The wisdom of the deep south of Thailand: Case study on utilization of herbal medicine to treat domestic animal diseases by traditional doctors in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat

This survey research was conducted to investigate the wisdom of the Deep South of Thailand: case study on utilization of herbal medicine to treat domestic animal diseases by traditional doctors in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. A purposive sampling method was applied in selecting 133 subjects from 33 districts of these provinces. The interview design was checked by experts for content validity index and adjusted after testing on 13 non-target men. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using percentage and groups split by symptoms.The results showed that most traditional doctors (68.4%) were males; 52.6% were 41-60 years old and 39.1% were more than 61 years of age. 60.2% of the subjects were Muslims; 73.7% of them were agri- culturalists; 63.2% of them had the income ranging from 3,001-6,000 baht/month. Most of the subjects (77.4%) had only primary education, and 15.0% finished high school level. Only 6.0% practised traditional medicine as their main occupation and most of them (94.0%) did not practise traditional medicine as their main occupation. Most traditional doctors (91.0%) had experience in using medicinal herbs for animal treatment; 30.0% citing that herbal medicine was easy to find in local areas; 26.8% citing that it was cheap. For domestic animal utilization of herbal medicine, cats (54.1%), were first on the list of non-ruminants, chickens (62.9%) came first among poultry, cattle (50.7%) came first among ruminants and decorative fish e.g. goldfish (50.0%) were commonest among aquatic animals. The single herbal medicine used to treat domestic animal diseases by traditional doctors were reported as follows: to chase away insects, citronella grass or tobacco (3.0%) was used; to treat diarrhea, Tinospora crispa (2.3%) was used; to treat antitussives, lemon grass or Andrographis paniculata (2.3%) was used; as an expectorant, curcuma rhizomes (2.3%) was used; to treat pus from worms, Phyllanthus reticularud or Cassytha filiformis (2.3%) was used; to treat conjunctivitis, chilli (2.3%) was used; and to treat broken bones, Alocasia macrorrhizos (2.3%) was used.The pharmacopeia herbal medicine used to treat domestic animal diseases by traditional doctors were reported as follows: Blumea balasamifera leaves mixed with bullet wood flower (1.5%) was used to treat bloat; mangosteen skin mixed with calcium hydroxide - Ca(OH)2 (2.5%) was used to treat deep wounds from foot and mouth disease.The most popular herbal medicine used by most traditional doctors in the pharmacopeia to treat diarrhea Tinospora crispa (50.0%) was the most popular, followed by curcuma rhizomes (30.0%) and Andrographis paniculata (20.0%); to treat bloat, Blumea balasamifera leaves or salt or cattle bone (22.2%) was used; to treat worms in intestines, salt (25.0%) was used; as an expectorant, Tinospora crispa or curcuma rhizomes (66.7%) was used; to treat abscess, lime (100.0%) was used to treat deep wounds from foot and mouth disease, curcuma rhizomes (66.7%) came first, followed by Zingiber cassumunar or salt (33.3%) and to chase away insects, curcuma rhizomes (50.0%) came first, followed by vegetable oils or betel nuts or tobacco (33.3%)