Medicinal Plants Used for Treatment of Animal Diseases in India
The rich and diversified flora of India provides valuable storehouse of medicinal plants. The curative properties of herbs have long been known and are documented in ancient manuscripts such as in Rig Veda, Garuda Purana and Agni Purana. These treatises focus on the potential of plants and herbs to cure human ailments and diseases. Scientists are now documenting various ethnoveterinary practices based on plant drugs. The plant wealth of India also offers the people who tend livestock a rich reservoir in treating the diseases and ailments of the animals. Seventy six percent population of India is predominantly rural.
In Indian agriculture, livestock plays a key role in the farmers life, they provide farm power, rural transport, manure, fuel, milk and meat, but also a major role in rural economy by providing income and employment to the small hold farmers and other weaker sections of the society. The indigenous knowledge of the veterinary health care system acquired by traditional herbal healers and elderly learned farmers and is orally transformed from one generation to other. It is less systematic and less formalized and is usually transferred by word of mouth rather than in writing.
Ethnoveterinary medicine, deal with traditional animal health care which encompasses the knowledge, skills, methods, practices and beliefs about animal health care. Ethnoveterinary medicine is developed by farmers in fields and barns, rather than by scientists in laboratories and clinics. Ethnoveterinary medicine often provides cheaper options than comparable western drugs and the products are locally available and more easily accessible. In the face of these and other factors, there is increasing interest in the field of ethnoveterinary research and development.
The possible benefit of plant derived medications constitutes a rewarding area of research, particularly in countries such as India which have a rich biodiversity of natural plant resources coupled with a high prevalence and variety of infectious diseases. The characteristics, sophistication, and intensity of the ethnoveterinary systems differ greatly among individuals, societies, and regions. Hence, documentation of ethnoveterinary medicine from regions having a rich ethnographic and biodiversity setting would be of great significance. Traditional knowledge of ethnoveterinary medicinal plants and their use by indigenous cultures are not only useful for conservation of cultural traditions and biodiversity but also for community healthcare and drug development in the present and future. Documentation of indigenous knowledge and evaluation of the use of plants for a variety of purposes assume greater significance, not just to retain it, but also to keep it alive and make it available for future use because of rapid socio-economic and cultural changes that are taking place across the traditional community of the region.
All veterinary doctors will unanimously agree that treating ruminaltympany disease (bloated rumen or paunch of the cattle) is difficult. After all, it is responsible for 20 per cent of cattle mortality in the country.
But a study on the use ethno-veterinary medicines-traditional practices of veterinary medicine using local plants and herbs-claims local cattle herders cure the lethal cattle disease with good old tamarind. The paper, Use of Ethno-Veterinary Medicines (EVM) from Vidarbha Region, India, published in Bioscience Discovery, in July 2014 found that the use of plants to heal cattle diseases is a common practice in the tribal parts of Nagpur, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts of Maharashtra.
It has identified 46 plants used to cure different diseases in livestock used by 60 herbalists and cattle herders experienced in administering such plant-based medicines. The paper found EVM to be highly effective in curing 20 conditions, ranging from serious ailments such as foot and mouth disease, fractures and abortions to common conditions such as reduced lactation, eye or teeth problems and snake or scorpion bites.
EVM, however, have their limitations with contagious diseases and emergent conditions such as viral diseases goat plague (peste des petitsruminants ) and blue tongue, the report says.
Free and effective
EVM, says the study, are indispensable for ensuring livestock health. The first reason for this is the cost. While ethno-veterinary services are provided in the community for free, veterinary treatment is expensive, points out Ajay Gawde, an artificial insemination worker with Pune-based non-profit BAIF Development Research Foundation from Sironcha tehsil in Gadchiroli district.
Ranjeet Maraskolhe, a farmer from Tuyiaapar village in Nagpur district, says, “Hoof infections are common in our village during rains. If we get veterinary treatment, it costs Rs 100-200, but our local cures cost nothing.” He adds that transporting a sick animal to the treatment centre—available only in large gram panchayats or taluka headquarters—is more expensive than the treatment itself. “In case of emergencies, the animal is likely to die during transportation,” he says.
The paper points out that village residents believe EVM are more effective than modern medicines. “In our system, three doses of herbs over a period of one-and-a-half days are enough to cure any disease,” says Maraskolhe, “Conventional medicine takes longer.” Gawde agrees. “These treatments are effective. To cure tympany through EVM, one needs to just mix tamarind pulp or crushed leaves, a bit of oil and ash from cooking fires with water and give it to the animal to drink. Within 20 minutes, the most severe case of tympany is eased,” he says.
Dynamic community practice
“Ethno-veterinary practiceshave been part of livestock rearing for ages and are deeply rooted in the rural way of life,” says Sajal Kulkarni, lead author of the study and a livestock researcher with BAIF. “Most cattle-herders have some knowledge of herbs. In case of complicated problems, they take help from others in the community. This has lead to a system based on mutual understanding and trust,” says Kulkarni.
Gawde says the EVM network is dynamic. “Usually, there are a few experienced ethno-veterinary practitioners in every village. If any disease is beyond the expertise of those available, people usually know whom to contact in nearby villages. A cluster of villages is usually self-sufficient in its veterinary requirements,” he explains.
The practices documented in the paper are both curative and preventive. Herders, for instance, regularly fumigate cattle sheds with neemor common wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris) leaves to remove insects and germs.
Simple treatments for healing wounds, improving lactation and de-worming are usually carried out by the herders themselves.
The help of traditional herbalists is taken only in curing complex diseases which require the use of different herbs that need to be boiled, dried and burnt.
The paper notes that a plant is used for different problems in different areas. It says different parts of a plant are used for different conditions. An example is mahua (Madhucalongifolia), whose fruit is used in the Vidarbha region for treating malarial fever in cattle. Liquor from the flower is used in western Maharashtra for a prolapsed uterus.
The report found that while some herbs were commonly used, others were known only to a few herbalists. It was observed that while 48 of 60 herbalists used Daturametel for healing wounds, only five used Ficus bengalgenesisroots for dental problems.
PDF Images of Medicinal Plants used for treatment of animal Disease/conditions can be downloaded from here:
Images of Medicinal Plants for animal disease conditions
