New claims in folk veterinary medicines from Uttar Pradesh, India.

BACKGROUND

In remote areas, folk medicines play a significant role in livestock health care management. The aims of this study were to document folk veterinary medicines of the Uttar Pradesh region and identify promising species for pharmacological studies.

METHODS

Fieldwork was conducted over a period of two years in Uttar Pradesh, utilizing the "transect walk" method of participatory rural appraisal (PRA). The data were analyzed through the following techniques: use-value, relative frequency of citation and informant consensus factor (Fic).

RESULTS

This research details the use of 83 medicinal plants used to treat 36 livestock ailments. A total of 91 new medicinal claims were discovered. The ailments are categorized into 11 ailment categories based on certain group of ailments (symptoms/similarities, etc). The Fic values indicate that there was a high degree of consensus among informants regarding how to treat burns, coughs, colds and fevers. The most useful medicinal species, ranked according to their perceived usefulness were: Linum usitatissimum, Saccharum officinarum, Brassica napus, Acacia nilotica, Alocasia macrorrhizos, and Calotropis gigantea. For certain medicinal uses, Ferula asafoetida, Linum usitatissimum, Pandanus tectorius, Brassica juncea, Brassica napus, Madhuca longifolia, Alocasia macrorrhizos and Tagetes erecta were also frequently cited for cures with a Fic value of over 3.00. In remedy preparations, the leaves were the most frequently used plant part (22 instances) and most of the preparations were in the form of crushed plant parts, leaves or otherwise. Herbs were the most frequently used source of medicine (43), followed by trees (21) and shrubs (17%).

CONCLUSIONS

Those plants which received high relative frequency citation (Fic) values may prove useful for pharmacological studies in new drug development projects, especially Ferula asafoetida (used for flatulence), Linum usitatissimum (a galactagogue), Pandanus tectorius (used for estrus regulation/preparation for breeding), Brassica juncea (to cure infections of the tail), Brassica napus (also to cure infections of the tail), Madhuca longifolia (to cure maggots in the hoof), Alocasia macrorrhizos (for estrus regulation) and Tagetes erecta (for otitis).