Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
NV Kavithaa and N Vimalrajkumar

Abstract:
The present study was conducted in Coimbatore, Erode, Karur and Tirupur districts of Tamil Nadu with an objective to document the Ethno-veterinary medicines followed by the Kangayam cattle farmers. Snowball sampling technique was pursued to identify 50 Kangayam cattle farmers in each district, thus a total of 200 respondents were selected for the study. The ethno-veterinary medicines, plants and most common livestock ailments of the study area were found by direct questioning and through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique. Informant Consensus Methodology was adopted to find out the importance of medicinal plants, authenticity and homogeneity among the informants about EVM practices. Regarding common general disorders of Kangayam cattle, eleven categories of ailment was studied and it was found that the farmers had followed many ethno-veterinary practices using several locally available plants and herbs to treat insect bite and Yoke gall of their Kangayam cattle with a FIC of 0.96 followed by fever, hoof injuries/horn injuries, sprain/swelling/ arthritis, poisonous bites and general weakness (FIC = 0.95) and eye ailments (FIC = 0.91).