Ethno-veterinary practice for the treatment of animal diseases in Neelum Valley, Kashmir Himalaya, Pakistan

Plant species are not only used as fodder or forage but also contribute substantially in the treatment of various health disorders, particularly in livestock. This study is the first quantitative ethnobotanical effort on ethnoveterinary uses of medicinal plants conducted in the Upper Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan. Information pertaining to cure different ailments of animals were collected from 126 informants through semi-structured interviews, group discussion and field walks. In order to identify the plant species used and their preferred habitats, elderly and experienced members of the tribes, locally known ’Budhair’ (aged), were interviewed and sometimes accompanied in the field. The data was further analyzed through ethnobotanical indices. In all, 39 plant species, belonging to 31 genera and 21 families were documented which were used by the indigenous communities of Kashmir Himalaya for curing 21 different diseases of 7 different types of livestock. The highest number of ethno-medicinal plants were contributed by the Polygonaceae family, followed by Crassulaceae, Asteraceae and other families. Roots were the most used part of the plant for preparing ethnoveterinary medicines, followed by the aerial parts. The highest frequency of citation (41) and relative frequency of citation (7.32) was recorded for Saussurea lappa, followed by Rumex acetosa (37/6.61), Rumex nepalensis (36/6.43), Thymus linearis (28/5.0) and Angelica cyclocarpa (28/5.0). The highest use value was recorded for Saussurea lappa (0.33), followed by Rumex acetosa (0.29), Rumex nepalensis (0.29), Thymus linearis and Angelica cyclocarpa (0.22 each). The current study has made an important contribution towards the preservation of indigenous plants-based knowledge from extinction. The phytochemical and pharmacological investigations of the plants with high use value can be a potential source of novel drugs to treat health problems of animals and humans.

Enter a financial disclosure statement that  Code of ethics of International Society of Ethnobiology (2008) was followed during data collection. No formal permission was required from the government side to conduct the survey. Before starting the process of field work, the research protocol was finalized and formal approval from the Supervisory Committee (SC) of Botany Department, consisting of three senior professors of the department, was obtained. As the data collection was about the animals, therefore, the people who were in close interaction with the cattle/animals were targeted. After complete briefings to the informants about the purpose of this research work, verbal consents were taken from all the localities from where the data has been collected. As most of the informants were illiterate and it was not possible to take written consent from them.

Introduction
The importance of medicinal plants has turned around the world to natural medicines. The use of these medicine has emphasized on the importance of seeking knowledge about the medicinal plant species those traditionally were used by the indigenous communities of the mountain areas. The growing evidences indicate strong relationship between sustainable use of the biodiversity and ethnic knowledge [1]. Ethnic knowledge, which is time tested and supplemented with the latest scientific insights, can offer new models of economic development, which are socially acceptable and eco-friendly [64]. Documentation of folk knowledge has gained substantial importance around the world especially with the ratification of the Nagoya Protocol in order to maintain cultural heritage [2].
By virtue of its topographic variations spanning from valley floor through terraced lands and dense forests, up to snow-capped alpine peaks the Kashmir Himalaya, hovering at the western tip of the Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot, supports a rich and spectacular biodiversity of great scientific curiosity and promising economic benefits [3]. Mosaic of diverse niches -a byproduct of the habitat heterogeneity and the microclimatic variation along the altitudinal gradient, display a bewildering floristic diversity [4]. The communities in the mountain, are semi-nomadic tribes mostly inhabiting the hilly areas of the Kashmir Himalaya, they mainly depend on the livestock rearing and subsistence agriculture for their livelihood. Living on the edges of the mountains, they traditionally graze their livestock such as cows, bulls, buffaloes, goats, sheep, horses, etc. throughout the landscape in the region [5].
From decades, the inhabitants have learned and practiced the medicinal usage of plants growing in their close viciniityfor treating various ailments of their livestock in the need of hour. It is estimated that medicinal plants, for several centuries, have been widely used as a primary source of prevention and control of livestock diseases [6]. This precious ancient wisdom has usually been disseminated through the word of mouth (orally) from one generation to the other, having no black and white record. The transmission of traditional knowledge through oral methods is however unreliable and authentication through documentation is required [7]. Therefore, it is dire need of the time to document it on scientific lines before it disappears due to rapid socioeconomic, environmental, technological changes and as a result of loss of the cultural heritage under the guise of civilization. The only solution is documentation and conservation through systematic scientific studies before it is lost forever. In fact, interest/importance of such use in the veterinary sector has resulted primarily from the increasing cost of livestock, besides the maintenance and introduction of new technology in the production of veterinary medicines and vaccines. Ethnoveterinary medicines have the ability to fight different kinds of animal disorders [8] and several advantages are synthetic drugs. Ethnoveterinary medicines are easy to use, cheap and readily available [9]. During the last century, various studies have been carried out to document the ethno-medicinal uses of the plant species growing in the region. However, research efforts made so far, have been restricted to the chronicling of the medicinal plants used for the treatment of human ailments [10-18, 4, 19-20]. Very rarely, the ethno-veterinary medicinal uses of the floral diversity have been investigated [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Some workers have documented the indigenous ethno-veterinary practices in different parts of Pakistan [29-32, 19, 33-34], still documentation for the conservation of this well tested knowledge is required to be done in many parts of the country. The main objective of the present research, in this backdrop, was to fill the knowledge gaps in this important sub-area of cultural biodiversity directly relevant to the livelihood of the indigenous communities.
There are very limited livelihood opportunities available for the people of Neelum Valley and most of the pastoralists in the mountain part of AJ&K and the farmers in the high fertile lands. Livestock plays a pivotal role as it provides farmyard manure, rural transport, milk, meat and source of entertainment in the sports like Polo and also has major role in rural economy by providing income and employment to small hold farmers and poor people of the society. Easily accessible and available Ethnoveterinary medicinal plants provide a cheaper source for treatment of various diseases. The hardship that people face is the seasonal availability of certain plants, to overcome this issue, farmers have acquired different ways to preserve them for off-season uses. In these communities, the modern veterinary health curative system is inadequate, therefore the inhabitants utilize traditional Ethnoveterinary medicinal health system for health care. The economic condition of the farmers also restricts them to the use of modern allopathic drugs, which ultimately leads to poor livestock production and financial losses due to poor health of animals. Under such circumstances, Ethnoveterinary medicines can be promoted as an alternative drug and it can help in alleviation of the poverty by empowering the people to make use of their own resources for the treatment of their livestock.

Materials and Methods
Study area: Natural Geomorphological features of Pakistan range from the icy/ snowcapped peaks of Himalaya and other mountain ranges in the north, the sandy beaches and mangrove swamps in south; allowing different landscapes and climates with variety of flora and fauna. This study was conducted in District Neelum of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K), which is a hilly area with rugged topography, located in the extreme north of the AJ&K (Fig. 5). Total area of the district Neelum is 3621 Sq. kms with a population of 1.96 million [35]. Neelum Valley is located at 74°-24′ -50″ to 74° -31′ -50″ longitude and 34° -50′ -40″ to 35° latitudes. It is home to different ethnic groups like; Mughal, Chaudhry, Butt, Pire, Wani, Syed, Malik, Turks, Khawaja, Rajput etc. Leading distinctive features of District Neelum are its mountain ranges, natural lakes, waterfalls and the valleys. The valley is rich in the floral diversity. Documentation was carried out in three sub-valleys of the district Neelum i.e., Surgan, Shounther and Guraize Valley and in a most populated town area Kel.

Ethnoveterinary field work and interviews
Data collection: Before starting the process of field work, the research methodology / protocol was finalized followed by the seeking formal approval from the Supervisory Committee (SC) of Botany Department, consisting of three senior professors of the department. The methods employed during the present study were designed with the sole purpose of seeking / eliciting the precious wealth of information on the ethno-veterinary uses of medicinal plants practiced by the natives of the Kashmir Himalaya. Field surveys were conducted in various localities inhabited by the local communities during different seasons of the year 2012-15. Some of these localities are: Surgan, Kalay Pani, Bukwali, Kel, Arangkel, Domail Bala, Shounther, Lunda Nar, Janawaii, Phulawaii, Halmat, Taobutt etc., Usually, the elderly and experienced members of the tribes, locally known as `Budhair' (aged) preferably above the age of forty, were interviewed. More often, they were accompanied to the field for the identification of plant species used and their preferred habitats. The survey targeted farmers, shepherds, pastoralists, traditional healers, gardeners, shopkeepers and plant collectors who have the knowledge of veterinary practices. The plant specimens collected from the alpine and subalpine pastures were shown to them for authentication. All the relevant information, in particular the mode of preparation, method of use and dosage of each medicinal plant species was recorded. To bring an element of accuracy, the information obtained from one locality was cross-checked with that of others. Distribution status of the plant species used in the veterinary practices in the region (critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and secure) was also determined on the basis of field observation and informations collected from the inhabitants of the area.

Plant identification and herbarium deposition
Specimens of medicinal plants collected from each locality were provided with a collection number for future reference and supported by check lists for inventory. The plant specimens collected were processed at the Herbarium of Botany Department, University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Muzaffarabad and then identified with the help of available literature [36][37][38]. The properly processed plant specimens have been deposited in the Herbarium of Botany Department, University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Muzaffarabad.

Relative frequency citation (RFC)
Relative frequency of citation was calculated using RFC=FC/N Where FC =is the number of informants reporting the use of plant divided by the sum of informants who took part in the study (N) [7].
While, RFC = number of citation (for a given species) divided by number of citations for all species [39].
The frequency of citation was calculated to assess the incidence of one particular plant species used for the treatment of veterinary diseases in relation to the overall citations for all plants. The frequency of citation for a plant species was calculated as follows: Frequency of citation for a particular species = (Number of citations for that particular species/Number of all citations for all species)*100.

Use Value (UV)
The relative importance of each species was computed according to the given formula: = ∑ , proposed by Phillips and Gentry (1993) [66]; Where 'UVi" represents use value for a given species among the informants who participated, and 'Ni' represents the sum of informants.

Results
Demography and data collection: For the collection and documentation of Demographic information well informed persons of the relevant area were approached for interviews and group discussion in accordance with the standardized questionnaires furnished for this purpose. In order to collect, the ethnoveterinary information, the data was gathered from the informants, conducting extensive field visits during the year 2012-2015 going through pre-planned questionnaires using standardized data collecting protocols [40][41][42]. A total of 126 informants were either interviewed at their homes, in the field or at the religious places through convenience sampling. Among these, 73 were the females and 53 were the male (Table 1). Among these, young informants (43) were between the ages of 30-45 years, 56 were of the age 40-60 years and sixteen were 61 to 75 years old. Rest of the 11 informants were of the age of 76 or above. Majority of the informants (87) were illiterates and 26 informants were having 10 to 12 years of education while 13 informants were holding graduation level degrees. During interviews, it was observed that the illiterate and old age group informants have more traditional knowledge of plants than young and educated class. Females of above 40 years of age were found more informative and true practitioner of the ethnoveterinary sector. All the informants were interviewed in local language Pahari/Hindko. The key questions on Ethnoveterinary were on local names of plants and their parts used, mode of preparation and administration, amount of dose given, disease treated and personal experience of informants. Code of ethics of International Society of Ethnobiology (2008) was followed during data collection (http://ethnobiology.net/code-of-ethics/). As the data collection was about the animals, therefore, the people who were in close interaction with the cattle/animals were targeted. After complete briefings to the informants about the purpose of this research work, verbal consents were taken from all the localities from where the data has been collected. As most of the informants were illiterate and it was not possible to take written consent from them.

Taxonomic distribution and growth form of medicinal plants
The current study reported 39 medicinal plants belonging to 21 families, which were used for the treatment of 21 livestock diseases ( Table 2). Polygonaceae was the dominant family with 7 species; followed by Crassulaceae (5 species); Asteraceae (4 species), Papilionaceae (3 species) and Lamiaceae, Apiaceae, Caprifoliaceae (2 species each). The remaining 11 families were represented by one species each ( Figure 2).

Plant part used, formulation and use categories
The informations regarding the usage of parts of the plants were obtained from the participants revealed that different parts of the plants are used for preparation of remedies. Roots were the most used parts (49%) followed by aerial parts (28%), seeds (8%), fruits (8%), barks and resins are used (2%) each, while leaves with (3%) in the veterinary treatments. The main method for preparation of the remedies was mashed uncooked (18 species), Cooked (08 species), decoction (03 species) and powder and resin (one species each  Each plant species is provided with its scientific name and author citation; followed by the family to which it belongs to; local name (in italics); growth form; altitudinal range in meters above mean sea level); distribution status in the region (critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and secure); and lastly in brief the part (s) used and the mode of preparation and the dosage (wherever available). The sequence of the plant species in an alphabetical order is as follows.

DISCUSSION
By the discovery of the new drugs and a virtuous use of traditional medicine, it is very essential to record and preserve the traditional knowledge on medicinal plants those intended for treating humans and animals. Furthermore, the botanical knowledge is instrumental for the correct identification of the plant species, hence very important for avoiding errors in the gathering of medicinal plants. The present study has reported the ethno-veterinary medicinal uses of 39 angiosperm and gymnosperm plant species used by the local inhabitants and nomads of the Neelum Valley, Kashmir Himalaya. The respondents involved in the study through field interactions were 73 females and 53 males. Females from the study area were focused because of their close interaction with the animals as compared to the males. The results show that people above 50 years of age had more knowledge about the traditional use of the medicinal plants to cure various ailments of the domestic animals [43]. These medicinal plant species belong to 31 genera and 21 families and majority of them are perennial herbs. The most species rich family was Polygonaceae followed by the Asteraceae and Crassulaceae. Different plant parts, such as leaves, fruit, seeds, roots, etc. are used. The wide use of identic common names indicates a broad transmission of indigenous knowledge of Ethnoveterinary plants holding different uses [44]. The routes of administration of these herbal remedies were essentially oral, followed by the topical application. The part used was mostly the roots of the plants followed by the aerial part as a whole or the leaves. During the present study, the leading growth form of the medicinal species was herbs (62%), shrubs (25%), and trees (8%) indicated in Table -4. Herbs are often used because of their frequent availability, ease of collection and applications [45][46]. Plant species are distributed along wide altitudinal range starting from 1800 up to 3700 m (amsl). They grow in diverse range of habitats, such as valley plains, montane forests, subalpine and alpine pastures. In general, these plant species through different modes of preparation to form crude drugs are fed as food supplements to promote faster weight gain, as enterotoxaemia, indigestion, dehydration, ectoparasitism, post-delivery complications, dewormer, relieve constipation, respiratory and reproductive disorders [47]. The relative high frequency of some plants may allow the researchers in related academic disciplines for future drug discovery [48]. These plant species should be focused for the conservation, as their dynamic uses may cause threat to their population by over harvesting. Sedum stem is used to heal wounds and relieve pain in cattle while Rumex acetosa root powder in combination with Taraxacum officinale and curd is given to the cattle suffering from liver-fluke and digestive disorder in the Western Himalaya. Similarly, Rumex nepalensis roots are used in combination with milk of the cow and salt to cure the juvenile infection of the newly born calf till the age of one month in the Himalaya [49]. Geranium wallichianum rhizome is used to treat dislocation of the locomotion organs, inflammation of hooves, warts and abscissions. Angelica glauca rhizomes are used to enhance milk production in cattle, particularly in cows and goats, in the Western Himalaya [49]. Verbascum thapsus aerial parts are used to cure inflammation in cows, buffalos and sheep in the Himalaya [49]. It is also practiced against rabies as it causes vomiting [50]. These plant have been reported from the study area but having different medicinal values.
Taraxacum officinale is used in combination with Acacia modesta (Phlai) to enhance milk production while Aesculus indica nuts are colic and used to cure chest diseases of horses, donkeys and mules and used as stimulant in the Poonch division of Kashmir Himalaya [19]. Curcuma longa is used for prevention of mis-carriage in the cattles in Kashmir Himalaya [50]. Some herbal preparations used for livestock were made by a combination of two or more plants species or by the addition of some other items like ghee and sugar, which reduce the relative potency of the remedy [29]. The method of administering ethno-veterinary plant remedies varied among different ethnic communities [51,52].
Traditional uses of the biodiversity itself are complementary phenomena essential for the economic development of the society [53]. Biodiversity of any area and traditional knowledge reflects many generation of experience and problem-solving by the ethnic tribes. It represents an enormously valuable database that provides the baseline information for the commercial exploitation of biological resources [65,54]. These important information could be useful for the vets, pharmacologists, botanists, etc. interested in the development of alternative therapies. Although, ethnobotanical contributions have been made at country level [56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63] but no detail ethnobotanical survey has been carried out yet in Neelum Valley, Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Therefore, this Ethnoveterinary research was important to record the folklore informations about the local medicinal plants used for the veterinary purpose. Biopiracy is the unfair exploitation and monopolization of public domain knowledge and biological resources. In this context, the need of the hour is to speedily document evidence-based reliable information about the biodiversity and its' different uses by the ethnic tribes. Hopefully, the information thus generated, as in the present research, could supplement our efforts in the direction of the local biodiversity registers-a key instrument for achieving the regional and global biodiversity and the conservation goals.

Conclusion
Indigenous communities at Neelum Valley are dependent on medicinal plants for Ethno veterinary practices. The people practiced (39) medicinal plants to cure (21) livestock diseases. Knowledge about the traditional medicinal system is restricted to the herders, farmers and elder community member. The younger generation is unaware of this traditional treasure and takes no interest due to modernization. The current study has an important contribution towards the preservation of indigenous plants-based knowledge from extinct. There are several medicinal plants which are being used in traditional herbal system of veterinary disorders. Some of the important are Dipsacus inermis, Rumex nepalensis, Angelica cyclocarpa, Saussurea lappa, Aesculus indica etc. New Ethnoveterinary uses used at the study area were found for enterotoxaemia, dehydration, indigestion, dewormer etc. Polygonaceae is utmost plant family being in use for various livestock ailments. It is suggested that phytochemical and pharmacological investigations must be carried out to isolate the active compound and testing the in vitro or in vivo efficiency of the abovementioned plants against the targeted veterinary diseases. Furthermore, critical toxicological investigations are also required to ensure the safe and secure use of documented ethno-medicines. In order to share and further maintain this knowledge, it is direly needed to aware the rural population about the significance of traditional ethnoveterinary knowledge and to motivate them on the conservation of the natural flora.