Abstract:
An ethnobotanical survey in Kyanamukaaka Sub-county, Masaka District was carried out to document medicinal plants used to cure helminths and other different ailments of cattle. Information on local plants used for curing helminths and other cattle diseases was obtained purposively using structured questionnaires, personal observations, interviews of herdsmen, herbalists, and farmers. Twenty-four (24) medicinal plant species used to treat helminthosis belonging to 13 families were mentioned. Euphorbiaceae being the most used (21%) family, and Fabaceae (17%) followed by Solanaceae (13%), Verbenaceae, Caparicacea, Gramineae, Phytolacaceae, Moringaceae, Lamiaceae were among the least used medicinal plants families with (4%) each. Leaves were the most used anthelmintic medicinal plant parts (46%). Ethnoveterinary medicine practices involved the use of plants as remedies collected specifically from the bush (34.9%), majority of which were herbs (33%) prepared mainly by maceration (59%) and the oral route accounted for (92%) then topical/ocular route 8% as means of administration of the anthelmintic remedies. Dosage administration varied among different remedy users. For the other ailments twenty-five (25) medicinal plants were reported, East Coast fever, trypanosomiasis, and fever were among mentioned other diseases. The research study contributes to the native knowledge of medicinal plants practiced among different communities, hence assisting in knowledge and practice preservation, which remain mostly with elderly traditional practitioners. However, there is a need for conservation, standardization of dosages, determination of the chemical composition, to be potential candidates for the development of commercial drugs.
Keywords: Helminth, Ethnoveterinary, Dosage, Anthelmintic.
