Medicinal plants used as dewormers of animals

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – High up in the Cordillera, many farmers use medicinal plants as dewormers of their animals.

And for good reasons.

For one, the traditional practices on animal health care and management could lessen high livestock and poultry production costs through decreased dependence on drugs and biologics.

The Cordillera highlands are habitats of several genera of plants, herbs, insects, arthropods, and other flora and fauna that are of pharmacological significance, noted the Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) and Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resources Management (CHARM) Project in a joint report.

"For years, Cordillera farmers have employed certain plants and insects to cure livestock and poultry diseases," added the report "Medicinal Plants as dewormers for Animals" authored by Pranin Kiwang, Louwell Ogbinar, and Soledad Sudango.

Commonly used plants are betel nut, sunflower, and guava. Common animal ailment treated are diarrhea, cuts, wounds, and sprains, and internal and external parasitism.

In Bakun, Benguet, for instance, farmers claimed that they have been using medicinal plants as dewormers for ruminants. But these have never been officially documented and evaluated, hence, the DA-CAR and CHARMP study.

The University of the Philippines Los Baños identified the medicinal plants used by Bakun farmers, together with their scientific names and plant families to which they belong.

The result of the phytochemical screening proved that the plants really have medicinal properties, the researchers said. – RAF