Observations on ethnoveterinary medicines in Trinidad and Tobago

Ž .Preventive Veterinary Medicine 35 1998 125–142

Observations on ethnoveterinary medicines inTrinidad and Tobago

Cheryl Lans a,), Gabriel Brown b,1

a 17 Cadiz Road Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobagob School of Veterinary Medicine, UniÕersity of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Accepted 23 June 1997

Abstract

In 1995 research was conducted in Trinidad and Tobago with the aim of collecting knowledgeon ethnoveterinary medicines in order to lay a foundation for further scientific study andvalidation. This paper describes only the ethnoveterinary practices used in the poultry sub-sector.A four stage process was used to conduct the research and document these ethnoveterinarypractices. 28 ethnoveterinary respondents were identified using a modified Rapid Rural AppraisalŽ .RRA technique, the student essay method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with theserespondents as well as with 30 veterinarians, 27 extension officers and 19 animal healthassistantsragricultural officers, and the 7 key respondents that they identified. 5 participatoryworkshops were then held with 55 of the respondents interviewed to discuss the data generatedfrom the interviews and to determine dosages for some of the plants mentioned. 12 plant specieswere used to treat 4 categories of health problems common to poultry production. Aloe Õera,Bryophyllum pinnatum, Citrus sp. and Momordica charantia were the main medicinal plantsbeing used. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Keywords: Ethnoveterinary medicine; Folk medicine; Trinidad and Tobago; Participatory research

1. Introduction

ŽEthnoveterinary medicine is indigenous knowledge on animal health McCorckle,.1989 . Research in this area seeks to improve livestock production through improved

) Corresponding author. Tel.: q1 868 624 7880.1 Tel.: q1 868 645 2640 extension 4315.

0167-5877r98r$19.00 q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.Ž .PII S0167-5877 97 00055-X

( )C. Lans, G. BrownrPreÕentiÕe Veterinary Medicine 35 1998 125–142126

Ž .health Mathias-Mundy and McCorckle, 1989 . Rapid socio–economic, technical andŽecological changes often lead to the disuse and loss of indigenous knowledge Mathias-

.Mundy and McCorckle, 1989; McCorckle, 1989; Longuefosse and Nossin, 1996 . InTrinidad and Tobago ethnoveterinary practices are based on Caribbean folk medicine,

Ž .which has origins in Europe, India, Africa and South America Laguerre, 1987 . Somefarmers in Trinidad and Tobago depend on ethnoveterinary practices, while others use

Žthem only when cash flow problems prevent the use of ‘modern’ medicines Lans,.1996 . Farmers located close to Government Agricultural stations are more likely to

access allopathic Veterinary care than those in very distant rural areas, or those withŽ .poor access roads Lans, 1996 .

ŽTrinidad and Tobago is currently heavily reliant on imported drugs Ministry of.Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources, 1991 . During the early stages of IMF-struct-

ural adjustment, some allopathic drugs were not available to Ministry of AgricultureŽ .staff Ministry of Food Production and Marine Exploitation, 1990 . This l990 report also

states that revisits were curtailed and some calls were deferred to be handled when therewere other calls in the area. Despite the constraints limiting state-sponsored veterinaryservice, the 1990 report also contains the concern that ‘‘the lack of drugs resulted in

Ž .farmers treating their own animals with antibiotics and other drugs’’, and the author sfelt that, ‘‘indiscriminate use could result in drug resistance and drug residue potential’’Ž .Ministry of Food Production and Marine Exploitation, 1990 .

If proved effective, medicinal plant use can prevent a recurrence of the aboveproblems, since the use of these plants can conserve hard currency and reduce health

Ž . Ž .care costs Farnsworth, 1993; IIRR, 1994 . Schillhorn van Veen and de Haan 1995predict a new era of cost effectiveness in which disease control is mandated, financedand executed by the farmer or lay personnel. Shifting minor health concerns to farmerscan then free the Veterinarians to concentrate on health problems that may be getting

Ž .inadequate attention and resources Lans, 1996 . Scientific validation of the effects andŽ .side effects of these plants is needed before they can be recommended or not for use

Ž .Farnsworth, 1993 . Research is also needed to establish whether medicinal plants havefewer long term adverse complications, such as antibiotic resistance, than commercial

Ž .drugs Toyang et al., 1995 .Ž .The purposes of this paper are 1 to describe the four-stage process used to

Ž .document ethnoveterinary medicinal use in Trinidad and Tobago; 2 to present eth-noveterinary practices used in the poultry sub-sector.

2. Materials

2.1. The study area

Trinidad and Tobago is a twin-island republic in the southern Caribbean. Trinidad is18 km northeast of Venezuela, while Tobago lies 46 km to the northeast of Trinidad.The republic is located between latitudes 108 and 118 north and spans longitude 618

west. The republic has a combined area of 5070 km2 and a human population of 1.25million. The economy is oil-based and the agriculture sector does not attract the kind of

( )C. Lans, G. BrownrPreÕentiÕe Veterinary Medicine 35 1998 125–142 127

Ž .resources given to the energy sector Harrison, 1994 . The islands are estimated to haveŽ37 000 cattle, 74 000 pigs, 36 000 small ruminants and 18 million poultry Dindial,

.1991 . Poultry farming is one of two productive, intensive and efficient forms of meatŽproduction in Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Food Production and Marine Exploita-

.tion, 1989 . Government subsidies have been removed, and most of the inputs forŽ .poultry production hatching eggs, feed ingredients, equipment and drugs are imported.

Ethnoveterinary medicines are used in the ‘modern’ poultry sub-sector, despite theŽ .‘traditional’ stigma attached to folk medicines Lans, 1996 .

Ž .The poultry sector is unique in having the Poultry Surveillance Unit PSU , whichŽoffers technical and veterinary assistance to producers Ministry of Food Production and

.Marine Exploitation, 1989 . Producers are advised on proper management and sanitationŽprocedures for the maintenance of healthy and productive flocks Ministry of Food

.Production and Marine Exploitation, 1989 . The unit provides diagnostic services andtimely feedback of post mortem results to farmers. This unit is part of the AnimalProduction and Health Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and MarineResources. The PSU was set up in 1981 and has 8 animal health assistants and 1

Žagricultural officer, and is headed by a Veterinarian Ministry of Food Production and.Marine Exploitation, 1989 . In 1994, the PSU staff made a total of 544 visits to 55 layer

farms with a capacity of 477 500 layers, and a total production of 3 583 983 dozen eggs.2073 visits were made to 165 broiler farms with a capacity of 3 610 500 broilers and a

Žtotal production of 5 954 710 broilers. Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine.Resources, 1994 .

3. Methods

The data collection methods used took into consideration the definition of veterinaryŽ .anthropology given by Mathias-Mundy and McCorckle 1989 , which is folk manage-

ment of animal health in the context of the whole farming system with consideration forother socio–economic and political realities. The methods were chosen in an attempt tomaximize the amount of data that could be collected over a five month period, as well as

Žto maintain the data collection as a public, collaborative and participatory activity Lans,.1996 .

The essay method, used to identify the key respondents is a Rapid Rural AppraisalŽ . Ž .RRA tool Sutton and Orr, 1991 . RRA is a collection of cost effective ways to learnabout the researched situation, needs and initiatives of rural people and to collect

Ž .relevant data for planning projects Waters-Bayer and Bayer, 1994 . Tools used includeŽ .interviewing, diagramming, ranking and mapping. Participatory Rural Appraisal PRA

goes further than RRA in actively involving rural people in identifying their problems,seeking solutions and evaluating results. RRA and PRA both aim for faster collection ofbetter quality data, and speedier analysis, than given by conventional questionnairesŽ .Waters-Bayer and Bayer, 1994; Baldwin and Cervinskas, 1993 . An important part of

Ž .RRArPRA is triangulation Waters-Bayer and Bayer, 1994 , which means looking atthings from various perspectives. To achieve this means applying different methods,using different sources of information, collected by different people, and cross-checking


to become more accurate through successive approximations, i.e., seeking differentsources and using different methods to obtain information about the same thingŽ .Waters-Bayer and Bayer, 1994 .

Ž .Participatory Action Research PAR focuses on social problems. Practitioners andresearchers work together to solve these problems, with the former having the main

Ž .problem-solving responsibility Giarelli, 1996 . Research action methodologies aredirected towards the dual goal of developing new knowledge and solving practical

Žproblems and they stress the actual use and dissemination of research products Giarelli,.1996 . One objective of Collaborative research is to return decision making, based on

theoretical knowledge, to the community, rather than conceding this role to the expertŽ .Warry, 1992 . Empowerment of research ‘subjects’ can take place when theory isallowed to inform practical action and by returning knowledge for use to its point of

Ž .origin Warry, 1992 .

3.1. Steps in the data collection

The data collection carried out for 5 months in 1995 can be divided into the followingfour parts.

1. Using the school essayrquestionnaire method to generate a purposive sample ofethnoveterinary key respondents. Key respondents are local experts or people in the

Žstudy area with a profound knowledge of a particular issue or technology Waters-Bayer.and Bayer, 1994 . They have a more extensive vocabulary of local social and cultural

Ž .systems than others in a community Etkin, 1993 . A purposive sample means identify-ing and interviewing that particular subset of knowledgeable people. Intensive collabora-tion with key respondents is considered to be a particularly effective research strategyŽ .Etkin, 1993 .

2. Conducting interviews with key respondents, veterinarians, and the field staff ofthe Ministry of Agriculture.

3. Holding 5 workshops and 1 seminar to discuss the data gathered with the keyrespondents.

Ž .4. Collection of secondary data from the University of the West Indies UWI library,and other sources.

3.2. Locating and selecting key respondents

The population of interest was individuals knowledgeable on ethnoveterinarymedicines. There are aspects of folk medical knowledge that are held in common by a

Ž . Ž .population Robineau, 1991 . However each group regional, religious, ethnic, families ,additionally holds specific folk knowledge. There is also occupational specialization, forexample hunters know canine ethnoveterinary practices. Individual healers and herbalists

Ž .also have specialist knowledge Etkin, 1993; McCorckle et al., 1996 . A random sampledoes not fit the socio–cultural conditions in which folk medicinal knowledge existsŽ . Ž .Etkin, 1993 . Etkin 1993 considers it erroneous to seek consensual reports of

Ž . Ž .normative sharedrcommon behavior, which is then inappropriately extrapolated to acommunity generally.


The potential effectiveness of the research design could not be estimated in advance,since there is little published information on where key respondents are located or whichethnoveterinary practices are common in which areas. The use of children to collect

Ž .information has precedents in the field Isayagi, N. pers. comm., 1995 , but there is littleŽ .published literature about this method Campbell, 1994 .

The first step of the data collection involved speaking to 242 students from 9secondary schools geographically spread throughout Trinidad and Tobago. The samplingframe was the national telephone list of 95 secondary schools. Letters were written to an

Fig. 1. Geographical location of the chosen schools.


initial sample of 26 of the 95 school principals explaining the research into ethnoveteri-nary practices, outlining what was required of the students, why their participationwould help the study, and asking permission for their students to participate. Thissample was chosen to include the variables rural, urban, ethnicity, gender and geographi-cal spread. Port of Spain and environs, the East–West corridor, and the second city ofSan Fernando are considered urban; ‘rurality’ increases with increasing distance fromthese areas.

From this first sub-sample, a final sample size of 9 schools was considered to be themaximum that the first author could deal with in the five month research period, takinginto consideration ongoing teacher industrial action and based on the expected numbersof essaysrquestionnaires that would have to be read, the number of students that mighthave to be contacted again to confirm or explain their responses and the number ofrespondents that they might identify. The 9 schools were chosen to obtain the 12–15 agegroup who are free of national exams, and to include the variables of rural, ethnicity and

Ž .geographical spread Fig. 1 .After selecting the schools the students were then visited in their classes. The basics

Ž .of participatory research Baldwin and Cervinskas, 1993 were explained to the students,and they were told why their contribution was needed. The students were then asked tointerview parents, friends and neighbors about ethnoveterinary medicines and write whatthey found in essaysrquestionnaires. Eight question were written on the blackboardŽ .Fig. 2 and the students were asked to consider these 8 questions in their interviews,and in their essays. Classroom teachers reinforced what the first author wanted from thestudents after each presentation.

The essay method is said to reduce the following biases.1. Modelling bias is the projection of the interviewer’s views onto those studied.2. Strategic bias is the expectation of benefits by the subject.

Fig. 2. Questions for inclusion in the essays and questionnaires.


w3. Familiar prior relationships between interviewerrinterviewee, children and par-xentsrneighbors , reduces acquiescence and response set answers, and outsider bias

Ž .Sutton and Orr, 1991 .Ž .4. Reduction of ‘key personae’ bias Etkin, 1993 . Including a representative

cross-section of local residents into the research gains more information, insures thatsynonymy is recorded and more accurately represents the circumstances of plant

Ž .identification and use throughout the studied community Etkin, 1993 .This school essay method also allows illiterate people, and those living in remote

Žareas to be reached and many interviewers should give many viewpoints Sutton and.Orr, 1991 .

Teachers in Tobago and one teacher in Trinidad considered that questionnaires weresimpler for the students than essays. They requested and were supplied with question-

Ž .naires by the first author. The questionnaire form Fig. 3 used the same 8 questions thatstudents were asked by the first author to consider in their essays. Each questionnaireform was double-sided with the result that each form had 4 blocks of the 8 questions.

The second step in the research process involved interviews with respondentsidentified from the essayrquestionnaires. Fifty-three essays and 25 questionnairesproduced 80 respondents and information on farm animals and pets. For example 12

Ž . Ž .essays 50% from school 9 were on deworming dogs with cotton bush Gossypium sp. .Twenty-eight respondents were selected by the first author from the essayrquestion-naires for interviews. Selection was based on whether the essayrquestionnaire indicatedthat a respondent had potentially useful information on farm animals. The interviewswith the key respondents were guided discussions, semi-structured by a mental checklistof relevant points. If these key respondents, or the later workshop discussions confirmedthe information written in the essaysrquestionnaires, the information was consideredvalid.

Group and individual interviews were also held with officials from the Ministry ofŽ .Agriculture, Lands and Marine Resources: 19 Agricultural Officers AOs and Agricul-

Ž . Ž . Ž . Žtural Health Assistants AHAs 50% sample and 27 Extension officers EOs 33%.sample from one East and two South Regional Offices in Trinidad. No information was

obtained from the North administrative zone, or from Tobago. A group interview isliterally an interview with a group of people who have some common characteristics, forinstance residence or occupation. It is likely to be more spontaneous than the focus

Ž .group workshop described below Etkin, 1993 . These officials discussed what theyknew and indicated which Veterinarians were likely to know ethnoveterinary practices, a

Ž .stepwise or snowball sample. Thirty veterinarians 50% sample were then contactedŽ .including both of the Veterinarians located in Tobago , and 19 discussed what theyknew. Seven respondents were identified from this set of interviews and these 7, whichinclude ethnoveterinary experts 1 and 2 below, were also asked about ethnoveterinarypractices.

3.3. Focus group workshops

The third step was the conduction of 5 focus group workshops with 55 of therespondents, AHAsrAAs, and EOs interviewed, as a form of data validation andverification. An information seminar was also given at the Veterinary school. A focus


Fig. 3. Student project questionnaire.


group can be defined as an exploratory discussion designed to obtain perceptions on aŽ .specific theme in a non-threatening environment Krueger, 1988; Etkin, 1993 . Partici-

Ž .pants are invited from a target group with knowledge of the research topic Etkin, 1993 .The group interaction produces data and insights that would be less accessible without

Ž .the interaction Morgan, 1988 .Workshops were included in the research as a collaborative and a participatory

Ž .method IIRR, 1994 , which also served to coax dosages from the respondents andverify that the first author accurately recorded the information from the previousinterviews. The group interaction of a workshop minimizes the objectification of the

Ž .respondents as only ‘sources of data’ Oakley, 1981 .Ž .The workshops followed the outlines established by IIRR 1994 , who held a

participatory workshop in the Philippines to prepare the information kit EthnoÕeterinarymedicine in Asia. This participatory workshop was designed to reduce the amount oftime necessary to develop information materials by bringing together the expertise and

Ž .resources of a wide range of participants and their organizations IIRR, 1994 . The IIRRŽ .1994 participants were Asian experts with extensive diverse field or laboratoryexperience in ethnomedicine. Remedies were selected for publication based on any oneof the following criteria:1. they were widely used in a region,2. participants had first-hand knowledge of the remedy’s use on-farm,3. traditional healers were known to use the remedy,4. it was cited in the scientific literature or,

Ž .5. it had been scientifically validated as effective IIRR, 1994 .Of the 5 focus group workshops, only the workshop held with the PSU is relevant to

this paper. The participants included 2 poultry ethnoveterinary practitioners who dis-cussed remedies based on criterion 2 above. Expert 1 had an academic background inanimal health and managed an operation with a monthly output of 500 000 broilers and150 000 breeders, from 18 contract farms. Expert 2 had an operation of 30 000 broilers,

Ž .with 4 batches a year. The 8 members of the PSU animal health technicians discussedremedies based on criteria 1, 2 and 3 above.

Prior to the workshop a draft booklet on ethnoveterinary medicine for poultry wasproduced by the first author based on the information gained from the previously

Ž .conducted interviews and using as a foundation the Poultry Booklet IIRR, 1994 , whichhas no copyright for non-commercial use. Some of the Asian ethnoveterinary practices

Ž .are similar to those of Trinidad and Tobago Mathias-Mundy, M. pers. comm., 1996 .Each participant was given a copy of the draft and encouraged to modify it during thediscussion. This draft was then reviewed and corrected in the workshop, and dosageswere clarified.

4. Results

4.1. The essay method

78 essaysrquestionnaires were returned. On the whole, the essay method providedmore key respondents than the Veterinarians, Animal health Technicians and Extension


staff because the school sampling frame encompassed a larger population with a greatergeographical spread. However only 7 of the 78 essayrquestionnaires described eth-noveterinary medicine for backyard poultry: the use of lime juice in ducks drinking

Ž .water for respiratory illness; the use of caraaili Momordica charantia leaves, whichŽ .are boiled, and the resulting liquid given to sick chickens; and aloe leaf gel Aloe Õera

given to purge chickens. Three essays described ‘PIP’ as a ‘‘rash on the chickens tonguewhich could be removed by rubbing or scraping it with wood ashes’’. One essay

Ž .indicated that roasting cashew nuts Anacardium occidentale in the open air was linkedto ‘chicken pox’.

4.2. The PSU focus group workshop

The results below are from the PSU focus group workshop and the resulting bookleton ethnoveterinary medicines for poultry. All of the medicinal plants are well known inTrinidad and Tobago. They are also distinctive and unlikely to be mistakenly identified.In most cases the medicinal plants andror extracts are administered via the drinkingwater which is changed daily. Only fresh plant parts are used.

All intensive poultry operations have an open water system. Bell or trough-typeautomatic drinkers are gravity fed from overhead storage tanks. Tank sizes range from45 to 1200 US gallons.

Ž .For reduced appetite chickens are given crushed garlic Allium satiÕum sprinkled onŽ .the food, or coconut water Cocos nucifera in the drinking water. Other remedies

Ž .involve the leaves of one of three plants: z’herbe a pique Neurolaena lobata , caraaili`Ž .or wonder of the world Bryophyllum pinnatum .

Z’herbe a pique is either boiled and the liquid placed in the drinking water or blended`and the resulting liquid put into the drinkers. 1810–2270 g of caraaili are boiled for 1 hin 11.4 l of water, and the resulting liquid is put in the drinking water. Wonder of the

w xworld leaves 70 leaves for 2000 chickens are simply blended, and the liquid extractedand put into the drinking water. Caraaili has been seen in use by the second author andthe PSU staff on 60 farms, but wonder of the world, garlic, coconut water and z’herbe apique have been seen by the second author on only 9 farms.

Ž .For respiratory conditions and heat stress, the juice of lime Citrus aurantifolia ,Ž . Ž .lemon Citrus limetta or sour orange Citrus aurantium is put into the drinking water

for as long as supplies last, or for as long as the problem persists. Citrus peels, placed ina perforated bag in the water tank, are sometimes used to supplement the juice. The useof citrus has been seen by the second author and the PSU staff on 50 farms.

Boiled caraaili stems and leaves are also used for respiratory conditions. For 10 000Ž .chickens, 908 g of caraaili and 20 bay leaves Pimenta racemosa are used in 4 l of

w xwater. The mixture is put in the drinking water 250 l , with molasses for improvedpalatability, for 3–5 days. This practice is used on 60 farms.

Aloe Õera is used in the first two weeks of the chicks’ life in an attempt to enhancelivability. This practice was seen on 60 farms, and farmers claim it is effective in givingbetter performance based on weightrage. Farmers reported peeling and cutting half of 1

w xlarge aloe leaf, for 4000 chickens and putting it in a perforated bag in the water tankprior to and after vaccination, or the aloe gel is blended and added directly to the water


tank. Another plant used by 6 farmers to enhance livability is wonder of the world. Theextracted juice of this plant is added to the water tank for 5 days after vaccination.

Ž .Fourty Farmers use the leaves of kojoroot PetiÕeria alliacea or the leaves of( . Ž .caraaili, neem Azadirachta indica , black sage Cordia curassaÕica , wild balisier, alsoŽ . Ž .called Mardigra Renealmia alpina , or cedar Cedrela odorata to repel ectoparasites

from chickens and ducks and their environments. The leaves are placed in the nest boxesandror the litter.

4.3. Farmer-managed medicinal plant research

Holders of indigenous knowledge like ethnoveterinary knowledge, have learned whatthey know through a creative discovery process, rather than through a process of passive

Ž .accumulation O’Brien and Butler Flora, 1992 . Some farmer–experimenters are lessconcerned with replication and comparison and more concerned with fitting availableresources to the changing circumstances of the farming situation, so that they make it

Ž .through the season Richards, 1989 . Farmers’ quasi-experiments may not meet all thevalidity standards of the objective sciences, but they can give useful results of productperformance and produce ‘good enough’ knowledge over a wide range of environmental

Ž .conditions Walter, 1993 . Little applied ethnomedicinal research is conducted in theŽ .Caribbean Seaforth, C. pers. comm., 1995 , so Expert 1 conducted his own experi-

ments, and he encouraged his 18 contract farmers to use those plants which provedeffective. His managerial position gave him access to the money and flock sizesnecessary to experiment. Three of his quasi-experiments are described below.

1. 10 000 chicks were divided into a control, and two treatment groups; one withwonder of the world, and a second with commercial vitamins. The treatment groups,were better than the control, but showed no difference in combating debeaking stressand vaccination stress. Expert 1 described absence of stress as ‘‘brighter chicks, withincreased feed intake’’, and claimed to have four years of success with this medicinalplant, whose use he claimed was cheaper than commercial vitamins.

2. Caraaili was seen to have reduced the expected mortality of an Aspergillosis-in-fected flock of 10 000 broiler chickens in 1992. Subsequently Expert 1 conducted aquasi-experiment with two treatment groups and a control. One hundred thirty chickenswere divided into three groups: one group of 50 chicks were infected with Aspergillosisat 10 days old, and given a caraaili extract; the second group of 50 chicks, were leftuninfected and were given the caraaili extract; the third group of 30 chicks were leftuninfected and were not given the caraaili extract. The source of the Aspergillosisinfection was bagasse litter.

Expert 1 claimed that a typical Aspergillosis outbreak resulted in a mortality of 18%.However this expected mortality did not develop in the above quasi-experiment. Insteadthere was 4% mortality and the survivors gained 1.4 to 1.6 kg in 7 weeks. Theuninfected birds with the caraaili achieved a weight gain of 1.82 kg in the 7 weeks,while the control birds achieved a market weight of 1.72 to 1.77 kg. From these resultsExpert 1 concluded that caraaili reduced the severity of the disease and increasedappetite. In the workshop with the PSU he recommended 2.3 kg. of caraaili leaves for


10 000 birds, boiled in 18.3 l of water. 1 l of the resulting liquid is added to the barrel ofwater. Further observations on his part revealed that increasing the amount of caraailiused from 2.3 kg of leaves to 3.7 kg also increased mortality rates.

3. Garlic was tested over time to determine if it could be used to reduce a flock’srespiratory reaction to the Newcastle disease vaccine. 454 g of garlic blended in water toproduce a liter of liquid was tested in combination with 1 l of lime juice. Both were putin the drinking water with molasses for increased palatability. This mixture was found toreduce the severity of the respiratory vaccine reaction if given immediately after thevaccine. It was also claimed that this mixture would reduce the severity of a rollingvaccine reaction.

5. Discussion

5.1. Scientist-managed medicinal plant research

Ž .There are applied research projects on medicinal plants Bakhiet and Adam, 1995 ,Ž .Asian ethnoveterinary medicine IIRR, 1994 and on Caribbean ethnomedicine

Ž .Robineau, 1991 . These projects seek to identify simple technology that could produceŽlow cost drugs and therapeutic agents to alleviate suffering and disease Bakhiet and

.Adam, 1995 . Formal medicinal plant research done in the Caribbean is reviewed inŽ .Lans 1996 .

In the last decade the PSU conducted preliminary on-farm investigations with Aloe,Ž .caraaili and citrus Ministry of Food Production and Marine Exploitation, 1989 . These

remedies were then disseminated, once they were seen to have had no harmful effectsŽand did not negatively impact on production parameters Ministry of Food Production

. Ž .and Marine Exploitation, 1989 . Chand and Gurung 1991 discuss a methodology ofŽ .informal research conducted with farmers in Nepal. Gaus and Hogel 1995 make a call

for new trial designs and study components that meet both the specific demands ofunconventional therapy and keep the high methodological standard of controlled clinical

Ž .trials. Elisabetsky and Wannmacher 1993 suggest that medical evaluation of plantsshould be designed to test effectiveness rather than efficacy. The authors recommendcohort studies with defined populations rather than clinical assays. Participants who areusers would be subjected to follow-up observations, including clinical and laboratoryevaluations. The authors feel that the detection of harmful properties of the plants would

Ž .be more accurate than with laboratory protocols Elisabetsky and Wannmacher, 1993 .Ž .Wagner 1993 , based on a decade of chemical investigations of medicinal plants

states that, all plants that are claimed to be anti-infectious, antiviral, antitumoral, orantiparasiticidal are good candidates for potential immunostimulating activities anddeserve further investigation. Presented below is a selection of biomedical data thatspecialists can used to assess the merit or demerit of the folk medicinal claims made inSection 4 by the poultry farmers. Research undertaken to date indicates the followingchemical constituents.

Momordica charantia contains the phytosterin glucoside, leurosine, vindoline andŽ .vendolinine alkaloids and organic sulfur compounds Bakhiet and Adam, 1995 . Aerial


Ž .parts have the triterpenes momordicines I, II, and III Robineau, 1991 . Alpha-eleostearicacid, lineolenic acid and palmitic acid are present, and the plant contains nutritionally

Žuseful quantities of iron, calcium, vitamin B, phosphorus and amino acids Yuwai et al.,. Ž .1991 . Lal Jawahar et al. 1990 extracted b-sitosterol, glucose and potassium chloride

from the whole plant excluding the roots. The ether insoluble fractions showed dose-re-lated anti-inflammatory activity.

Ž .Some Cordia sp. have terpenoid quinones Seaforth, 1991 .Compounds in PetiÕeria alliacea include triterpenes and derivatives of sulfur and

Ž .benzenics Robineau, 1991 . Sitosterol, allantoin and fatty acids have also been identi-Ž . Žfied Sousa et al., 1987 . Active compounds in the root extract are coumarins Rocha

.and Silva, 1969 .Ž .Neurolaena lobata contains sesquiterpenoid lactones Seaforth, 1991 .

The insecticidal activity of these four plants may be similar to that of the grassesŽ . Ž . Ž .investigated by Hassan et al. 1994 and Mwangi et al. 1995 . Hassan et al. 1994

found that Rhipicephalus appendiculatus tick larvae are attracted to Acalypha fruticosaleaves. They concluded that it was possible that the odor from the leaves contained a

Ž .chemical that mimics pheromones. Mwangi et al. 1995 found total repellence of allinstars of R. appendiculatus on green Melinis minutiflora. Olfactometer experiments

Žsuggested the presence of a strong volatile chemical which is repulsive to the ticks see.also Thompson et al., 1978 .

Ž .Eugenol was discovered in Pimenta racemosa leaves Seaforth, 1991 .The phenols coumaric, ferulic, syringic, caffeic and p-hyroxybenzoic acids are found

Ž .in Bryophyllum pinnatum Robineau, 1991 . Some phenols are anti-inflammatoryŽ .Wagner, 1993 . Also found were the flavonoids diarabinoside-3-quercetol and gluco-

Ž . Žside-3-kaempferol Robineau, 1991 . The latter is an anti-asthma compound Wagner,.1993 . Acetic, malic, citric, iso-citric, lactic, fumaric, oxalic and succinic acids are also

Žpresent, as are calcium, chlorine, potassium, beta-sitosterol and mucilage Robineau,. Ž .1991 . Morton 1990 claims that water-rich plant mucilages with high polysaccharide

content may be protective of normal cells, stimulating regeneration when attacked,whether or not there are identifiable agents present that may have supportive action.Bryophyllum pinnatum has in vitro anti-fungal, antibiotic, anti-bacterial, anti-inflamma-

Žtory and immunostimulatory activity Robineau, 1991; Pal and Nag Chaudhuri, 1989,.1991; Silva et al., 1995 .

Research indicates that Aloe Õera contains mannose-6-phosphate, phospatidyl cholineŽand arachidonate, which have wound healing and anti-inflammatory properties Davis et

.al., 1994; Serrame and Lim-Sylianco, 1995; Lal Jawahar et al., 1990; Afzal et al., 1991 .Ž .Acemannan, a polydispersed b 1–4 -linked acetylated mannan, is an extract of Aloe

Ž . Ž .Õera Karaca et al., 1995 . Chinnah et al. 1992 showed that the immune response ofchickens to Newcastle disease virus was enhanced by the addition of acemannan to the

Ž .vaccine. Nordgren et al. 1992 showed that acemannan enhances the protective effi-Ž .ciency of a Marek’s disease vaccine. Karaca et al. 1995 used cultures of normal

chicken spleen cells and HD 11 cell lines to show that acemannan-induced nitric oxidesynthesis may be mediated through macrophage mannose receptors in vitro. The authorssuggested that macrophage activation may be accountable for some of the immunomod-ulatory effects of acemannan in vivo.


Ž .Citrus pulp contains citric and malic acids, pectin and flavonoids Robineau, 1991 .Ž .Bakhiet and Adam 1995 report that citrus species contain hesperidoside, naringoside

and eryodictyoside which play a role in vascular resistance. The essential oils fromŽ .citrus peels show in vitro broad-spectrum anti-bacterial activity Robineau, 1991 .

Aqueous decoctions of citrus species have shown antimycotic, antihemorrhagic andŽ .antibacterial activity Robineau, 1991 . Lime and sour orange have more Vitamin A than

Ž .the other species. Vitamins A, C and E play a role in immune response Latshaw, 1991 .ŽGarlic and its component allicin have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activity Robineau,

.1991 . Allicine acts as a bactericide up to dilutions of 1r100 000 against gramq andŽ . Ž .gramy bacteria Robineau, 1991 . Ziegler and Sticher 1989 found that alliin was an

antibiotic precursor. Garlic showed anti-inflammatory activity comparable to certainsteroid and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs according to Khobragade and JangdeŽ . Ž .1996 . Weber et al. 1992 found virucidal activity of fresh garlic extract and four garliccompounds against six selected viruses.

A possible explanation for the link between roasting cashew nuts and the ‘chickenpox’ mentioned in the student essays is the presence of cardol and acacardic acid in theoil of the fruit pericarp. This oil produces poisonous fumes when seeds are burnt in the

Ž .open. The oil can cause blister formation Tan, 1981 .

5.2. The school essay method

Ž .The instrument validity measuring what it was supposed to measure of the essaymethod is demonstrated by two results:1. the similarity of information on poultry in the essaysrquestionnaires and from the

PSU staff, and2. the reports in the essays of practices for backyard chickens that were known to the

PSU, but not mentioned by them until asked by the first author.During the workshop, the PSU staff and the 2 ethnoveterinary experts were ques-

tioned by the first author about the poultry ethnoveterinary practices mentioned in theessayrquestionnaires. The participants knew of the practices and described PIP as a‘‘gristle like membrane, or cuticle’’ that sometimes grew over the tongues of backyardchickens and could be removed by putting wood ashes on a couple of the fingers of onehand and then using those fingers to twist it off. The ashes served to improve the grip ofthe fingers on the PIP. Participants also knew of the link between roasting cashew nutsand the ‘chicken pox’, chickens picked through the roasted cashew shells and subse-quently developed pox-like lesions on their beaks.

Judging from the addresses of the children on their essayrquestionnaires, the schoolsŽ .1, 7 and 9 had a student population from a large and predominantly rural area Fig. 1 ,

and the geographical spread was sufficient to capture data from multiple rural locationsand different ethnic groups. This characteristic of the school essay method proved usefulin assessing which plants are commonly used for the same ailment, and also uncovered a

Ž .few rare and little known plant species Lans, 1996 .The school essayrquestionnaire method produced poor results in the 3 schools where

the teachers assumed responsibility and the first author did not speak to the students.Ž .This reduced the number of returned or valuable responses by 85. In 3 other schools,


only 1 of 2 classes spoken to eventually participated, removing 67 possible responses. Inone Tobago school, the students lost their questionnaires, further reducing the responserate. In addition individual students in all schools chose not to participate, or either didnot know or could not find key respondents. 50 of the 78 essayrquestionnaires weredone by female students. These students may have responded better to the female first

Žauthorrresearcher, or other socio–cultural factors may explain this observation Lans,.1996 .

Ž .Essays provided better information than questionnaires Lans, 1996 and this was aserious drawback in Tobago where only questionnaires were used. A chain referral orsnowball sample then became necessary in Tobago. The difference in effectiveness ofessays versus questionnaires may lie in the fact that essays are an integral part of theschool system and need no pre-testing or explanation. Questionnaires may not be anappropriate tool for children to request cultural and oral knowledge from their elders.The essay method proved valuable as a means of introducing the research and the firstauthor to the key respondents. This was important because cultural knowledge is sharedin networks of relationships, and the time limits of the research did not allow the firstauthor to develop the necessary linkages.

6. Conclusion

The participatory methods chosen to collect data on ethnoveterinary practices weresufficient to lay the foundation for more specific follow-up studies of those practicesthat warrant further study.

Chicken farmers have rediscovered ethnomedicine because of economic constraintsŽ .Lans, 1996; Ministry of Food Production and Marine Exploitation, 1989 . Rapidturnover of flocks enables speedy replication of ethnoveterinary experiments on variousfarms. The results of this informal research are then shared in a knowledge network of

Ž .colleague–farmers and PSU staff Lans, 1996 .Ž .The ethnomedical literature review supports the claim by Wagner 1993 , that certain

medicinal plants are good candidates for further scientific investigation. Preliminaryquestions of interest to the authors are firstly whether the vaccine enhancement effect of

Ž . Ž .acemannan demonstrated by Chinnah et al. 1992 and Nordgren et al. 1992 can bereplicated with the oral administration of Aloe Õera gel. Secondly, whether the mode ofaction of garlic in reducing the severity of the respiratory reaction to the Newcastledisease vaccine, is in fact a positive one.

Acknowledgements

Ethnoveterinary research was conducted by the first author to partially fulfill therequirements for the M.Sc. degree Ecological Agriculture, Wageningen AgriculturalUniversity, the Netherlands. The support provided is appreciated. The second author

Ž .conducted research on ethnoveterinary practices unpublished as the former head of thePSU. The authors would like to thank all who participated in data collection and


verification. Thanks are also expressed to the anonymous editors of the journal for theircomments on the earlier version of the text.

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