Diversity of flora used for the cure of equine diseases in selected peri-urban areas of Punjab, Pakistan

Background

Equines (horses, donkeys and mules) are playing key roles in providing an economical draught power to resource-poor countries like Pakistan. Equines suffer from a variety of health conditions that not only hamper optimum performance, but also cause huge losses due to mortality [1]. Parasitism has been reported as the major health issue of equines in Punjab, Pakistan followed by wound, bacterial infections, lameness, bronchitis, dermatitis, and colic [2]. In addition to allopathic/modern medicine, there is extensive use of traditional herbs for the treatment of different diseases in equines all over the world [3]. Ethnobotany has revealed that the indigenous knowledge of a community is a key player in the identification of medicinal plants which have been tested through generations in the human history [4]. Traditional medicine and bio-prospecting [5] may often lead to the development of a new herbal product based on their use by significant numbers of people over the extended periods of time [6]. The plant-based medicines have particularly been found promising as anti-parasitics, stomachics, and in treatment of various respiratory ailments [7]–[12]. So far, only a handful of investigations are reported on the use of plants for different ailments/conditions; however, inventories of plants for phyotherapy in the food animals are extensively reported. The present study was, therefore, carried out to document the plants being used in traditional veterinary practices for equines in some selected peri-urban areas of Punjab (Pakistan) where equines are frequently used for different purposes.

Methods

Study districts

Three districts of the central Punjab; Faisalabad, Lahore and Sargodha were included in the present survey. District Lahore is the capital of Punjab (second largest city of Pakistan after Karachi), while district Faisalabad is the hub of textiles (third largest city) of the country. District Sargodha is comparatively smaller city and considered as an agricultural trade center with various industries. The equine population of the three districts has been estimated as 24628 horses, 174994 donkeys and 7849 mules [13]. The use of equines in the three selected industrial districts of Punjab is frequent because it is the cheapest source for carriage of industrial raw materials and products from and to the market [2]. Figure 1 shows physical map of Punjab province and the three study districts.

Figure 1

Physical map of the Punjab province, Pakistan indicating districts Faisalabad, Sargodha and Lahore.

Results

Discussion

There are several recent evidences of plant based treatment and control strategies from Pakistan, especially for parasitism [11,12]. This has been supported by repellent activity of Moringa oleifera[17], an indication to be used against ecto-parasites. Plants from different geographical regions have produced variable results [18] as the synthesis of secondary plant products can be affected by environmental/growing conditions. Steroid saponins show pharmacologic actions like antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and hypocholesteremic influences (Wang et al., [19]). So, plants producing saponins and organosulfur compounds like those of genus Allium can be used in the conditions described above.

Large number of qualified veterinarians also advocates the use of phytotherapy, other than preventive medication, but these practices are less organized in the form of scientific reports and are usually transferred orally as these have been developed by farmers, rather than by scientists in sophisticated laboratories. This situation is typical of a rural underdeveloped culture like that of pastoralists of Africa [20] and other parts of world having dependence on phytotherapy for their animals. Inadequate access to modern health care facilities due to cost-ineffectiveness, inherited beliefs, empirical evidence of efficacy, cultural acceptability and availability of botanicals at the farmers’ doorstep are the main factors [21] that lead to dependence of livestock farmers on the phytotherapy. The indigenous knowledge and skills can contribute towards development of phytotherapy in less developed areas of the world [22,23]. Plants are considered to possess relatively higher bioactive secondary compounds, thus hold promise for drug discovery. Most of the plant-derived chemicals are secondary metabolites, of which at least 12,000 have been isolated; a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total [24]. Nok et al.[25,26] and Nok and Williams [27] have discussed the active principles as well as the mechanisms of action of some plant extracts that are used in phytotherapy.

Fruitful efforts have also been made previously to document TVPs in some parts of Punjab, Pakistan focusing livestock but not including equines [28]–[32]. Equine industry has the ready and largely uninformed access to herbal products. Therefore, at least to the extent of equines, herbals are more than traditional veterinary medicine. The researchers have, therefore, focused on documentation and validation of usage of plants based on the claims of traditional healers [33]–[37].

Results of the present study have revealed that equine owners and/or traditional veterinary healers have great wealth of indigenous knowledge based on their practices and experience, which is evident from the number of plants (n = 60) used for treatment of different diseases/conditions of equines in Faisalabad, Sargodha and Lahore. Use of plants in multiple disorders indicates diversity of their pharmacological and toxicological impacts [38]. Plants have more than one mode of actions; therefore, provide broad spectrum activities in different diseases [39] due to diversity of phyto − chemicals. Twenty − four plants including Anethum graveolens, Bambusa bambos, Cascuta reflexa, Citrus limon, Cocus nucifera, Ficus religiosa, Geranium wallichianum, Grewia asiatica, Halorrhena pubescens, Lagenaria siceraria, Lepidium sativum, Mangifera indica, Medicago sativa, Myristica fragrans, Nigella sativa, Oryza sativa, Peganum harmala, Pennisetum glaucum, Picrorhiza kurroa, Piper betle, Prunus dulcis, Trifolium alexandrinum, Withania somnifera and Zea mays were found to be used for different indications in equines. As far as could be ascertained, there is no published literature on the use of plants for the treatment of ailments in equines. There are thousands (≈250,000) of species of plants naturally available [40], with a low proportionate exploited for medicinal purposes. Further, 5–5% of the higher plants have been investigated for their active constituents against a wide range of infectious and non-infectious diseases of humans and animals (Pieters and Vlietinck [41]). Plants are primary source of natural products used by traditional healers in 80% of the developing societies [42]. There was about 40% repetition in the ethno-botanical preparations (EBPs) documented in the present study and those documented by others for other species of animals [28]–[32]). It has been reported previously that different parts of the same plant (leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds, seed kernels, latex, stem, grains, bulbs, tuber, roots, basal rosette, bark, thallus, shoots, wood, buds, aerial parts, branches, etc.) and variety of solvents used for their extraction diversify their usage ([43]–[46]). Variation in the doses and mode of preparation of remedies within and among different conditions has also been reported elsewhere [11,28,30,32,47]. The aspect of non-standardized doses in phytotherapy have been criticized, because of toxicity constraints, under dosing, and cost; however, cost can be reduced by proper standardization of doses [48,49]. The common adage that natural is synonymous with safe, has led to significant and widespread disease [50], and it is critical that those involved in equine husbandry and health care are aware of the potential dangers of herbal medicine. Therefore, researches on the standardization of doses regarding efficacy vs safety should be carried out.

Conclusions

The current research suggests that EBPs have a crucial role in animal health and production in the study area. The current study revealed a diverse range of plants which is in practice to treat the prevalent ailments in equine population of Punjab. The pitfalls of TVPs found in this study were related with the improper diagnosis of diseases (some cases), non-standardization of dosages, mode of preparation and administration, and lack of understanding regarding importance of value addition (e.g., validation) to the existing practices, adverse/overdosing effects and documentation of indigenous knowledge. For example, traditional healers were not aware of the minimum essentials of parasite biology and strategic worm control practices. Fundamental issues in phytotherapy; however, are the dose, efficacy and safety left to an educated guess or is completely ignored. However, a handsome volume of the indigenous knowledge has been documented for the first time in the region in relation to the treatment of equines which provides a baseline for future scientific investigations in phytochemistry. The promising candidates of plant origin can be isolated through modern chemistry protocols and authenticated for their medical value after in vivo and in vitro experimentations.

Competing interests

We declare that none of the authors have competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

ZI: designed the project for the Ph.D. research of KG who was actively involved in the field surveys and compilation of the data. MS provided the transport and consultation services for approaching the equines of the study area. MSS provided comments and suggestions during drafting and reporting of the data and wrote the draft of manuscript. Q was involved in writing and reviewing of manuscript. All authors approve the final submission of the manuscript.