terpenoids (monoterpenes, lactones, diterpenes, saponins and others), phenolics (phenols, flavonoids, quinones, tannins and lignins), sulphur compounds (glucosilates, disulphides and acetylenic thiophenes) and nitrogen compounds (alkaloids, amines, non-protein aminoacids and cyanogenetic glycosides), certain organic acids and polyacetylenes (Cotton, 1996) constitute main principles of treatment. For example, root decoction or extract of Triumfetta pentandra is given to cattle after delivery to cure problems like poor lactation, expulsion of placenta (Deshmukh et al., 2011) .
Edible earth and minerals —Termite and ant hills serve as common source of edible earth used in ethnoveterinary preparations. Edible earth like limestone used commonly for decoctions. c. Animal parts and products Animal products such as milk, butter; animal byproducts such as skin, hide, bone and animal excreta such as dung and urine serve as common ingredients of ethnomedicine next to plants. Honey, vegetable oils and butter and salts are used for their healing and preservative properties.
Challenges faced by ethno veterinary practice in present arena
In current scenario, with increasing population the forest area is decreasing. The era is shifting towards western ends discouraging the aforestation and prefers more to readily available drugs. Also youths of India showing little interest towards this practice owing to disbelief and large communication gap with previous generation. Day by day, India is losing experienced persons as they are growing old and poor and there is no encouragement to pass this rural wisdom to next generations. Also, not a single Indian policy or regulation is framed till now to protect this traditional, indigenous rural wisdom. No one is aware of protecting this practice. So it is fading away in the mask of western medicine. The introduction of modern practices also made it difficult for the younger generations to appreciate and use the beliefs and practices of their forefathers. Despite recent efforts to promote the use of ethno veterinary knowledge worldwide, much information is only documented in field reports and scientific publications.
Ethnoveterinary practice: Limitations
Even though time tested, it cannot be followed in emergent situation as collection of ingredients sometimes become a major hurdle. Some remedies are inconvenient to prepare and use. Always experience matters in this practice with respect to amount of different ingredients to be used to prepare the final one. Also doses are uncertain and remedies are not standard. The diagnosis is mainly based on symptoms rather than underlying cause of the disease. Furthermore, ethnomedicines are not fast acting and potent and less suitable to treat epidemic and endemic infectious diseases. Sometimes, there is a chance of animals getting poisoned by use of high amount of poisonous plants like Atropa Belladona. Knowledge of subsequent antidote and correct diagnosis of poisoning case could of great help in the case.
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