Assessing ethno Assessing ethno Assessing ethno Assessing ethno----veterinary practices in Kashmir Himalayas: veterinary practices in Kashmir Himalayas: veterinary practices in Kashmir Himalayas: veterinary practices in Kashmir Himalayas: Traditional knowledge and its role in animal healthcare Traditional knowledge and its role in animal healthcare Traditional knowledge and its role in animal healthcare Traditional knowledge and its role in animal healthcare

This study was aimed at exploring the ethno-veterinary practices in the District of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory of India, by examining the traditional knowledge and its application in animal healthcare. The study included qualitative methods, such as interviews with local farmers (n=100) and traditional healers, as well as observation of their practices from February to April 2023. The results revealed a rich knowledge base among the local community regarding the use of medicinal plants for treating a range of animal ailments. 32 plants of pharmaceutical value representing 23 families have been assessed, with the Asteraceae family receiving the greatest attention. Eighty-eight percent of these ethnoveterinary medicinal plant species were herbs. Leaves of these plants were used most often (27%), followed by the entire plant (21%), seeds (21%), roots and fruits (9%), bulbs (6%), and stems and rhizomes (3%). Glycine max (0.91) and Allium sativum (UVi = 0.89) had the highest UVi values, whereas Oryza sativa (0.51), Allium sativum (0.49), and Zea mays (0.43) were the most cited and most often mentioned therapeutic plant species. Traditional veterinary practices were found to be deeply embedded in the local culture and were passed down through generations of farmers and traditional healers. These practices are still widely used today, in combination with modern veterinary medicine, to provide comprehensive care to livestock in the region. This study highlights the importance of preserving and promoting ethno-veterinary knowledge and practices as a valuable resource for animal healthcare in rural communities.


Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction
Throughout history, people from innumerable cultures around the globe have depended on abundant medicinal plants due to their healing properties, easy accessibility, and importance in their respective cultures (Miranda, 2021). Herbal treatments are an important component of the indigenous people's time-honoured medical traditions, which are prevalent across the mountains of Himalayas (Ishtiyak and Hussain, 2017;Tali et al., 2019;Riyaz et al., 2020;Mir et al., 2022). Since raising cattle is such an important component of people's livelihood in the Himalayan region, there is a significant amount of ethno-veterinary medicine that is plant-based and widespread (Sharma et al., 1989). Compared to western allopathic pharmaceuticals, these traditional herbal remedies are not only more accessible but also more cost-effective and less invasive with many treatment options (Hussain et al., 2023). This indigenous wisdom is intricately woven into the fabric of rural civilizations and has been passed down through the generations for hundreds of years. In order to protect cultural legacies and ensure that they are passed on from generation to generation, it is essential that this selfless common knowledge be recorded and preserved in written form. A growing body of evidence from the scientific community suggests that traditional indigenous wisdom, when combined with the most recent findings from scientific research, may be able to provide strategies that are both socially and environmentally responsible, which are essential for the long-term growth of local communities.
The western Himalayan mountains of the Kashmir region are home to a particularly rich biodiversity, which may be linked to the region's varied topography and terrain, that ranges from the bottom of deep valleys to terraced plains, lush forests, and snow-capped alpine peaks (Riyaz et al., 2020;Mochi and Riyaz, 2021;Zanit et al., 2022). Because of this mix of different ecological niches, the uniqueness of the habitats and the variations in the local climate that occur throughout the altitudinal gradient, the area is home to a mind-boggling large variety of flora. The people who live in the rural mountain villages of the Kashmir area follow a semi-nomadic agro-pastoral agrarian way of life and rely heavily on subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry for their income. The present study was performed in the District of Kupwara with the goals of identifying ethnomedicinal plants in a secluded region of the western Himalaya and documenting the region's usage patterns, components utilized, and administration methods for those plants for animal healthcare.

Study area
The Kashmir division's District of Kupwara, situated at latitude 343101500N and longitude 741503700E, is a secluded region with an area of 2379 km 2 (Figure 1). It is elevated at 1589 m above sea level and positioned approximately 114 kilometers away from Srinagar, the summer capital of the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (Mir, 2014). This district is surrounded by towering mountains that house a diverse array of vegetation and a wealth of medicinal plants. The prominent Kishanganga River flows from East to West, providing irrigation to the cultivated areas. Local Himalayan tribes reside here, and they move with their livestock to higher grazing sites . The population comprises of several groups, including Dards, Kashmiris, Gujjars, Pathans, and Bakarwals, each with its distinct characteristics. The study area boasts of a rich biodiversity with subtropical to alpine climate, severe winters, followed by summers and monsoons. The average annual temperature is 14.1 °C, and the months of March and April receive the highest rainfall. The local vegetation consists of subtropical, temperate, and alpine species, with semi-evergreen to coniferous forests dominating higher altitudes interspersed with scrubs (Asif et al., 2021).

Sample collection and study design
A sample of ten villages at random was made from the high, medium, and lower parts of the region. Ten residents were selected at random from each hamlet for an interview. Five of these ten were regular people who were active in farming activities, while the other five were specialists who knew how to employ these herbs to heal various ailments that afflicted livestock.
The work began as a combination of discussions with specialists in medicinal plant knowledge and experts in the studied region in recognizing such biodiversity resources. Both interviews with local informants and survey data were used as components of this investigation. Throughout the course of the field excursions, a random sample of locals, together with local and traditional professionals, veterinarian specialists, farmworkers, as well as other indigenous participants, were approached and asked about the traditional applications of native medicinal plants for the treatment of ethnoveterinary ailments. In order to document the traditional knowledge on the use of plant species, a questionnaire with a semi-structured format was employed.

Statistical analyses
Using the following formula, we were able to determine the Usage Value (UVi), of a given plant species.

UVi=ΣUi/Ni
Where, Ui is the number of use reports indicated for a certain plant species by each responder, and Ni is the total number of informants questioned for that plant species.
A comparison of the relative frequency of citations (RFCs) index was calculated using the following formula in order to evaluate the traditional applications and potential therapeutic benefits of each of the native plant (Rehman et al., 2016;Khan et al., 2019). RFCs=FCs/N The number of local respondents who traditionally make use of the taxa is denoted by the symbol FCs, and the overall number of respondents who participated in the survey is denoted by N (the value of N in this study is n=100).

Results Results Results
The present study involved interviewing different groups of locals such as medical experts, farmers, tribal people and traditional therapists. As per the findings, farmers tend to collect medicinal plants from their own fields as it requires less effort. In each taluk of the study region, there were many experts who had knowledge about livestock and treatment of their diseases. According to this survey, the majority of respondents had heard of or tried using herbal remedies for treating animals. Often, this knowledge is inherited from older folk.
According to the local respondents, a total of 32 plants with medicinal value from 23 families have been assessed (Table 1, Figure 2); Asteraceae family received foremost references. 88% of these ethnoveterinary medicinal plant species were herbs, 9% were trees, and 3% were shrubs. All of the medicinal plant species found in the understory were used to treat a variety of veterinary diseases. The most prevalent ailments that affected the cattle were foot and mouth disease, worm infestation, fever, wound care, mastitis, and concerns with milk production (Table 1).    The majority of the plants was utilized in their raw forms, and the plants that were put to use in their dried states were located in the highest points of the mountains which was difficult to access them straight away. In addition, the majority of these plants could often be purchased at any local store. Leaves of these plants were used most often (27%), followed by the entire plant (21%), seeds (21%), roots and fruits (9%), bulbs (6%), and stems and rhizomes (3%) (Figure 3). In most cases, the effects of the medications were felt very quickly following their administration.
From 0.63 to 0.91, the use value (UVi) was recorded (Table 4). Glycine max (0.91) and Allium sativum (UVi = 0.89) had the highest UVi values among the documented plants, followed by Taraxacum officinale and Galium aparine (both with 0.88). Tussilago farfara, on the other hand, had the least Uvi value (0.63). The Relative frequency citations (RFCs) were between 0.2% and 0.51% (Table 4). Oryza sativa (0.51), Allium sativum (0.49), and Zea mays (0.43) were the most cited and most often mentioned therapeutic plant species among traditional practitioners and local respondents. Rheum webbianum (0.2) and Prunella vulgaris were among the plants with the lowest RFCs (Table 2).      (Singh et al., 2019;Monika et al., 2020;Khajuria et al., 2021), Asteraceae was the most common plant family used in traditional herbal medicine. This may be due to the fact that these plants are readily available in nature (Maulidiani et al., 2015) and have a higher phenolic and flavonoid content (Maulidiani et al., 2015;Miara et al., 2018).
Herbs dominated the medicinal flora among other life forms (88%) followed by trees (9%), shrubs (3%); this is consistent with previous research (Rawat et al., 2016;Singh et al., 2017). Compared to previous studies (Ishtiyak and Hussain, 2017;Singh et al., 2017;Tali et al., 2019;Khajuria et al., 2021;Mir et al., 2022), leaves and roots were the most often used and reported plant components in the current study. Roots include abundant storage material and higher levels of secondary metabolites, which may explain why they are used so often by inhabitants. Leaves, however, may be put to greater use because of their mobility, shelf life, and concentration of phytochemicals. Leaves have been described as safe and sustainable by many research groups, including Dutt et al. (2015), Singh et al. (2017), Hussain et al. (2023). Roots used in traditional medicine preparation have been shown to stunt plant development and pose a major danger to wild plant populations, as documented by Ghimire and Bastakoti (2009).

Conclusions Conclusions Conclusions
This research compiled information on 32 medicinal plants traditionally used by the locals of the District of Kupwara, located in the Western Himalayas of India. People still rely on the natural remedies found in their immediate environments due to lack of medical advances and the poor accessibility of clinics and other healthcare facilities. Traditional healers and elderly people still retain a wealth of information on the identification and use of medicinal plants. Research into plants with a large number of URs and applications may lead to the development of innovative phytomedicine, and the preservation of this information will be invaluable to scientists, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and authorities in the years to come.
Indigenous people have a wealth of traditional medical knowledge, particularly those living in remote areas owing to the lack of conventional medicine and public transit; nevertheless, those living in such surroundings have strong resistance and wellness because of intense working and untamed nourishment. Outflow among the youngsters towards cities owing to rising population causes the tradition of cultural wisdom among the locals to progressively vanish. Consequently, documenting of such information is an important necessity in the near future for the sustainable usage and creation of novel medications and phytoconstituents. The excessive demand for the natural populations of extremely valuable and vital medicinal plants will result in both in situ and ex situ depletion. Hence, conservation is simply a necessity for long-term usage of the species; knowledge or maintenance of such important medicinal plants could prove to be a potential source of revenue in the years ahead.