Traditional Uses of Plants by Indigenous Communities for Veterinary Practices at Kurram District, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: In Kurram district of Pakistan, people use medicinal plants to cure a variety of livestock diseases. This study was conducted with the aims to document the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants used in veterinary practices in the district.Methods: Ethnoveterinary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 97 participants that were purposely chosen at random locations and data was quantitatively analyzed using relative frequency of citation (RFC) and use value (UV).Results: In total 81 plants belonging to 43 families were recorded. Asteraceae and Lamiaceae were the most cited botanical families. The plants were used to treat 28 livestock diseases. Among the plant parts, leaves were the most used parts (38 %) followed by the flowers (13 %), seeds (10 %), stem (10 %), fruit (8 %), and roots (7 %). The results showed that (22) plants were used for digestive diseases, (10) for skin problems, (8) against flatulence, (7) as anthelmintic and as refrigerant, and (4) to treat diarrhea and as anti-inflammatory. Conclusions:The study provides an inventory of traditional ethnoveterinary plants from Kurram district of Pakistan for further phytochemical and pharmacological studies in order to explore their active ingredients.

Berberis aristata DC. Berberis asiatica Roxb. ex DC. Berberis chitria Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don Berberis glaucocarpa Stapf Berberis lycium Royle Berberis orthobotrys Bien. ex Aitch. ssp. orthobotrys Berberis vulgaris L. Berberidaceae

“…Berberis jamesiana/Berberis vulgaris: The bark yields yellow, golden, dark violet, dark blue, and olive dyes for wool and silk (Batsatsashvili et al 2017;Bussmann et al 2020;. Berberis lycium is also used for forage, and widely sold (Ahmad Jan et al 2017;Ullah et al 2019;Wali et al 2019a, b), and is given to livestock for internal wounds (Ali et al 2019).…”

Euphorbia candelabrum Welw. Euphorbia tirucalli L. Euphorbiaceae

“…Euophorbia helioscopia and Euphorbia schimperiana used for skin problems in livestock (Ali et al 2019;Bekalo et al 2009) and to treat anthrax (Yineger et al 2007). In Pakistan, Euphorbia helioscopia is used to repel the devil and diseases (Ahmad Jan et al 2019;Sher et al 2016).…”

Sonchus asper (L.) Hill Sonchus oleraceus L. Asteraceae

“…Sonchus asper: Used in fodder as digestive (Ali et al 2019). Sonchus oleraceus: The leaf extract is used for snakebites in livestock and for nervous system problems (Kokwaro 2009).…”

“…Sonchus oleraceus: The leaf extract is used for snakebites in livestock and for nervous system problems (Kokwaro 2009). Used as fodder additive to serve as galactagogue (Ali et al 2019). Used ceremonially to remedy embarrassment, shame, hangover, negative energy, anger, and to calm strong character (Bussmann and Sharon 2006;Paniagua-Zambrana et al 2020).…”