Gastrointestinal (GIT) disorder is a significant health and economic problem that account for extraordinary financial loss in small ruminants. Despite the great efforts in management, GIT disorder remains the main cause of animal mortality, weight gain retardation and production loss in the small ruminant industry. Traditionally, herbal medicine has been used to treat and prevent various ruminant disorders. Herbs have nutritional and pharmaceutical properties that interact with one another polyvalently to increase the depth and breadth of the clinical effects compared with those seen in conventional pharmacological drugs. Recently, there has been an increase in the utilization of herbal medicine, reflecting an expanding trust in such therapeutic approaches. These methods have the advantage of utilizing locally available plants with high medicinal properties. Additionally, medicinal plants have the advantages of availability, compatibility with the body, simplicity of storage and negligible side effects. Here, we review representative examples of research available on the most commonly used traditional herbal remedies for the treatment of the most common digestive disorders (diarrhea, rumen insufficiency and GIT nematodes) in small ruminants. We also provide an extensive background on the recent advancement in the adoption of modern platforms in this field and research possibilities for future drug discovery and development.
Key words: Gastrointestinal; herbal medicine; therapy; small ruminant
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