Ethnoveterinary plants and practices used for ecto-parasite control in semi-arid smallholder farming areas of Zimbabwe

Abstract

BackgroundThe inclusion of traditional plant-based ecto-parasite control methods in primary health care of livestock is increasingly becoming an important intervention for improving livestock productivity in resource-challenged smallholder farming areas. In this study, commonly used plants used for the control of cattle ticks and other pests were identified through a survey in four semi–arid districts of Zimbabwe.MethodsA standard structured questionnaire with details of demographics, socioeconomic status of households, livestock parasites, control practices and list of ethnoveterinary plants used was used to interview 233 knowledgeable smallholder farmers in four districts. Focus group discussions with community members further provided insights on how the plants were being used and other issues surrounding ecto-parasite control and indigenous knowledge systems in the study areas.ResultsThe older generation (>40 years) of the respondents were knowledgeable about ethnoveterinary plants and practices. Overall, 51 plant species were reportedly effective against cattle ticks and other livestock parasites. The most frequently mentioned plants were in descending order, Cissus quadrangularis (30.1%), Lippia javanica (19.6%), Psydrax livida (14.9%) and Aloe sp (14.9%). Most of the plant materials were prepared by crushing and soaking in water and spraying the extract on animals. Despite the knowledge of these useful pesticidal plants, the preferred animal health care for cattle and other highly ranked livestock species is still the use of commercial acaricides. Cattle dipping services were reported sporadic by 48% of the respondents. Traditional knowledge and plants are considered only as an alternative in the absence of conventional synthetic products.ConclusionsLivestock farming communities know of plant species used for livestock ecto-parasite control. The plant species are mostly used to complement commercial products. More work, is required to confirm the acaricidal properties claimed by the farmers in order to optimize and promote sustainable use of these plants.

Lippia javanica (Burm.f.) Spreng.: Traditional and Commercial Uses and Phytochemical and Pharmacological Significance in the African and Indian Subcontinent

“…Scientific studies on L. javanica indicate that it has a wide range of pharmacological activities (Table 4), which include anticancer [140], antidiabetic [141], antimalarial [4, 49, 142], antimicrobial [2, 3, 7, 17, 73–75, 77, 83, 84, 126, 143], antioxidant [7, 10, 11, 75, 77, 125], antiplasmodial [2, 79, 80, 84, 144, 145], and pesticidal effects [1, 2, 59, 95, 120, 146–150] and cytotoxicity [2, 73, 79, 120] activities. Table 4 summarizes some of the pharmacological studies undertaken on L. javanica extracts aimed at evaluating some of the ethnomedicinal uses of the species documented throughout its distributional range (see Table 1).…”

“…These authors found no parasites on microscopic examination of the Giemsa-stained thin blood smear collected from treated cattle implying that the animals did not suffer from clinical tick-borne diseases. Similarly, Nyahangare et al [59] tested the pesticidal activity of L. javanica water extracts against cattle ticks. The authors found no significant difference between cattle treated with a commercial synthetic acaricide and those under L. javanica treatment.…”

“…Therefore, L. javanica can provide an effective tick control option where synthetic products are unavailable or unaffordable particularly in remote rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Lippia javanica is popular for tick control and management among resource-poor smallholder farmers in South Africa [58, 95] and Zimbabwe [59, 60, 120]. While these preliminary evaluations may serve as confirmation that L. javanica has some bioactivities against ticks, a comprehensive method of tick control is required for the resource-constrained smallholder farmers based on ethnopharmacological properties of L. javanica .…”

In vitro effects of Pilocarpus microphyllus extracts and pilocarpine hydrochloride on Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

“…On the other hand, the results of certain studies suggest that environmentally friendly acaricides can be obtained from plants (GHOSH et al, 2011;GARCIA et al, 2012). As an alternative, plant extracts are used to manage animal health and parasite control in several regions in the world (GITHIORI et al, 2006;TAMIRU et al, 2013;NYAHANGARE et al, 2015).…”

An Overview of Plants with Acaricidal and Anthelmintic Properties

“…However, in Pakistan, only a handful number of plants have been used against R. microplus (Zaman et al, 2012a;Sindhu et al, 2012;Nawaz et al, 2015) in contrast to more extensive investigations elsewhere (Chen et al, 2011;dos Santos et al, 2013;Nyahangare et al, 2015;Fouche et al, 2016a,b (Chagas et al, 2016;Vudriko et al, 2016). Briefly, larvae were inserted into drug impregnated filter paper for 24 hrs at certain temperature (27-29°C) and relative humidity (80-85%).…”