The importance of traditional and indigenous knowledge is acknowledged on a worldwide scale for its coexistence principles and sustainable use techniques. In view of this, the present study is an attempt to document the ethno-veterinary plants used by the tribal communities of Western Himalaya. This study also provides the scientific validation of herbal medicines used in ethno-veterinary practices through a reverse pharmacological approach. A total of 59 informants were selected through a non-probability sampling method. Detailed information on the medicinal plants used in ethno-veterinary practices along with their habits and habitats, part/s used, remedy preparation methods, additives/ingredients used during preparation and administration, dosages administered, and route of administration was collected. Data was analyzed for the Relative Frequency of Citations (RFC), Use Values (UV), Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), and Jaccard Index (JI). Further, a reverse pharmacological approach was used for scientific validations of the documented herbal knowledge of plant species. During the study, 56 plant species belonging to 54 genera and 39 families were documented. Asteraceae was the dominant family followed by Lamiaceae, Amaranthaceae and Fabaceae. Life forms were dominated by herbaceous species and leaves were the most common plant parts used. The highest Relative Frequency of Citations (RFC) and Use Values (UV) were recorded for Brassica rapa L. (Brassicaceae). The Pearson correlation coefficient between RFC and UV shows a strong positive correlation between the proportion of uses of a plant species within a sample of informants and the number of times that a particular use of a plant species was mentioned by the informant. Studies of the biological activity of ethno-veterinary plants can provide clues of promising leads for the isolation and identification of useful compounds that may be developed into pharmaceuticals for human welfare.
Keywords: Jaccard index; animal care; informant consensus; phytochemicals; reverse pharmacology.