Use of Herbal Plants in Poultry Health Management in the Mushagashe Small-Scale Commercial Farming Area in Zimbabwe

Abstract

For poor smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, conventional drugs have become very expensive and an out-of-reach resource for the health man- agement of chickens. A diagnostic survey was undertaken in the Mushagashe district in Zimbabwe to determine the extent of the usage of Aloe veraand Aloe spicatain the health man- agement of chickens. A total of 103 structured questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected farmers who owned chickens. Avian coccidiosis was found to be prevalent in chick- ens (90.5%). The other major poultry diseases reported were Marek's disease (100%), fowl typhoid (50.5%), Newcastle disease (42.1%), and fowl coryza, in order of occurrence. A vera a n dA spicatawere the predominantly used plant species for chicken health management. Other ethnoveterinary drugs that were used include Lycopersicon esculentum, M y r o t h a m n u s