An Ethnobotanical approach to animal diseases and biological control in Antalya: Southern Turkey

Abstract

The majority of Antalya population originates from nomadic culture. Therefore, animal husbandry and agriculture are considerably advanced business for them. People who reside in the areas far from the settlement have commonly used ethnobotanical culture in the treatment of their animal diseases and in the biological control. It was conducted a questionnaire with 163 informants who have maintained this traditional ethnobotanical culture for hundreds of years in Alanya and Gazipaşa city centers and their villages, and boroughs between 2012 and 2013. Samples of wild plants used for animal diseases and biological control were collected and usage information was recorded after identifying. The results of study suggested that 30 plants belonging to 19 families and 21 plants of 14 families were used in many different ways in veterinary field and biological control by the locals, respectively. The Use value (UV) of plants was calculated. New usage information and methods based on these findings were observed. This study highlights that wild plants are predominantly effective in fighting against animal diseases. Therefore, the promising results from this study provide new insights into further studies that will be conducted to develop new drugs in veterinary field. In addition, this study will be able to add a new and different dimension to biological control.