Traditional Medicine in livestock management

Recently, interests in traditional/ ethno-veterinary investigations have increased enormously at national and international level. Ethno-veterinary medicine deals with people’s knowledge, skills, methods, practices and beliefs about the care of their animals. Ancient ethno-veterinary literature suggests that the tribal, non-tribal and rural population have been using wild ethno-flora since long for curing diseases of the pet/domesticated animals. The Vedic literature, particularly Atharvaveda is a repository of traditional medicine including prescriptions for treatment of animal diseases. Rigveda describes a lot regarding the close association of human beings with the plants for treatment of their kith and kin (Ayurveda) and their animals (Mrig-Ayurveda). Despite the increase in chemical and pharmacological studies in recent years, there is still much to be done in evaluating the resources of India with regard to medicinal plants which may be useful in veterinary medicine. This paper reviews some historical developments in traditional medicine based livestock management and the way forward.