ETHNOVETERINARY MEDICINE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ENTERITIS IN SMALL RUMINANTS
Dr. R. Uma Rani, Ph.D.,
Professor,
Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University,
Veterinary University Training and Diagnostic Centre,
Madurai 625 005, Tamil Nadu, India.
email:kamleshharini@yahoo.com
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Abstract
Enteritis in small ruminants is an economically important disease as it causes high mortality and morbidity and production losses if not treated on time. A total of 528 sheep and goats with the history of having diarrhea were given oral administration of EVM with the ingredients of Fenugreek, Cumin, Anise, Poppy seeds, Asafoetida, Turmeric, Salt, Jaggery, Shallot onion, and Garlic, three times a day for five days. Treated animals showed improvement within 12 hours of treatment. The survivability was 96%, 89%, and 83% in animals which received the treatment within 2 days, between 3rd and 4th day and between 5th and 6th day of onset of enteritis. Improved feeding habits within 24 hours, normal appetite on 7th to 8th day and improved overall health status of the animals within 15 days of EVM treatment proved that ethnoveterinary remedy can be effectively used for the management of enteritis in small ruminants.
Key words: Enteritis – Small Ruminants – EVM – Treatment – Efficacy
Introduction
Small ruminants provide livelihood to two-third of rural community and their contribution in terms of income generation, socio-economic value, household nutrition, and food security to mitigate poverty level of landless, marginal and small farmers of rural India is immense as compared to other livestock species. Various infectious and noninfectious diseases of small ruminants are the main constraints for the rural farmers as they pose major economic threats and hinder the productivity of sheep and goats. Among the diseases of sheep and goats, enteritis is one of the most important diseases which cause reduced production potential, more mortality which in turn causes economic losses to the farmers, and it represents an animal welfare problem. Besides improved managemental practices and prevention and treatment strategies, enteritis is still the most common and costly disease affecting small ruminants. Enteritis is an inflammation of the intestinal mucosa resulting in diarrhea and sometimes dysentery, abdominal pain, varying degree of dehydration and acid-base imbalance depending on the cause, severity and location. Animals suffering from enteritis exhibit severe colitis characterized by abdominal pain, pasty faeces, and may culminate into death due to severe dehydration. (Radostis et al., 1995). Rearing of small ruminants is largely in the hands of rural farmers and most of the times fail to save their animals due to lack of access to modern veterinary facilities and unaffordable situations to spend on expensive medicines (Matekaire and Bwakura 2004). Ethnoveterinary medicine (EVM) is an indigenous knowledge and variety of EVM preparations were tried in various success rates for the treatment of various disease conditions in livestock and protecting health in animals due to the presence of several bioactive compounds (Haq et al., 2022, Khan et al., 2019). EVMs are frequently used by the farmers as the primary type of therapy due to non availability of allopathic veterinary modalities in rural areas and affordability (Mattalia et al., 2020). EVM is particularly active and versatile in that it can cure a variety of animal ailments, is widely available in remote locations, and is less expensive than synthetic medications and has no side effects (Gonzalez, et al., 2021). Hence, the present study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of EVM in management of enteritis, the most economic important ailment in small ruminants.
Materials and methods
A total of 528 sheep and goats of various ages with the history of having diarrhea for the period from 1 to 5 days and were not given any treatment were utilized for the study (Table 1). Anamnesis from the animal owners revealed that the animals were maintained under free ranging system or semi intensive system. The clinical symptoms exhibited by the sheep and goats were semi solid to watery diarrhea with or without mucous or blood coated, anorexia, weight loss, dehydration, and rough body coat.
Table 1 : Age of sheep and goats utilised for the study
| Kind of animal
|
Age of the animals | Total | ||
| <1 day – >3 months | <3 – >6 months | > 6 months | ||
| Goats | 119 | 147 | 86 | 352 |
| Sheep | 55 | 82 | 39 | 176 |
| Total | 174 | 229 | 125 | 528 |
The sheep and goat owners were adviced to start immediate oral administration of EVM preparation (Table 2) with the ingredients of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) 1 teaspoon, Cumin seeds (Cuminum cyminum) 1 teaspoon, Anise (Pimpinella anisum) 1 teaspoon, Poppy seeds (Papaver somniferum ) 1 teaspoon, Asafetida (Ferula foetida ) ¼ teaspoon, Turmeric (Curcuma longa ) ¼ teaspoon, Salt ¼ teaspoon, Jaggery 4 teaspoon, shallot onion(Allium cepa) 10 Numbers, and Garlic (Allium sativum) 5 cloves, to their animals showing the symptoms of enteritis.
Table 2: EVM preparation for enteritis in Small ruminants
| S. No | Ingredients | Quantity |
| 1 | Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) | 1 teaspoon |
| 2 | Cumin seeds (Cuminum cyminum) | 1 teaspoon |
| 3 | Anise (Pimpinella anisum) | 1 teaspoon |
| 4 | Poppy seeds (Papaver somniferum ) | 1 teaspoon |
| 5 | Asafetida (Ferula foetida ) | ¼ teaspoon |
| 6 | Turmeric (Curcuma longa ) | ¼ teaspoon |
| 7 | Salt | ¼ teaspoon |
| 8 | Jaggery | 4 teaspoon |
| 9 | shallot onion(Allium cepa) | 10 Numbers |
| 10 | Garlic (Allium sativum) | 5 cloves |
Adviced the animal owners to roast the fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, anise seeds, poppy seeds on a low flame in a metal pan separately till they become dark brown colour. After cooling, the roasted ingredients were powdered and mixed with the asafetida, turmeric, salt, jaggery and ground shallot onion and garlic for oral administration. This preparation was recommended for one adult animal for each time and half dose for the animals aged between 3 months and one year and ¼ dose for the animals less than 3 months. The farmers were advised to administer the EVM thrice daily for five days by making fresh formulation every time before application. The data of treated sheep and goats were collected using the questionnaires before and after administration of suggested EVM to study the efficacy of the EVM during the follow up period of two weeks.
Results and Discussion
The sheep and goat owners showed keen interest and readily accepted to adopt EVM for their animals as the ingredients in the EVM were least cost and easily available in their kitchen. The owners of treated animals were highly co-operative to provide data which enable to study the efficacy of the EVM for enteritis in small ruminants. The results revealed that the treated animals showed improvement within 12 hours of EVM administration and diarrhea stopped gradually. Diarrhea completely stopped on 4th day in animals which received EVM within two days of onset of enteritis and between 5th and 6th day in animals which were given treatment between 3 and 6 days of onset of enteritis. Out of 322 animals which received the EVM treatment within 2 days period, 309 animals (96%) survived. Out of 137 animals which received treatment on 3rd to 4th day of onset of diarrhea, 122 animals (89%) survived and out of 69 animals which treated on 5th to 6th day of onset of diarrhea, 57 animals (83%) survived. Among 528 animals, EVM treatment was discontinued in 19 animals and they were sent for slaughter by the owner (Table 3). All the recovered animals showed improvement in feeding habits within 24 hours and regained its normal appetite on 7th to 8th day of the treatment. Overall health status of the animals improved within 15 days of EVM treatment.
Table 3: Efficacy of the EVM for the treatment of enteritis
| Details | EVM initiated after the onset of enteritis | ||
| 1-2 days | 3-4 days | 5- 6 days | |
| No. of Animals treated | 322 | 137 | 69 |
| No. of animals recovered | 309 | 122 | 57 |
| % of recovery | 96 | 89 | 83 |
| Mortality | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| % of mortality | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| No.of animals sent for slaughter | 13 | 12 | 4 |
| % of animals sent for slaughter | 4 | 9 | 6 |
Enteritis is inflammation of intestine especially the small intestine usually accompanied by diarrhea. There are many causes for enteritis in farm animals and the disease varies considerably in its severity, depending upon the causative agents (Radostits et al., 2007). Bacterial enteritis remains the most common clinical problem in the sheep and goats (Meshram, et al., 2009) and severe enteritis may culminate into death due to severe dehydration (Radostis et al., 1995). Indiscriminate usages of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial enteritis lead to antimicrobial resistance in animals, emergence of resistant strains and also damage the intestinal microflora. Antimicrobial resistance in animals is the resistance developed in bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites against the antimicrobial drug occurs naturally over time but can be accelerated by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in animal health such that they can no longer be inactivated or killed by the drug. Livestock farming systems use nearly 75 per cent of total antibiotics globally and India is the fourth largest user of antibiotics in animals (Khattak et al., 2015).
EVM involves the use of herbal preparations based on traditional knowledge in treating diseases of animals and it is becoming popular to treat a range of livestock diseases as an alternative to antibiotic use as they have therapeutic potential, vast nutraceutical properties and safety aspects (Tiwari et al., 2020). Small ruminant farmers are not affordable to spend on allopathic medicine for the acute life threatening diseases like enteritis and obtaining veterinary care and developing a thorough understanding of conventional ethno-veterinary practices are essential for the welfare of animals to cope with the herbal medicines (Matekaire and Bwakura, 2004). The most preferred administration method of EVM is oral, followed by topical or external application. In the present study oral administration of EVM preparation consisting of fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, anise seeds, poppy seeds, asafetida, turmeric, shallot onions, garlic cloves, salt and jaggery were used for the treatment of enteritis in various ages of small ruminants.
As fenugreek is rich in several phytochemicals, alkaloids, carbohydrates, steroidal saponins, amino acids and minerals, it can be used for nutritional, nutraceutical, medicinal and therapeutic purposes (Aasim et al., 2018). For centuries, fenugreek has popularly been used by herbalists and traditional healers of China and South Asia in several medical conditions, specifically for gastrointestinal and neurological issues. Antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agent and immunological properties of fenugreek, make it an important compound to be used in food and pharmaceutical industries (Reddy et al. 2019). Gastro protective and anti-secretory activities of fenugreek seeds are due to the presence of polysaccharides and flavonoids. Fenugreek seeds can act as prebiotics, and induced selective stimulation of useful intestinal microflora, improved and adjusted the microbial microflora ratio of the intestine and are used to alleviate diarrhea (Pandian et al., 2002 , Sudan et al., 2020).
Cumin seeds are used to treat stomach upset and flatulence in traditional health practices. It promotes a healthy digestive system and the major pharmacological action of cumin is antimicrobial activity (Kaur and Sharma, 2012). Presence of tannins, alkaloids, glycosides, reducing sugars, triterpenes and flavonoids may be responsible for the mechanism of action of the anti-diarrhoeal activity of cumin seeds (Longanga et al. 2000, Sahoo et al., 2014). The phytochemicals of cumin seeds also increase the re-absorption of water by decreasing the intestinal motility as well as intestinal transit. In addition, its antidiarrhoeal action may also be due to the presence of denatured proteins and tannic acid or tannins, which form protein-tannate complex. These complexes coat over the intestinal mucosa and make the mucosa more resistant and hence, reduce secretion and peristaltic movement. (Sahoo et al., 2014).
Anise has its prominence in traditional medicine for the treatment of gastro intestinal disorders (Jahromi et al., 2016). Anise seeds have antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, gastro-protective, anti flatulent and antiviral activities (Sun et al., 2019). Poppy seeds are used since centuries for treating various ailments like diarrhea, dysentery, chronic cough, and skin disorders. Poppy seeds have traditionally been used to relax smooth muscle tone, making them potentially useful in the treatment of diarrhea and abdominal cramping and they check diarrhea through its astringent, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties (Shahid et al., 2019). Traditional herbal healers use asafoetida for the treatment of stomachache, flatulence, intestinal parasites, and weak digestion. (Irnashahy and Iranshahy et al., 2011).
Turmeric has been used traditionally for thousands of years as a remedy for stomach ailments for its antimicrobial property In India, (Deshmukk, 2014) and shallot onion is used to treat dysentery, fever, chronic bronchitis, insect bites, stings and skin disease (Rajeshkumar et al., 2013). The presence of fructo-oligosaccharides in the garlic was found to selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria (bifidobacteria and lactobacilli) in the colon, and thus act as a prebiotic and improve the host health (Sharma et al., 2006).
Microorganisms cause the influx of water and ions to the intestinal lumen by increasing intestinal motility, thereby causing dehydration of body (Longe and Dipiro , 1992). Immediate cause of death in enteritis cases is dehydration and most diarrheal deaths can be prevented through the prevention and treatment of dehydration. Treatment of infectious enteritis is aimed at correcting dehydration and electrolyte imbalances secondary to diarrhea. Glucose and electrolytes could be used to prevent and treat dehydration due to diarrhea of any etiology and in patients of all ages. Co-transport of glucose and sodium across the epithelial layer in the small intestine is well established and supports a protective effect of ORS against fluid losses and electrolyte imbalances to prevent and treat diarrheal dehydration and decrease diarrhea mortality (Munos et al, 2010). Jaggery, an unrefined sugar is a good source of energy, rich source of minerals, proteins, and vitamins and contains high levels of phytochemicals such as phytosterols, terpenoids, flavonoids, fatty acids, and phenolic acids (Segui et al., 2015). The potassium content of jaggery maintains electrolyte balance. In the present study salt and jaggery were used to maintain electrolyte balance, to absorb fluids more efficiently and thereby to prevent dehydration. Adding salt and sugar in EVM preparation increase the palatability of the medicine.
It was observed in the present study that the ingredients used in the EVM preparation for enteritis act synergistically to produce antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antisecretory, antispasmodic, prebiotic, antioxidant, mucosal protective, anti- dehydrating, and electrolyte balancing properties that scientifically supports the clinical cure of all forms of enteritis without the problems of super infection, and development of resistance.
Coalescing of traditional knowledge with scientific knowledge is essential for developing socially acceptable, environmentally friendly approaches for the socioeconomic prosperity of rural livestock farmers. It is concluded from the outcome of the present study that the EVM combination used in the present study was not only highly efficient to alleviate the problem of enteritis but also regained appetite and overall improvement in the general body health condition in small ruminants and hence ethnoveterinary remedy can be effectively used for the management of enteritis in small ruminants of all ages.
Summary
Ethnoveterinary medicine was used to treat enteritis in 528 sheep and goats and efficacy was studied. Better survivability , improved appetite, and improved overall health status of the treated animals proved the efficacy of EVM for the treatment of enteritis in small ruminants of all ages.
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NATURAL MEDICATIONS (ETHNO-VETERINARY METHODS) IN BACKYARD POULTRY FARMING
