Abstract

CURRENT STATUS OF INDIAN ETHNOVETERINARY MEDICINAL PLANTS USEFUL IN CONTROLLING COMMON DISEASES OF DAIRY ANIMALS

Laxminarain Misra*, Narsingh Verma, Amreen A. Siddique and Namrata Agarwal

ABSTRACT

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics, increasing cost of veterinary inputs and drug residues in milk are some of the serious issues inviting immediate public attention. There is certainly an exigent need to combat the global threat of antimicrobial resistance in humans and animals. With the advent of allopathy, the use of herbal medicine for human health care had dwindled during the last half of the century. The popularity of it being used as a viable practice for livestock ailment, was not well practiced. Studies to evaluate the efficacy of ethnoveterinary herbal preparations as an alternative approach for management of diseases, have been scarcely attempted. The traditional herbal remedies including, ethno-veterinary medicine, are now considered as a potential candidate for developing eco-friendly, safe and cost-effective drugs for animal uses. In India, ruminants especially the cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, are the most common domesticated animals for the benefits to human society by their valuable products and services. In the present article, documentation of the herbal plants used in ethno-veterinary practices has been compiled because this indigenous knowledge is extremely valuable to the farmers and tribal population for treating livestock ailments. This study shows that traditional medicine, mainly involving the use of medicinal plants, still plays significant role in meeting the animal healthcare and is a viable practice in Indian rural areas as well as the urban dairies.

Keywords: Veterinary practices, livestock, herbal medicines, antimicrobial resistance, ethno-medicinal plants.