Browsing by Author "Mollik, Ariful Haque"

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An Ethnomedicinal Survey of Vitbilia Village in Sujanagar Sub-District of Pabna District, Bangladesh
(IDOSI, 2011) Rahmatullah, Mohammed; Mollik, Ariful Haque; Ali, Mohammad; Abbas, Fahad Bin; Jahan, Rownak; Khatun, Afsana; Seraj, Syeda; Ahsan, Shamima
An ethonomedicinal survey was carried out in the village of Vitbilia situated in Sujanagar sub-district of Pabna district, Bangladesh. Informed consent was obtained from the folk medicinal practitioners (Kavirajes) and interviews were conducted with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method, where the Kavirajes took the interviewers to areas from where they collected their plants and pointed out their uses. Plant specimens were collected, pressed and dried in the field and later identified at the Bangladesh National Herbarium. It was observed that the Kavirajes used 48 plants distributed into 30 families for treatment of various ailments. The Fabaceae family formed the largest family contributing six plants followed by the Acanthaceae, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae families contributing three plants each. Leaves constituted the major plant part used (41.2%) followed by roots (27.9%) and stems (13.2%). Other plant parts used included whole plants, flowers, seeds, fruits and plant sap. The various ailments treated included hepatic disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, skin disorders, snake bites, cuts and wounds, sexually transmitted diseases, pain, fever, respiratory tract disorders, paralysis, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, impotency and bone fractures. The folk medicinal uses of a number of plants are validated by available scientific studies on those plant species. Cumulatively, the plant species reported in the present survey can form an important source of lead compounds and more efficacious drugs through further scientific studies.
An Ethnoveterinary Survey of Medicinal Plants Used by Folk Medicinal Practitioners to Treat Cattle Diseases in Randomly Selected Areas of Bagerhat District, Bangladesh
(GALE, 2010) Rahmatullah, Mohammed; Mollik, Ariful Haque; Alam, Jobaer; Ahmmed, Bulbul; Jahan, Farhana Israt; Sintaha, Mariz; Jahan, Rownak; Khaleque, Himel Nahreen; Chowdhury, Majeedul H.; Noor, Farjana Akther; Rahman, Shahnaz; Seraj, Syeda
Bangladesh is a predominantly agricultural country containing 86,000 villages. The village population consists of mainly farmers, with the majority of them being resource-poor in the sense of having small land holdings on which they grow various crops, the major crop being paddy. Most farmers maintain one or two cows, buffaloes, or goats in their homesteads. Animals like cows or buffaloes are mainly used for plowing (use of machines like tractors cannot be afforded by the small farmers) the land or as a source for milk production, the latter being both sold as well as consumed at home. Goats are raised for selling or occasional consumption of meat. By tradition, and because of the general poverty prevalent among small farmers, they still depend on traditional medicinal practitioners for treatment of their cattle during occurrence of various cattle ailments. The traditional medicinal practitioners, known as Kavirajes or cattle Kavirajes, rely on dispensation of various medicinal plants for treatment of diverse ailments. It was the objective of the present study to conduct an ethnoveterinary survey among the Kavirajes of randomly selected villages of Bagerhat district, Bangladesh to gather information on the medicinal plants used for treatment of cattle ailments. Interviews were conducted with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method. A total of 51 plants were noted to be used by the Kavirajes. These plants came from 29 families. The Fabaceae family provided 7 plants, followed by the Euphorbiaceae family with 4 plants, and the Acanthaceae, Combretaceae, Lamiaceae, Solanaceae, and Zingiberaceae families providing 3 plants each. The Kavirajes used medicinal plants for both curative as well as preventive purposes; however, curative purposes dominated over preventive. Twenty seven different groups of ailments were treated by the Kavirajes. Eleven plants were used for treatment of various gastrointestinal disorders in cattle suggesting that this is the most prevalent disorder among the animals. Six plants were used to increase milk production in cattle, and four plants for prevention of diseases or to protect cattle from insect bites. The various ailments treated by the Kavirajes included pox, fever, respiratory tract disorders like coughs or mucus, helminthiasis, pain, lice, mite or insect infestations, skin infections, rheumatism, swelling of throat (hemorrhagic septicemia), body deformity, urinary problems, jaundice, lameness, fractures and sprains, edema, snake bite, rabies, leg and nipple infections, burns, eye problems, foot and mouth diseases, and to stop bleeding when extensible bleeding occured after giving birth. Overall, the plants offer a cheap and alternative remedy to the farmers for treatment of ailments of their cattle, which they can scarcely afford to treat with costlier modern medicines. Key words: Folk medicine, medicinal plants, ethnoveterinary, Bagerhat district, Bangladesh