Ethnoveterinary Botanical Medicine: Herbal Medicines for Animal Health

By David R. Katerere and Dibungi Luseba

Despite the undoubted success of a scientific approach to pharmaceuticals, the last few decades have witnessed a spectacular rise in interest in herbal medicinal products. This general interest has been followed by increasing scientific and commercial attention that led to the coining of the term ethnopharmacology to describe the scientific discipline investigating the use of these products. Presenting detailed information from all regions of the world, Ethnoveterinary Botanical Medicine provides techniques to evaluate the efficacy of plants used in animal health care and addresses the challenges faced by researchers and practitioners in the field.

This book features a multidisciplinary approach to examining the role of herbal medicines in companion and domestic animals and the scientific underpinnings of ethnoveterinary practice. The text also covers matters relating to access benefit sharing, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), intellectual property, and the skills required to navigate the minefield of bioprospecting. The editors have collated information not often found in the English literature from China, Southeast Asia, francophone Africa and South America. They also explore the emerging use of herbals for pets with a case study from the European Union, highlighting this important area which will spur the growth in ethnoveterinary research due to its commercial potential.

Although many references cover ethnoveterinary medicine in some form or another, none give it the intense scrutiny and scientific input found in this book. With chapters on biological assays, efficacy testing, and phytochemistry, the book presents hard scientific information in accessible and readable language. The editors have gathered a panel of veterinary clinicians, animal scientists, pharmacists, chemists and ethnobotanists who have years of experience working with farmers and pastoralists, making this book quite possibly the first detailed compendium on the plants used in animal health care in all regions of the world.