Alternative approaches and plant-based remedies for livestock health management among the Batswana of southern Africa : a review

Abstract

Due to limited access to, and the high cost of conventional veterinary services, Batswana communities often rely on ethnoveterinary practices for livestock health management. This review provides an in-depth analysis on the ethnoveterinary uses, biological properties and safety assessment of plants utilised in livestock husbandry. A systematic literature search was conducted using scientific databases, focusing on articles published from 1997 to 2024. After generating the inventory of plants with ethnoveterinary data, further search was conducted to assess the documented biological activities, safety, and phytochemicals for the recorded plants. A total of 116 plants were documented as remedies for managing nine livestock conditions. The most cited health conditions were retained placenta (81 citations), diarrhoea (65), and wounds (44). The most prominent plants were Senna italica (10 citations), Terminalia sericea (8 citations), and Ziziphus mucronata (8 citations). Approximately 52% of the 116 plants with ethnoveterinary records have empirical data on their biological effect, safety, and phytochemicals. Antimicrobial screening was the most common assay conducted (36%), which dominantly used microbial strains such as Staphylococcus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli. We established the vital role of ethnoveterinary practices in Batswana livestock management and the potential of plants in sustainable veterinary care.