Ethnoveterinary plants of Pakistan: a review

Abstract

Background: Ethnoveterinary medicine is crucial in many rural areas of the world since people living in remote and marginal areas rely significantly on traditional herbal therapies to treat their domestic animals. In Pakistan, communities residing in remote areas, and especially those still attached to pastoralist traditions, have considerable ethnoveterinary herbal knowledge and they sometimes use this knowledge for treating their animals. The main aim of the study was to review the literature about ethnoveterinary herbals being used in Pakistan in order to articulate potential applications in modern veterinary medicine. Moreover, the review aimed to analyze possible cross-cultural and cross regional differences. Methods: We considered the ethnobotanical data of Pakistan published in different scientific journals from 2004 to 2018. A total of 35 studies were found on ethnoveterinary herbal medicines in the country. Due to the low number of field studies, we considered all peer-reviewed articles on ethnoveterinary herbal practices in the current review. All the ethnobotanical information included in these studies derived from interviews which were conducted with shepherds/animals breeders as well as healers. Results: Data from the reviewed studies showed that 474 plant species corresponding to 2386 remedies have been used for treating domestic animals in Pakistan. The majority of these plants belong to Poaceae (41 species) followed by the Asteraceae (32 species) and Fabaceae (29 species) botanical families, thus indicating a possible prevalence of horticultural-driven gathering patterns. Digestive problems were the most commonly treated diseases (25%; 606 remedies used), revealing the preference that locals have for treating mainly minor animal ailments with herbs. The least known veterinary plants recorded in Pakistan were Abutilon theophrasti, Agrostis gigantea, Allardia tomentosa, Aristida adscensionis, Bothriochloa bladhii, Buddleja asiatica, Cocculus hirsutus, Cochlospermum religiosum, Cynanchum viminale, Dactylis glomerata, Debregeasia saeneb, Dichanthium annulatum, Dracocephalum nuristanicum, Flueggea leucopyrus, Launaea nudicaulis, Litsea monopetala, Sibbaldianthe bifurca, Spiraea altaica, and Thalictrum foetidum. More importantly, cross-cultural comparative analysis of Pathan and non-Pathan ethnic communities showed that 28% of the veterinary plants were mentioned by both communities. Cross-regional comparison demonstrated that only 10% of the plant species were used in both mountain and plain areas. Reviewed data confirm therefore that both ecological and cultural factors play a crucial role in shaping traditional plant uses.

Ethnoveterinary Knowledge and Biological Evaluation of Plants Used for Mitigating Cattle Diseases: A Critical Insight Into the Trends and Patterns in South Africa

“…Similar studies have also been reported from other parts of world where participants mostly use the members of Leguminosae/Fabaceae for the preparation of EVM for the treatment of different livestock diseases ( 10 , 85 – 87 ). However, the findings differ from those of other EVM studies in which the other families such as Apiaceae ( 88 ), Poaceae ( 30 ), Aloaceae ( 22 ), Asteraceae ( 89 , 90 ) and Solanaceae ( 91 ) were ranked as the highest. The difference among these studies may be related to the dominant vegetation of the areas or cultural significance ( 30 ).…”

Exploration of Traditional Plant Based Medicines Used as Potential Remedies for Livestock Aliments in Northeastern Ethiopia

“…The highest agreements (ICF = 0.87) in using ten taxa of the 68 reported events was observed to cure bloating (Table 6) and this might indicate the ailment is common to the surveyed agroclimatic zones and the ethnoveterinary plants found to be conventionally effective in treating the ailment. This agrees with Ahmed and Murtaza [9], Aziz et al [10], Luleka et al [12], who observed that a high ICF value is allied to a few target plant species with high use reports in in treating a speci c disease category and for screening bioactive compounds. In general the UV, FL (%), RFCs and ICF values vary depending on locality, nature of vegetation and geo-climate [47,51] and therefore their higher medicinal citations for a particular livestock disease treatment, for example, as observed in hot agroclimatic zone, could be ascribed to higher disease prevalence in this area which probably boosts the awareness of the traditional healers to formulate plant remedies for their livestock diseases than the witchdoctors in temperate and cool climatic zones.…”

“…It is concerned with the systematic investigation of the folk beliefs, knowledge, method and socio-cultural practices of the local community [6,7]. It also explores the animal breeding and feeding system; traditional surgical techniques; magico-religious practices and so forth [8][9][10]. In fact, this practice has been experienced by the indigenous people for a century in a way of formulating and using herbal remedies to handle animal health care and increasing the quality of animal-based food products [7,11].…”

Documentation of veterinary practices from Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes of District Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir: A boon for animals from our ancestors

“…Communities living in rural areas and far away from towns and cities depend on plant-based medicines for common diseases, and the usage of medicinal plants for the treatment of diseases is a common practice (Fayaz et al 2019. Ethno-veterinary knowledge is often conveyed mostly through oral transmission (Aziz et al 2020, Dutta et al 2021b, Nfi et al 2001. This traditional oral knowledge is declining due to improper documentation, the death of elder members of the tribe or community, rapid modernization, and lack of interest of the younger generation towards traditional practices (Bhatia et al 2014, Idu et al 2011, Kala et al 2006.…”