Kampala — Farmers have embraced medicinal plants in treating poultry diseases. A research carried out by Makerere University in central and eastern Uganda revealed that about 80% of the poultry farmers know how to use medicinal plants to treat poultry diseases.

Prof. Bukenya Ziraba from Makerere University Department of Botany, said the research, that was carried out in Mbale, Rakai and Mbarara districts, shows that many farmers were using medicinal plant to treat cough, diarrhoea, swollen eyes, mites worms and lice as well as Newcastle prophylaxis and coccidiosis.

Research found out that medicinal plant species like Capsicum frutescens (kamulali) and cannabis sativa (enjaga) were used in all the three districts, while Nicotiana, tobaccum (taaba), Aloe sp (lukaka) Vernonia amygadalina (omubirizi) and tagets mihuta (kawunyira) species were used in Rakai and Mbarara.

Bukenya says the most common way of preparation and administration of the medicine is by crushing the plant material, adding water and administering the concoction orally.

Some farmers prefer to serve the chicken, while others put the medicine in a container and leave the chicken to drink it when they are thirsty. He says using medicinal plants saves farmers losses due to outbreaks of diseases.

"Since some of the farmers cannot afford to buy modern poultry drugs, medicinal plants work as a substitute," he says.

Ziraba presented the research during a symposium on drugs discovery from African flora, organised by the Natural Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa at Hotel Africana, recently.