Ethno Veterinary Therapeutic Practices of Medicinal Flora in Livestock Health Care by Attappadi Tribal farmers of Kerala

Background- Attappadi is the largest tribal settlement area in Kerala with three tribes viz., Irulas, Mudugas and Kurumbas who are traditionally engaged in livestock activities. The present study was undertaken to document the different plants of ethnoveterinary uses and to identify the most prevailing livestock disease category among livestock farmers of Attappadi tribal area. Hence this study was designed and conducted to understand and effectively use the knowledge, and for the proper selection of important plant species for the most prevailing illness. Methods- This study was conducted in the period of December 2018 – April 19 using a structured interview with tribal farmers, EVM healers and key informants engaged in the livestock farming. Results- The present study documented 55 plant species under 39 families for treatment of 15 categories of ailments with their dosages and parts used in Attappadi tribal area. There was great agreement among the informants regarding ethno veterinary uses of plants with Factor of Informants Consensus (F IC ) value ranging from 0.50 to 0.97, with an average value of 0.87. Conclusion- The study reports 55 medicinal plants with the ir uses and dosage along with the highlighted high F IC values indicates that the species traditionally used to treat these ailments are worth searching for bioactive compounds and this has illuminated the cultural importance of this ethno veterinary wisdom which is consonantly blended with the tribal culture of the area.


Introduction
Indian economy and its population depend greatly on agriculture and the livestock. Livestock contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP. About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood. Livestock provides livelihood to two-third of rural community [1,2,3]. Hence the diseases in livestock should be given more importance owing to their signi cant role in micro and macro economy of nation. Ethnic communities keep their livestock as a symbol of heritage and pride, and they follow indigenous practices to treat their animals. Knowledge on traditional and indigenous practices has been transferred orally over ethnic generations but under the semblance of civilization this knowledge is under great threat of cultural extinction [4]. About 80% of people in the developing world use natural remedies and traditional plant-based medicines for their primary healthcare [5]. Tribal communities are the torch bearers of the Ethnoveterinary knowledge. In Kerala, there are 36 tribal communities consist of a total population 4, 84,839 [6]. Palakkad, one among the largest tribal concentrated districts of Kerala has 10.1 per cent of the total tribal population of the state. Attappadi is the largest tribal settlement area of Palakkad district with three tribes viz., Irulas (84 per cent), Mudugas (10 per cent) and Kurumbas (six per cent) who are traditionally engaged in livestock activities [7,8]. Hence this study was designed and conducted to understand and effectively use this knowledge, and the proper selection of important plant species for the most prevailing illness must be determined.

Materials And Methods
The present study was conducted purposively in Attappadi block of Palakkad district in Kerala as this is one among the largest tribal settlements with considerable livestock population. Attappadi block comprised of three panchayats, Agali, Pudur and Sholayoor (Fig. 1). A total of 40 tribal livestock farmers from each of the three panchayats, thus a total of 120 tribal livestock farmers were selected randomly as respondents for the study. Ethno veterinary medicine healers and key informants were interviewed along with the tribal farmers to gather information on EVM practises. Prior Informed Consent (PIC) was taken from the Knowledge Providers. A descriptive research design was employed. Personal interviews by pretested interview schedule and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach was used to serve the purpose of data collection (( Fig. 2). During the eld study, information on uses of plants to treat different illnesses of livestock, parts used, modes of preparation, dosage and administration of medicine have been collected. Based on the information obtained from the informants in the study area, all the reported ailments have been grouped into 15 categories.
The level of homogeneity among information provided by different informants was calculated by the Informants' Consensus Factor, F IC [9] using the following formula: F IC = Nur -Nt / (Nur -1) Where, Nur = number of use reports from informants for a particular plant-use category Nt = number of taxa or species that are used for that plant use category for all informants.
Here in this study each polyherbal remedy has been considered as single use-report. The value of F IC provides a range of 0 to 1, where a higher value signi es its greater authenticity as a xed group of plants are used frequently for that disease or disease category. On the other hand, lower value signi es disagreement among the informants. The similar studies were conducted to know the consent of relevant ethnoveterinary practices in livestock. [10,11,12].

Results And Discussion
In the present study the traditional EVM in treatment of different livestock ailments were recorded through the interactive discussions with the tribal farmers and traditional healers (Fig. 3). More than threefourth of the respondents (81.67%) shared their knowledge on EVM. A minority (18.37%) felt that the sharing of information would lead to the loss of healing potential of these plants. A total of 55 plant species under 39 families in Attappadi area have been documented for treatment of 51 categories of ailments. Factors for Informants' consensus (F IC ) have been used to identify most potentially effective medicinal plant species as well as plant-based remedies used in the culture of rural people of the study area [10]. Here in this study each polyherbal remedy has been considered as single use-report.
As Table 1.1. bespeaks, there was a medium to high level of consensus among the informants in the study area. The F IC value for different disease categories has ranged from 0.50 to 0.97 with an average value of 0.87 that has indicated the level of agreement among the informants regarding different phyto therapeutic uses of medicinal plants. Similar ndings were reported from Velliangiri holy hills [13]. showed that these ailments were common in the study area which could be attributed to the better care of farmers since theses disease categories had direct negative in uence on production of the animals.
Medicinal plants supposed to be e cient in treating ailments having high F IC value [14].
This was followed by gastro -intestinal disorders, respiratory disorders, mastitis, fever and cold with values ranged from 0.93 to 0.91. The least agreement (low F IC value) between informants was observed for plants used to cure in ammatory conditions (0.50) with 5 use reports for three plant species which could be due to the fact that those conditions were remained unnoticed by the farmers as they had no direct in uence on animal's production [15]. Similar results were reported among the tribal farmers of Malda district of Bengal [16].  Table 1.2. depicts butter milk with garlic paste, a combination of red onion, little tree plant, jaggery and coconut ower is ground in equal proportion and ground curry leaves were used by 66.32 per cent of the respondents to treat diarrhoea. This clearly indicated that the above practise were highly effective in treating diarrhoea. Leaves of touch me not mixed with water was recommended for diarrhoea by 8.16 per cent of the respondents and tamarind by 6.12 per cent of the respondents. Under the condition constipation, the documented practises were use of honey in warm water by 10.20 per cent of the respondents, and a mixture of 10 g turmeric, 25 g cumin, 100 g jaggery, 100 g ginger and 15 red chillies by 26.53 per cent of the respondents.
There were four practises documented for the indigestion condition in animals. They were use of raw papaya (3.06%), ground mixture of ginger, garlic, pepper, asafoetida, and betel (16.33%), a combination of ajowan and red onion (18.37%), stem bark of milletia is boiled in water which was dried to one -third and was given to animal by 4.08 per cent of the respondents. Bloat was treated with ground guava leaves (36.73%) and stomach pain was treated with ground curry leaves orally (45.91%).
To deworm the animals, powdered arecanut, mixture of papaya seeds and sugar was given for 5 days in calf by 6.12 per cent of the respondents. Ground neem leaves (33.67 %), spinach leaves, lemon in sesame oil, fenugreek, neem oil for three days (42.86 %), pulp of ground bitter gourd leaves, thumba plant, papaya and asparagus were given to deworm the animals by 29.60 per cent of the respondents. Widely used ectoparasiticides were neem oil, calcium hydroxide, cassia and ceylon leaves by majority of the respondents (54.08%).  Table 1.3 indicates that the infertility conditions were treated with boiled egg in sesame oil and equi proportion of aloe vera (4 hands), drumstick leaves, curry leaves and bone setter plant by 13.27 per cent of the respondents. Banana leaves were used to treat anoestrum (9.18 %). Retention of foetal membranes was treated with unripened pineapple, mango leaves, stem of bamboo and greater yams' leaves by 83.67 per cent of the respondents which indicated that the practises were highly effective to treat retention of foetal membranes.
Puncture vine boiled water is given in uterine prolapsed condition (12.24 %), ground Malabar kino's sap is taken to prepare starch gruel was given to ail uterine infection (23.47 %). Uterine involution was hastened by papaya fruit (29.60 %). To avoid dystocia, muringa leaves' extract was pasted over the vulva, and chaff ower was given by 37.76 per cent of the respondents. Similarly, tarvine leaves, uncoated seeds of datura in fenugreek water were boiled in milk and was applied externally as paste. Tassel ower was used for rosy milk mastitis (11.22 %).
Touch me not leaves was ground and the paste was given orally for three days by 12.24 per cent of the respondents.
FMD was treated with paste made from cumin (10g), fenugreek (10g), turmeric (10g), pepper (10g), garlic (4 no.), jaggery (100g) with one coconut was given orally thrice a day by the 54.08 per cent of the respondents. Lard of wild boar in banana (89.80%), veldt grape, curd (0.75 l), with turmeric, neem leaves and red onion was given orally to counter FMD by 57.14 per cent of the respondents The wound lesions were externally applied with thulasi leaves, henna leaves, neem leaves, turmeric, and garlic in coconut oil by 16.31 per cent of the respondents. Similarly, nutmeg oil, cashew oil was rubbed with hen feather in wound lesions (12.24 %). Turmeric powder with coconut oil and luke -warm water was applied to the lesion and was tied by 18.37 per cent of the respondents. Pox lesions in fowl and small ruminants were treated with neem leaves, turmeric in coconut oil by majority of the respondents (59.18%).
pepper was ground, and the paste was given orally for general poisoning conditions (12.24%). Asafoetida, garlic, pepper and sweet ag was given orally for snake venomation by 16.33 per cent of the respondents.

Conclusion
The present work is one of the initial efforts to quantify the ethno medicinal information used in livestock health care in Attappadi that facilitates better option for the selection of widely used medicinal plants for searching and identifying bioactive compounds to treat ailments. The study reported 55 medicinal plants with their uses from the Attappadi area. The highlighted high F IC values in the present study have indicated that the species traditionally used to treat these ailments are worth searching for bioactive compounds and this has illuminated the cultural importance of this ethno veterinary wisdom which is consonantly blended with the tribal culture of the area. There is an urgent need to formulate suitable conservation strategies for naturally growing ethno medicinal plants to overcome their depletion from natural resources and to make these practices more eco-friendly.
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