African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines African Ethnomedicines Network ISSN: 0189-6016 Vol. 7, Num. 3, 2010, pp. 195-206

ETHNOVETERINARY USES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS AMONG TRADITIONAL HERBAL HEALERS IN ALAKNANDA CATCHMENT OF UTTARAKHAND, INDIA

¹G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development P. Box 92, Garhwal Unit, Srinagar Garhwal– 246 174, Uttarakhand, India
²Ecosystem & Environment Management, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Nehru Nagar, Bhopal– 462 003, Madhya Pradesh, India
E-mail: rkmaikhuri@rediffmail.com, prakashphondani@gmail.com, cpkala@yahoo.co.uk

Code Number: tc10028

Abstract

The people of far-flung rural areas still depend to a large extent upon plants and household remedies for curing veterinary ailments. The folk knowledge of ethnoveterinary medicine and its significance has been identified by the traditional communities through a process of experience over hundreds of years. The paper deals with 34 ailments commonly found in nine different categories of livestock/animals (i e. buffalo, cow, oxen, sheep, goat, horse, mule, dog and cat) and their treatment with 73 medicinal plant species belonging to 70 genera and 45 families that occur in forests as well as close vicinity of the rural settlements. Out of the total population, majority of the people (more than 80%) was found dependent on traditional (herbal) system of treatments practiced by local herbal healers (Pashu Vaidyas), while rest of the people preferred modern (allopathic) system of treatments for curing veterinary ailments. In this study we observed that old aged people have more knowledge and experience particularly in remote areas for curing veterinary ailments. The traditional system of treatment is one of the most important prevailing systems in the area where modern veterinary health care facilities are rare or in very poor conditions.

Keywords: Ethnoveterinary uses, Medicinal plants, Veterinary ailments, Livestock, Traditional herbal healers, Alaknanda catchment

Animal husbandry is the backbone of the rural sector of the Himalayan region and development of this sector may improve the living standard of rural communities. Livestock provides a wide range of services and products including animal power, wool and supplementary nutrition (Maikhuri, 1992). In spite of environmental compulsions and hardships of remote areas, the spectrum of livestock diversity in this region is rich and varied. This is evident from the occurrence of different breeds of sheep, goats, cattle, horses, mules, buffaloes and poultry etc. In these remote areas, where modern veterinary health curative systems are very poor, the traditional societies have evolved several indigenous veterinary health care practices to maintain a variety of livestock populations (Palni et al., 1998; Samal et al., 2004).

Ethnoveterinary medicines are used extensively and quite effectively for primary health care treatment to make domestic animals productive and healthy. The indigenous knowledge of the veterinary health care system acquired by traditional herbal healers (Pashu Vaidyas) is orally transformed from one generation to other. Over centuries, people have developed their own system of keeping animals healthy and productive using age-old home remedies, surgical and manipulative techniques, husbandry strategies and associated magicoreligious practices. Cost, inaccessibility and other problems like side effects of modern animal health care system have encouraged the local people to rely on traditional rural wisdom. Ethnoveterinary practices are often cheap, safe, long time tested and based on local resources and strengths. These can provide useful alternatives to modern animal health care systems (Kumar, 2002; McCorkle, 1995).

Alaknanda catchment and its adjoining areas have a rich tradition of indigenous medicines and traditional health care practices for curing various diseases of domestic animals. Besides the classical Ayurveda, traditional system of medicine is still popular all over India (Kala et al., 2005). Most of these systems are unique and are often known only to a few individuals and communities. These systems of healing domestic animals make use of many medicinal plants, most of which are endemic and some of them are at the verge of extinction due to over exploitation (Kala, 2005; Maikhuri et al., 1998). These indigenous practices play a crucial role in the livestock health care of traditional societies. However, due to changing socio-economic and cultural values of the traditional communities, the indigenous practices of livestock rearing is gradually declining from the region (Farooquee et al., 1996; Purohit et al., 2002).

The purpose of the present study was to (i) unravel the mode of application/use pattern of the medicine prepared from plants, and (ii) quantify the dependence of the local people on herbal and allopathic systems of veterinary health care.

Materials and Methods

Study area

Uttarakhand state is known for the origin of sacred rivers like the Ganga, Bhagirathi and Alaknanda. The river Alaknanda has its source in the Satopanth and Bhagirath kharak glaciers, which rise from the eastern slope of Chaukhamba peak (7138masl.) of Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand state of India. The catchment of Alaknanda river extends between 29⁰ 58' 34" to 31⁰ 04' 20" N latitudes and 78⁰ 34' 31" to 80⁰ 17' 54" E longitudes. It narrows down towards west and tapers off at Devprayag making confluence with the river Bhagirathi and forms the holy Ganga. The Alaknanda catchment stretches in four districts of Garhwal region of Uttarakhand viz., Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pauri and Tehri. The present study was carried out in a total of 107 villages in 8 valleys (i e. Niti, Urgam, Berahi, Nandakini, Pinder, Mandakini, Bhilangana and Binsar) covering 4 districts (i.e. Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri and Pauri) in Alaknanda catchment and its adjoining areas of Uttarakhand. These areas are inhabited by tribal and non-tribal communities (Figure 1). They mainly occupy the forested regions and have a total population of 27,295 with average family size of 5-6 persons. The rural settlements are located in the altitudinal limit of 1400 to 3000 m asl. These communities have their own culture, tradition and religious beliefs. The major occupation of these communities has been sheep and goat rearing and farming, with peasant farming taking primacy over pastoralism in contemporary time. Almost all the households are involved in agriculture through subsistence farming.

Data collection

In-depth survey was undertaken from April 2007 to December 2008 to collect data and information on the use of different medicinal plant species which are used for curing animal ailments by traditional herbal healers (Pashu Vaidyas) in various remote valleys of the Alaknanda catchment of Uttarakhand. Ethnoveterinary information acquired by tribal and non-tribal communities was collected using semi-structured and structured questionnaires. Extensive field visits were made to local herbal healers for gathering information and for identification and places/localities/habitat of occurrence of medicinal plants in the study area and mode of their utilization for curing particular animal ailment. Randomly selected households and headman, elders, traditional healers, local people and veterinary doctors of the study areas were consulted and interviewed to understand the dependency on traditional (Herbal) and modern (Allopathic) system of treatments for curing animal ailments among various categories of animals. Perception of local people during field trips were recorded under different categories of socio-demographic characters’ such as gender, education, age groups and healing experience so as to assess the responses as well as their preferences to know the status of traditional animal health care system.

Besides, workshops and village level meetings in different localities of the study area were conducted time and again in which various groups of people (Traditional herbal healers, local people, Ayurvedacharya, medical doctors, scientists, social workers and school teachers) were invited to participate and to help in documenting their indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants used for managing domestic animal diseases. The information on the use of specific plants species and preparation of herbal medicine and application practices for curing animal ailments collected during the field visit as well as during the workshops/meetings were crosschecked more than two times. The collected plant specimens were identified with the help of regional floras (Naithani, 1985; Gaur, 1999) and taxonomists. Voucher specimens are deposited in the herbarium of G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Garhwal Unit, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India.

The present study showed that the local people of Alaknanda catchment use several ethnoveterinary practices for curing animal ailments. A total of 73 medicinal plant species (i.e. Trachyspermum ammi, Lyonia ovalifolia, Curcuma domestica, Bombax ceiba, Vigna mungo, Coriandrum sativum, Allium cepa, Zingiber officinale, Angelica glauca, Piper nigrum, Sesamum orientale etc.) of different plant groups (i.e., 41 herbs, 10 shrubs, 18 trees and 4 climbers) belonging to 70 genera and 45 families are being used extensively for curing 34 animal ailments (i.e., bloat, mastitis, poisoning, foot and mouth disease, dermatitis, cataract, hematuria, arthritis, burning, pneumonia, dysentery, sprain etc.) commonly found in nine different type of livestock/animals (i.e. buffalo, cow, oxen, sheep, goat, horse, mule, dog and cat). All these medicinal plant species are collected by local communities from the surrounding areas, forests and alpine meadows and are being used as remedies for various animal ailments. About 33 plant species are used for curing more than one disease, whereas about 8 medicinal plant species are used alone to cure abdominal pain and related diseases (Table 1a, b, c, d, e, f). The study revealed that in the remote areas where majority of the old generation are illiterate and less educated, they possess good knowledge of traditional healing expertise for curing animal ailments (Table 2).

Out of the total population, more than 80% were found dependent on traditional system of treatments practiced by local healers, while rest of the people preferred allopathic system of treatments for curing animal ailments. It was also observed that people living in the remote/far flung areas (10-30 km. away from road head) depend almost totally on plant based treatments for curing animal ailments (Figure 2). It was observed that a variety of the diseases in livestock (i.e. snakebite, bone fracture, broken horns, worm on wounds, vomiting, cough and yoke galls etc.) are still totally managed through traditional system of treatment (Figure 3). However, for some of the diseases, people bring their livestock for allopathic treatment (i.e. sterility, foot and mouth disease, uterus disorder, cataract etc.).

With regard to prevention and modern management of animal diseases, majority of local people are not aware of it as only 41.60% local people vaccinate a few animals which are productive and more important to them (Meena et al., 2007). It was also found that among the local people, women, confidently use the local remedies for curing animal diseases. The traditional societies, though convinced of the efficacy of local medicines, have as their major constraints/limitations to its wider use as the effort involved in preparation of the medicine and availability of ingredients, since large number of medicinal plants have become quite rare and not easily available. Very limited studies have been carried so far on the traditional system of health care practiced by local communities in the livestock sector of the Himalaya in particular and India in general. However, few studies carried out during recent past focused on the identification of livestock diseases prevailing in the region as the major cause of the animal deaths. The study carried out by Meena et al. (2007) reported that during last five years, infectious, parasitic and respiratory diseases accounted for nearly 60 percent of all livestock deaths in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand state in India. In areas/regions that are either remotely located or isolated from the mainstream development, local people still use medicinal plants and also apply other traditional practices for curing livestock diseases and thus animal death reported from those areas was comparatively less (Chauhan et al., 1994; Jithendran and Bhat,1999).

It was found that besides traditional herbal healers, every elderly person both man and woman in the villages had sound knowledge and deep understanding about medicinal use of some plants, especially those species which are often used for curing common diseases like pneumonia, bloat, poisoning, cough, debility, bone fracture, wounds, cuts etc. The younger generation, though poor in knowledge of medicinal plants, still had faith in the efficacy of herbal system of treatments for curing animal ailments. Usually, people preferred to consult traditional herbal healers for curing livestock diseases although they knew some medicinal plants themselves. They perceived that the effectiveness of the herbs was connected to the knowledge of the exact nature of animal diseases. It was difficult to extract indigenous knowledge base, particularly related to medicinal plants from local communities. Even some traditional herbal healers those having little outside exposure do not pass information to their family members and others.

The traditional culture and indigenous knowledge of tribal and non-tribal communities in Alaknanda catchment has a series of challenges during recent past. Lack of scientific validation is the major reason for nonadoption of ethnoveterinary medicine by field veterinarians and trained main power. Experiences indicate that some of the practices are good while many of them are much effective. Scientific evolution, besides understanding the technology of the clientele helps ascertain the degree and direction of change through formal research and will be rewarding in adoption by the veterinarian. It must be born in mind that validation of ethnoveterinary practices will require flexibility, creativity and dedication in research application. There is an urgent need of a comprehensive analysis and documentation of indigenous knowledge of curing animal ailments in the Alaknanda catchment particularly in remote areas. The revitalization of these indigenous systems can provide self-reliance in primary health care and can even contribute to the frontiers of veterinary system of medicine. The present study conducted in remote areas showed that most technical persons are aware of traditional knowledge systems but they don't use them because these are not properly validated.

The authors are thankful to the Director, G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal Almora for providing facilities. We are grateful to Prof. R.D. Gaur for helping in identification of the plant species and all local herbal healers for their immense co-operation. The authors are also thankful to the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Govt. of India for financial support.

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