Poultry, Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences
Open Access

Ethnoveterinary Practice in India

Keziriya Ruben^{* *}Correspondence: Keziriya Ruben, Department of Fisheries, University of Kerala, Karyavattom, Kerala, India, Email:

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About the Study

Veterinary medicine, also called veterinary science, medical specialty concerned with the prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases affecting the health of domestic and wild animals and with the prevention of transmission of animal diseases to people. Veterinarians ensure a safe food supply for people by monitoring and maintaining the health of foodproducing animals. Persons serving as doctors to animals have existed since the earliest recorded times, and veterinary practice was already established as a specialty as early as 2000 BCE in Babylonia and Egypt. The ancient Greeks had a class of physicians who were called “horse-doctors,” and the Latin term for the specialty, veterinarius (“pertaining to beast of burden”), came to denote the field in modern times. Today veterinarians serve worldwide in private and corporate clinical practice, academic programs, private industry, government service, public health, and military services. They often are supported in their work by other veterinary medicine professionals, such as veterinary nurses and veterinary technicians.The role of inland fisheries in livelihoods, food security and reasonable advancement is frequently eclipsed by the more prominent interest in sea issues. While inland fisheries catch and commitment to worldwide sustenance, food security and the economy, are not exactly that of marine fisheries, global.

Veterinary medicine has made many important contributions to animal and human health. Included are dramatic reductions in animal sources of human exposure to tuberculosis and brucellosis. Safe and effective vaccines have been developed for prevention of many companion (pet) animal diseases e.g., canine distemper and feline distemper (panleukopenia). The vaccine developed for control of Marek’s disease in chickens was the first anticancer vaccine. Veterinarians developed surgical techniques, such as hipjoint replacement and organ transplants, that were later applied successfully to people. A major challenge to veterinary medicine is adequately attending to the diversity of animal species. Veterinarians address the health needs of domestic animals, including cats, dogs, chickens, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, and goats; wildlife; zoo animals; pet birds; and ornamental fish.

Ethnoveterinary Practice in India

The veterinary science in India can be classified into codified traditions and folk medicine and has a documented history of around 5000 years. The codified knowledge exist in the form of texts manuscripts on various aspects of veterinary care of the livestock. The folk health practices largely remain undocumented and are passed on from one generation to the other by word of mouth. There is a rich and efficient ethnoveterinary traditions exist in the villages of India which form integral part of the family and plays an important social, religious and economic role. They comprise of belief, knowledge, practices and skills pertaining to health care and management of livestock. There are local healers who are knowledgeable and experienced in traditional veterinary health care. They use the locally available medicinal plants for treatment of animals. The ethnoveterinary systems are ecosystem and ethnic- community specific and therefore, the characteristics, sophistication, and intensity of these systems differ greatly among individuals, societies, and regions. However, they are facing the threat of rapid erosion. Widespread interest in documenting and validating ethnoveterinary practices arose in the early 1980s. Since then; several studies have been carried out, many reports written and numerous conferences and workshops held. The introduction of modern practices also made it difficult for the younger generations to appreciate and use the beliefs and practices of their forefathers. Despite recent efforts to promote the use of ethnoveterinary knowledge worldwide, much information is only documented in field reports and scientific publications.

Disadvantages and Limitations

Particular methods are often much localized and the scope for their further dissemination is limited.

Cures are variable in their effectiveness according to season, method of preparation etc., and few have been validated in the same way in which synthetic drugs must be validated.

From a technical standpoint some are totally ineffective.

EVM has little or nothing to offer against the acute viral diseases of animals.