Ethnoveterinary Study of Medicinal Plants in a Tribal Society of Sulaiman Range

Abstract

The aims of the present study were (i) to document ethnoveterinary plants and their formulation techniques in an unexplored region of Pakistan and (ii) to select candidate medicinal plants with high consensus factor and fidelity value for furtherin vitroinvestigation. A total of 60 informants were interviewed using semistructured questionnaire. A total of 41 plants belonging to 30 families were used to treat livestock ailments in study area. Mostly leaves (47%) were used in recipes formulation mostly in the form of decoction. Gastrointestinal infections were found more common and majority of the plants were used against cow (31) and buffaloes (24) ailments. Recovery time of majority of the recipes was three to four days. Informant consensus factor (Fic) results have shown a high degree of consensus for gastrointestinal, respiratory, and reproductive (0.95 each) ailments. Fidelity level (FL) results showed thatAsparagus gracilisranked first with FL value 93% followed byRumex hastatusranked second (91%) andTinospora cordifoliaranked third (90%). Aged farmers and nomads had more traditional knowledge as compared to younger ones. Plants with high Fic and FL values could be further investigatedin vitrofor the search of some novel bioactive compounds and young generation should be educated regarding ethnoveterinary practices.