Farmers compliance with ethnoveterinary practices and its impact on desi chicken farming in pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu

A survey was conducted in Pudukkottai District of Tamil Nadu to observe the ethnoveterinary practices followed by farmers and their impact on desi chicken farming. A total of fifty poultry farmers were interviewed regarding the ethnoveterinary practices in desichicken farming with the well-structured interview questionnaire comprised of general profile, desichicken farming status, ethnoveterinary practices followed by respondents, its impact and the constraints. The immunomodulatory effect of herbs such as Andrographis panniculata, Phyllanthus amarus, Ocimum sanctum, Azhardicta indica and Moringa oleifera were assessed against Ranikhet Disease (RD) in desichicken birds. Six desichicken farms were selected in the age group of 2-3 months old containing fifty birds in each farm. The treatment groups comprises of T1 - control (no treatment), Andrographis panniculata, Phyllanthus amarus, Ocimum sanctum, Azhadiracta indica and Moringa oleifera leaves each one per cent was fed to birds as T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6, respectively. In each treatment group blood samples were taken through filter paper technique at the 0 day and 21 days after treatment. From this study, the results showed that 86.0 percent of farmers in pudukkottai district were practicing ethnoveterinary practice and 78 per cent farmers considered RD occurrence in desichicken as a major problem. The antibody (HI) titre against RD in desichicken showed non-significant but, numerically difference among the herb treated groups while A. indica group had higher titre value as compared to other treatment groups. Among the 86 per cent of the ethnoveterinary practicing respondents, 80.0 per cent of the respondents had an affinity towards readymade preparation.