Preliminary Study of Plants Used in Ethnoveterinary Medicine in Tunisia and in Italy

Abstract

Background: A survey relative to the use of plants for the cure of animals in Tunisia was conducted in order to make a comparison with the same species (or similar ones) in central and southern Italy. Materials and methods: available bibliographical data both for Italy and for Tunisia were consulted. Results: Thirty-nine plants, representing 22 families, used in Tunisia in ethnoveterinary medicine were reported, and comparisons made with close species used in Central and Southern Italy. Seven of the 39 species (about the 18% of the total) are not present in Italian flora. Fourteen of the 39 species (35% of the total) are also used in Italy. Camelidae (dromedaries and camels) are the most valuable types of domestic animals cured in Tunisia, but ovines, horses, bulls, dogs are also treated. Some uses coincide with those existing in different Italian regions. The plants used are the most common and most easily found in these areas. Conclusion:The present study confirms the convergence in ethnoveterinary medicine between Tunisia and Italy, even if it appears less significant than in human ethnobotany. Further studies are required in areas of Tunisia that have not yet been studied, in order to get the possibility of an evaluation of active compounds.

Swiss ethnoveterinary knowledge on medicinal plants – a within-country comparison of Italian speaking regions with north-western German speaking regions

“…However, the comparison of Swiss and Italian ethnoveterinary data shows a higher similarity than the comparison of Romanian with Spanish, Italian and Albanian data [13], but it is comparable with the overlapping of southern Italian with Tunisian data [15]. This suggests that ethnoveterinary tradition may change with growing geographic distance.…”

“…for four territories of the Catalan linguistic area of Spain [14]. In contrast, the comparison of ethnoveterinary data even from two continents (central and southern Italy, Europe, with Tunisia, Africa) shows that about one third of the plant species described for Tunisia are also used in Italy for veterinary purposes [15]. However, a comparative study of ethnoveterinary knowledge of two maximally different regions (regarding history, geography, farm size, farm structure and spoken language) within the same country, and with ethnoveterinary data from the same linguistic region in an neighbouring country has not been conducted up to now in central Europe.…”

Green Veterinary Pharmacology Applied to Parasite Control: Evaluation of Punica granatum, Artemisia campestris, Salix caprea Aqueous Macerates against Gastrointestinal Nematodes of Sheep

“…In particular, plants’ therapeutic properties may be used in ethnoveterinary practices against GIN and would provide successful alternative remedies to synthetic drugs. From this perspective, ethnoveterinary medicine, which has been transferred from generation to generation, represents an integral part of medical practices in many countries [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Since this practice is very different between geographical regions, this information is difficult to retrieve and requires some preliminary work in order to identify the possible treatments of major importance [ 21 ].…”

Ethnoveterinary knowledge of farmers in bilingual regions of Switzerland – is there potential to extend veterinary options to reduce antimicrobial use?

“…Such differences have been reported in human ethnomedicine (Menendez-Baceta et al, 2015), but similar comparisons with regard to veterinary use do not exist. Even if (a) earlier studies, comparing ethnoveterinary data from different countries (Viegi and Ghedira, 2014;Bartha et al, 2015;Mayer et al, 2017) suggest that "ethnoveterinary tradition may change with growing geographical distance" (Mayer et al, 2017) and, (b) a within-country comparison of two geographically and linguistically separate regions in Switzerland (Mayer et al, 2017), and a comparison of two populations within the same region of Romania (but without differentiating between different linguistic groups; Bartha et al, 2015) highlighted some differences in ethnoveterinary practises, a comparison of ethnoveterinary data of two linguistic populations within one region is still lacking.…”