Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz Region

ABSTRACT Ethno‐veterinary medicine is the use of traditional knowledge, theory, and skill to mitigate animal diseases. The study was conducted to document veterinary use of medicinal herbs in Assosa Zone, Ethiopia, from September 2022 to July 2023. Data collected from individual based field intervie...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Betelihem Yirdaw
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-07-01
Series:Veterinary Medicine and Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.70421
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849303983583133696
author Betelihem Yirdaw
author_facet Betelihem Yirdaw
author_sort Betelihem Yirdaw
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Ethno‐veterinary medicine is the use of traditional knowledge, theory, and skill to mitigate animal diseases. The study was conducted to document veterinary use of medicinal herbs in Assosa Zone, Ethiopia, from September 2022 to July 2023. Data collected from individual based field interviews using a semi‐structured questionnaire. Most of the respondents were males in the age group of 40 to 60 years old. By educational status, most of the respondents were illiterate and Muslims by religion. Around 68.6% of respondents acquire their traditional knowledge from family, and most respondents prepared remedies from plants 73 (71.6%). In this investigation, 71 plant species from five districts were identified. Those plants were used against 68 types of animal diseases. Those plants were distributed across 43 families. Data from this study revealed that the large number of plant species found in the Solanaceae and Fabaceae families is followed by Combretaceae and Asteraceae. Most respondents explained that the medicinal plants were found from the forest (42.25%), followed by both backyard and forest (35.21%) and only backyard (21.13%). Majorities of respondents explained that the root part of the medicinal plant is used for medicinal value (25.35%), followed by leaf and seed (22.54%) and bark (8.45%). The study revealed that the local healers in the districts have been heavily dependent on traditional animal health care for the treatment of a variety of animal diseases. Thus, it should recommend that medicinal plants used for the treatment of diseases should be tested on phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity and antimicrobial effects. In addition, conservation activities for medicinal plants and governmental encouragement of traditional healers should be conducted.
format Article
id doaj-art-ca07d16cefd3483fbf803a569f042321
institution Kabale University
issn 2053-1095
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Veterinary Medicine and Science
spelling doaj-art-ca07d16cefd3483fbf803a569f0423212025-08-20T03:55:53ZengWileyVeterinary Medicine and Science2053-10952025-07-01114n/an/a10.1002/vms3.70421Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz RegionBetelihem Yirdaw0Veterinary EpidemiologyAssosa Agricultural Research CenterAssosaEthiopiaABSTRACT Ethno‐veterinary medicine is the use of traditional knowledge, theory, and skill to mitigate animal diseases. The study was conducted to document veterinary use of medicinal herbs in Assosa Zone, Ethiopia, from September 2022 to July 2023. Data collected from individual based field interviews using a semi‐structured questionnaire. Most of the respondents were males in the age group of 40 to 60 years old. By educational status, most of the respondents were illiterate and Muslims by religion. Around 68.6% of respondents acquire their traditional knowledge from family, and most respondents prepared remedies from plants 73 (71.6%). In this investigation, 71 plant species from five districts were identified. Those plants were used against 68 types of animal diseases. Those plants were distributed across 43 families. Data from this study revealed that the large number of plant species found in the Solanaceae and Fabaceae families is followed by Combretaceae and Asteraceae. Most respondents explained that the medicinal plants were found from the forest (42.25%), followed by both backyard and forest (35.21%) and only backyard (21.13%). Majorities of respondents explained that the root part of the medicinal plant is used for medicinal value (25.35%), followed by leaf and seed (22.54%) and bark (8.45%). The study revealed that the local healers in the districts have been heavily dependent on traditional animal health care for the treatment of a variety of animal diseases. Thus, it should recommend that medicinal plants used for the treatment of diseases should be tested on phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity and antimicrobial effects. In addition, conservation activities for medicinal plants and governmental encouragement of traditional healers should be conducted.https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.70421Ethno‐veterinarymedicinal plantplantrespondent
spellingShingle Betelihem Yirdaw
Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz Region
Veterinary Medicine and Science
Ethno‐veterinary
medicinal plant
plant
respondent
title Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz Region
title_full Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz Region
title_fullStr Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz Region
title_full_unstemmed Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz Region
title_short Identification of Ethno‐veterinary Practices for Animal Diseases in Assosa Zone, Benishangul‐Gumuz Region
title_sort identification of ethno veterinary practices for animal diseases in assosa zone benishangul gumuz region
topic Ethno‐veterinary
medicinal plant
plant
respondent
url https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.70421
work_keys_str_mv AT betelihemyirdaw identificationofethnoveterinarypracticesforanimaldiseasesinassosazonebenishangulgumuzregion