Vol. 6, Issue 8 (2017)

Author(s):
Yasir Afzal Beigh and Abdul Majeed Ganai

Abstract:

Artemisia absinthium Linn. (Wormwood) is an important perennial shrubby plant, belongs to the genus Artemisia with more than 500 species, distributed in the temperate areas across the globe and within India has been recorded in the Himalayan region. It is used as herbal medicine in Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani and Siddha; besides, has been incorporated as feed additive in livestock nutrition for augmenting nutrient utilization and animal performance. It has a great importance as a folk medicine in ancient history from the time of Greek as an antiseptic, anthelminitc, antipyretic, antimalarial, antioxidant, hepatoprotective and neuroprotective. This review provides information on the phytochemistry, medicinal uses and pharmacological evaluation studies along with preliminary investigations in the direction for use of A. absinthium L. in animal nutrition. Improving the feeding value of animal diets using bioactive and highly nutritious medicinal plants such as wormwood can be an important factor not only to enhance animal production, product quality but also to lower feed cost in developing nations especially temperate zones; however, feeding wormwood may have very powerful actions in animals including ruminants, and should be used with care.