animals of Uttar Pradesh, India
Reena Mukherjee1 & U. K. De2
Key words: Mastitis, Indigenous Technical Knowledge, dairy cattle, India
1 1Principal Scientist & 2Scientist (Sr. Scale) Division of Medicine, ICAR- Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar-
243 122 (UP) India. www.ivri.nic.in, Email: [email protected]
Role of Livestock in Sustainable Agriculture IAHA Pre-Conference on Organic Animal Husbandry November 7-8, 2017 linked to the 19th Organic World Congress, New Delhi, India, November 9-11, 2017 Organized by IAHA, FiBL, OFAI, NCOF, ICAR-IVRI , ANTHRA, IFOAM
Introduction
Ethnoveterinary medicine practices cover the knowledge gathered by the people as they care for their animals and keep them healthy. The knowledge is acquired through practical experiences and has traditionally been passed down orally from generation to generation. Ethnoveterinary practices using plant products and local household practices are often effective against some diseases and are available to the villagers as the only source of treatment (Chander and Mukherjee, 1994). The developing countries like India have huge reservoir of ITK for a variety of diseases, pests and parasites, which need to be properly documented and validated for their efficacy, side effects, cost effectiveness and environmental implications and should be given to animals only on the advice of the qualified veterinarian. Some herbal preparations have shown promising results against infectious agents, thus, were reviewed by the author (Mukherjee, 2001 & 2001a) especially in context of mastitis in dairy herds. The validated ITK may prove to be boon to organic production systems, where, many conventional treatments including antibiotic therapies are restricted (Mukherjee & Chander, 2005). The authors were involved in one such validation exercise on collection, documentation and validation of ITK.
Material and methods
Validation of ITK by Quantification of Indigenous Knowledge (QuIK) & Experimental studies Field Validation of traditional veterinary practice was done by experienced persons through QuIK technique (De Villers, 1996). In QuIK, matrix ranking is combined with an interview designed to elicit numerical data from experienced farmers. Quantitative data was obtained through preliminary discussions with farmers and respondents were asked to evaluate the ITK in comparison with modern veterinary drugs (MVD) for its performance on different criteria i.e. cost effectiveness, quickness in healing, ease of preparation, side effect and availability.
Experimental studies
In phase I, 9 cows and 6 buffaloes were taken from a commercial dairy farm. In Phase II, 15 lactating cows (5 Clinical cases, 9 Sub-clinical cases) were taken. The stem part of Azadirchta indica and green leaves of Chenopodium album were washed under running water and made to a fine paste in the mechanical grinder. The paste was then put in a closed container for 48 – 72 hours for
fermentation. Nine hundred grams of leaf paste /cow was thoroughly applied over the quarters and teats of the diseased udder once daily for 7 to 9 days depending upon the clinical recovery. 10 ml. of milk was collected in sterile tubes before initiation of the treatment and 10 days post treatment (PT). The California Mastitis Test (CMT) point score, Somatic Cell Count (SCC) and bacterial isolation in response to C. album treatment in lactating cows was observed.
Results and Discussion
There was significant reduction of SCC and Total Baterial Count (TBC) 10 days post treatment indicating the therapeutic effect of Azadirachta indica against mastitis in lactating cattle and buffaloes. Many investigators have observed lymphoproliferation, enhanced production of
interleukins and enhanced immunomodulation in mice model treated with A. indica (Upadhyay et al. 1992).
C. album: No literature was available on use of Chenopodium to control mastitis. The use of C. album
was restricted to only a few farmers having only 2-3 animals, since, it was effective only in early stages of mastitis and its role was limited to only reduction in swelling. The QuIK study revealed that C. album was not as effective as the allopathic and homeopathic medicines, but given its locally
available low cost technology nature, it may be quite useful under the circumstances, where the farmers do not have readily available modern drugs for the disease. Besides, this may not have side effects usually associated with many allopathic medicines, especially the antibiotics that are commonly used in case of bovine mastitis. The paste of C. album reduced the edematous swelling in the infected gland and it also reduced the blood in the milk. The efficacy of the paste increased when used along with lime and Vitamin E/ Selenium in case of clinical mastitis.
References
Baswa, M., Rath, C. C., Dash, S.K. and Mishra, R.K., 2001. Antibacterial activity of karanj (Pongamia pinnata) and Neem (Azadirachta indica) seed oil: a preliminary report. Microbios, 105:183–189. Chander, Mahesh and Mukherjee, Reena. 1994. Traditional agricultural and animal husbandry practices for sustainable agriculture in Kumaon hills of Uttar Pradesh. Journal of Rural Development, 13, 3, pp. 443-449.
de Villiers, A.K.1996. Quantifying Indigenous Knowledge: A rapid method for assessing crop performance without field trials. Agricultural Research & Extension Network (AgREN) Paper 66, June 1996.
Mukherjee, Reena. 2001. Herbal therapies hold the key in organic dairy farming: The case of mastitis. Indian Dairyman, 53, 12, pp. 40-43.
Mukherjee, Reena. 2001a. Evaluation of certain non- specific immunomodulators in subclinical mastitis in cows. PhD thesis (unpublished), IVRI Deemed University, Izatnagar.
Mukherjee R and Chander M.2005. Validating Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) for animal health management under organic production systems: Mastitis in dairy cattle. In: Rowlinson P, Wachirapokorn C, Pakdee P and Wanapat M (eds) Integrating livestock –crop systems to meet the challenges of globalization (Vol. 2), British Society of Animal Science, pp. T61-62.
Upadhyay, S.N., Dhawan, S., Garg, S. and Talwar, G.P., 1992. Immunomodulatory effects of neem (Azadirachta indica) oil. International Journal of Immunopharmacology, 14, 1187–1193.
Abstract
Indian farmers have long been using ethnoveterinary medicine (EVM) for organic livestock production. Since 2002, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), India has had government funded programmes to train farmers and veterinarians in EVM. The results of EVM herbal treatments (Aloe, turmeric and lime) used by farmers and veterinarians in managing mastitis have been remarkable at multiple locations. The herbal combination has been successfully tested in-vitro for anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities in the laboratory. The recipe has been cross validated clinically across India in the EVM network programme of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research Herbal resources for EVM are available locally making the farmers self-reliant in livestock primary health care (PHC).