The socioeconomic status patterns of the tribal community are comparable to those of the state’s livestock farmers as a whole. Farmers’ migratory patterns have become more, focussing on daily wage jobs. Table 1 reveal that majority belonged to elder age group, this might be due to the lack of interest among youth in livestock rearing. Recent study by
Shinde et al., (2024) from Nanded District, Maharashtra, has also reported similar findings. Henceforth, while planning programmes more attention should be given to attract youngsters. Majority of the respondents were female (64.17 per cent) and (67.50 per cent) were illiterate. Similar findings were reported by
Gour et al., (2015). In order to popularize the scientific animal husbandry practices among tribal farmers, it is essential to develop extension programmes and promote use of teaching aids that are easily understood by the farmers to adopt. The average land holding of tribal livestock farmers is less due to fragmentation of land, forest buffer zone issues and population explosion. Majority of the respondents had many years of experience, suggesting that tribal farmers are well-versed in livestock farming.
More than three-fourth of the respondents (81.67 per cent) shared their knowledge on EVM. Others felt that the sharing of information would lead to the loss of healing potential of these plants. This is a common trend reported across the globe with regard to the sharing of indigenous knowledge
(Dinbiso et al., 2022 and
Abraha, 2016). A total of 55 plant species under 39 families in Attappadi area have been documented for treatment of 15 categories of ailments. As Table 2 bespeaks, there was a medium to high level of consensus among the informants. The F
IC value for different disease categories has ranged from 0.50 to 0.97 with an average value of 0.87 that has indicated the level of agreement among the informants regarding different phyto therapeutic uses of medicinal plants. Similar findings were reported from Velliangiri holy hills
(Ragupathy et al., 2008). Pox showed highest F
IC value followed by FMD. High F
IC values indicates the prevalence of these ailments in the study area. Medicinal plants supposed to be efficient in treating ailments have high F
IC value
(Belayneh et al., 2020). The low F
IC value could be due to the fact that ailments were unnoticed by the farmers owing to their indirect influence on animal’s production
(Xiong et al., 2020). As Table 3. depicts butter milk with garlic paste, a combination of red onion, little tree plant, jaggery and coconut flower is ground in equal proportion and ground curry leaves were used to treat diarrhoea. This clearly indicated that the above practice were highly effective in treating diarrhea which suggests the scope of future studies with the high use value of 0.67. Under the condition constipation, the documented practices were use of honey in warm water and a mixture of 10 g turmeric, 25 g cumin, 100 g jaggery, 100 g ginger and 15 red chillies. Similar findings and practices were reported from southern states of India by
(Nair et al., 2017). There were four practices documented in the treatment of indigestion condition in animals. Similar reports using pepper, cumin and ginger combination to treat indigestion in ruminants was revealed by (
Gogoi, 2022). The practice of usage of papaya, neem, fenugreek, cassia, lemon and bitter gourd against the helminthic infestation are common among the rural communities (
Pathak and Chhabra, 2014).
A perusal of Table 4 indicates that the practice of treating the bovine infertility with drumstick leaves and aloe vera are commonly advocated among the rural farmers. This agrees to the findings of
Sarswat and Purohit, (2020) and
Patil et al., (2015). The cases of infertility directly hit the farmers as they are the traits of the economic importance, hence the analysis of these phytocompounds towards the reproductive health are need of the hour. To avoid dystocia,
Moringa leaves’ extract was pasted over the vulva and chaff flower was given. Similar findings were reported by
Singh (2018) explaining their high antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant flavonoids. The higher use value for the combinations of onion, garlic and little flower and the remedial measures of reproductive disorders shows their significance in treating respective ailments which opens a scope of future studies. Garlic and Turmeric were found to be effective in the treatment of reproductive diseases
(Gopikrishnan et al., 2022). It could be observed from Table 5 that farmers encountered mastitis with mixture paste of aloe vera (250 g), turmeric (50 g), calcium hydroxide (10 g) as externally. The treatment of mastitis using the paste of aloe vera, turmeric and tassel flower is quite popular across Asia
(Somvanshi et al., 2016 and
Bhatt and Agarwal, 2018). The
in vitro antimicrobial activity of extracts of
Aloe vera and
Curcuma longa (turmeric) were exhibited against the common pathogens
Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and
Pseudomonas aurogenosa. Curcuminoids have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antifungal properties.
The very commonly prevailing viral disease of cattle in the study area is Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). FMD was treated with paste made from cumin (10 g), fenugreek (10 g), turmeric (10 g), pepper (10 g), garlic (4 no.), jaggery (100 g) with one coconut was given orally thrice a day. Lard of wild boar in banana, veldt grape, curd (0.75
l), with turmeric, neem leaves and red onion was given orally to counter. Ten grams of turmeric, neem, cumin, fenugreek, garlic and lard of pig are commonly used in the treatment of FMD among the livestock farmers (
Sangma and Manohara, 2017 and
Visvesvaran and Thirumalaiswamy, 2015). The combination of cumin, fenugreek, onion, pepper and turmeric are proven for their success rates against FMD (
Visvesvaran and Thirumalaiswamy, 2015 and
Ganeshan et al., 2008). Hankiso et al., (2024) has also discussed this combination which confirms the significance of plant as a treatment strategy across years.
Neem and thulasi leaves are proven for their efficacy in wound healing
(Somvanshi et al., 2016). Table 6 denotes that Malabar nut with 50 g ginger, 200 g jaggery was given for 6 days in treatment for respiratory distress. Use of hand full red onion and ginger against respiratory diseases were reported by
Sangma and Manohara (2017). Different plant-derived volatiles and oils such as camphor, turpentine oil, eucalyptus oil, neem oil,
etc. have been shown to be very effective against myiasis as depicted in Table 7 (
Chhabra and Pathak, 2009). As the Table 8 depicts, in order improve milk production, boiled papaya,
moringa leaves and asparagus were given orally. Moringa leaves popularly known as drumstick tree or Miracle tree is an excellent source of nutrients which is observed to increase animal performance in many parts of the world
(Bhokre et al., 2023).
The indigenous knowledge has a significant role in addressing the challenges with locale-location specific and resource efficient solutions. The findings demonstrate that the Attappadi tribal livestock farmers are not an exception to this fact. But often diseases pertaining to skin, foot
etc are unattended. The ethno botanical and traditional knowledge are under the threat of extinction, due to the expanding urban interfaces, industrialization and societal changes in the global context. This survey study not only shows the inseparable dependence of the Attappadi tribal farmers in livestock management, but also the relevance of ethno botanical knowledge in their livelihood.
