Farmers are opening up to the idea of using herbs to
treat poultry diseases, and many poultry farmers know just how to do
this.
About 80% of the poultry farmers researched in Uganda know how to use
medicinal plants to treat poultry diseases, according to research carried out by
Makerere University in central and eastern Uganda.
Professor Bukenya Ziraba from Makerere University Department of Botany said
that there are plenty farmers are in fact using medicinal plant to treat coughs,
diarrhoea, swollen eyes, mites, worms and lice as well as Newcastle prophylaxis
and coccidiosis.
Ziraba says that the most common way of preparing and administering of the
medicine is simply to crush the plant material, add water and administer the
concoction orally.
"Since some of the farmers cannot afford to buy modern poultry drugs,
medicinal plants work as a substitute," he says, adding that using medicinal
plants saves farmers losses due to outbreaks of diseases.
Ziraba recently presented this research during a symposium on drugs
discovery from African flora, organised by the Natural Research Network for
Eastern and Central Africa.
by
Editor WorldPoultry
Aug 17, 2007