Indigenous uses of medicinal plants for the treatment of farm animals in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the indigenous uses of medicinal plants for the treatment of farm animal infected with diseases in Rafi local government area in Niger state, Nigeria. One hundred (100) respondents were purposively selected by using well structured questionnaires. Three groups of respondents viz: animal farmers, herb traders and civil servants possessing
farm animal, were interviewed on the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of farm animals. Descriptive statistics such as frequency tables and percentages were used for the analysis. The result showed that Madobiya (Pterocwpesa erinaceus) is used for treating foot and mouth disease, Kalgo (Pilliostigma thonningii) for pneumonia and chronic respiratory disease, Tamiya (Tamarindu indica) for New castle disease, Zogale (Moringa oleifera) for reinder pest of cattle and anthrax, Kuka (Adansonia digitata) for tuberculosis and coccidiosis, Madaci (Khaya senegalensis) for rabbis, Kurna (Ziziphus spina christi) for brucellosis . The significance of the medicinal plants for the treatment of animal’s diseases in the study area cannot be over emphasized. Most of the farmer cannot afford the prize of modern drugs and to prevent them from losing their farm animals to easily preventable
and curable disease resorted to the use medicinal plants.