Abstract

Ethoveterinary medicine provides traditional medicines which are locally available and cheaper than standard treatments. The present study was conducted to document the indigenous knowledge of ethnoveterinary practices in Medebay-Zana district, northern Ethiopia. Ethnoveterinary data was collected between October and November 2010 on eight field trips made to the site from 30 traditional healers using a semi-structured interview. A total of 24 species of ethnoveterinary medicinal plants were collected and identified for treating 21 livestock ailments. The ethnoveterinary medicinal plant preparations were administer mainly through oral (12, 46%), dermal (10, 38%), and nasal (2, 8%) routes. The most commonly used parts for herbal preparations were leaves (11, 41%), roots (6, 23%) and barks (3, 12%). The ethnoveterinary medicinal plants have various methods of preparation for different types of ailments including crushing (8 and 30.8%), crushing and squeezing (5, 19.2%), tying (5, 19.2%) and grinding (3, 11.5%). The plant parts used for livestock health treatment were mainly leaves and preparations were administer mainly through oral. Leaves are the most harvested plant part of remedy preparation for livestock ailments and oral is the major route of application of traditional medicine in the treatment of livestock diseases. Documentation of farmers’ knowledge, attitude and practices of ethnoveterinary medicine would be very important before the indigenous knowledge is lost forever.

Key words: Ethnoveterinary, Ethiopia, livestock, Medebay-Zana.