Taro plant (Colocasia Esculentia Schott) has multiple aliases that varies for every area. For people inhibiting java, the plant is commonly referred to as “Gelo” or “Talesdi Flores”, whilst people inhibitting makassar would call this plant “Paco”.
This plant have been utilised by breeders everywhere as a natural alternative to medicine, for their high dose Polifenol. Living animals are able to consume every part of a taro leaf – except for their roots – thus making it a cheaper alternative to modern medicine. For a less medical purpose, you could roast and serve the whole plant as a nutritional snack.
Taro leaves are high in multivitamins such as iron, calcium, phosphate salt, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin B. If you’re curious on what this natural plant has to offer, or are just looking for a cheaper medical alternative for your farm, be sure to read through this article to find out the 10 medical benefits of the taro plant for livestock.
- Shaping and Aiding Muscle Growth
Consuming taro leaves can provide a good dose of protein for your livestocks: cat fishes in particular. About 100 grams of the taro plant can produce up to 25.2 grams worth of protein. In comparison, this outweighs the amount of protein found in beef (18.8 g) and eggs (12.8 g).
A daily healthy dose of protein is needed to help develop and maintain the overall health of livestock’s muscles. Healthy muscles, especially for farms that are bred for their meat, would have good market value in food establishments.
2. Speeds Up Open Wound Recovery
Aside from being a good source of protein, the taro plant could also help breeders treat the open wounds of their farm. To utilise the plant for such purpose, crush the taro plants into a paste and cover your minor open wounds with the mixture. Be sure to gently cover the paste-coated area with a breathable gauze to prevent messes and pushes absorption into the dermis.
3. Hydrates and Dries Up Open Wounds
The taro plant is stocked up with Albumin – an important nutrient that helps stabilise an animal’s water levels in their bodies as it keeps them hydrated. Well hydrated animals are much less prone to catching diseases and illnesses. Furthermore, healthy hydrated animals are marketed at a higher value than their less healthier counterpart.
4. Maintains Health of Digestive System
Taro plants are well known to help maintain the health of one’s digestive system. This is partially because they are high packed in protein, and have a smooth soft texture that is easily digested for animals and humans alike who are facing digestive problems. The plants also have lower levels of collagen (3-5%), that could help increase their overall health.
Taro plants are also used to combat stomach ulcers and other digestive problems. To process this into digestive medicine, the taro plant should be roasted and strained out their waters to drink.
5. Overall Cure To Bruises and Cuts
Having similar effects to what it has for open wounds, taro plants could also speed up the healing process of other bruises and cuts caused by both internal and external diseases. Several common causes of said bruises and cuts could be from physical fights, fungal infection, or even on more serious illnesses such as cancer.
However, if you sense that your animal’s disease may fall on a more serious side, DO NOT replace professionally prescribed medication with taro plants. Consult medical professionals for further help in treating your animals.
6. Helps With Overall Health
As listed before, taro plants are packed with healthy nutrients and vitamins that could boost the overall health of your animals. Though the ideal dose of taro plants may vary according to your animals’ individual needs, most breeders would feed around 100 gr of taro plants daily for the extra boost of vitamins and minerals. This natural supplement is especially crucial for breeders who are looking to raise healthy offsprings, or are planning to harvest their meats in the market.
7. Treating Physical Disabilities
All livestock animals are at risk of serious disabilities when they are not treated. In order to prevent any other serious drawbacks, most breeders would feed their farm taro plants on a daily basis for the extra boost of vitamins. In the unfortunate event that your animals have shown signs of physical disabilities, breeders could up boost their taro intake wether orally or crushed up into a medicinal paste.
8. Assists in Post Operation Healing
There might be chances where you’d have to invest on an medical operation procedure for the sake of your animal’s health. In the event that this happens, breeders could feed their animals taro plants for help speed up their post operation healing. Taro plants would help dry up their wounds and boost their immune systems.
9. Reduces Swollen Bruises
Aside from drying up open wounds and cuts, taro plants are able to help calm down swollen bruises and speed up their healing process. The science behind this lies in their high levels of protein and other vitamins.
10. Boosts Immune System
The last, and perhaps one of the most important benefit taro plants carry, is their ability to boost one’s immune system. In circumstances where you might notice that your animal might be feeling unwell, some breeders will resort to feeding them taro plants for an extra boost of vitamins and minerals. This extra supplement would help them speed up any healing process and prevent illness and infections.
How To Prepare The Taro Plants
As briefly discussed in the previous points, there are several ways to prepare the taro plants for your livestock. Its form, however, would heavily depend on the purpose of feeding them in the first place.
Nevertheless, breeders would always start by drying and baking their taro plants first. Breeders then can collect up to 100g of taro plant and bathe them in 1000ml of ethanol (70%) for 72 hours. This is done to sanitise said plant – making it edible and free from harmful bacterias.
Then, the soaked taro plant should be left in a rotary evaporator to help evaporate the chemicals. Said rotary should reach up to 40 degrees, until the taro plant is left dry completely free from ethanol. However, in cases where you would be using taro plants in a form of paste to disinfect open wounds, a little amount of ethanol could help speed up the process – particularly for rabbit skin.
Flavonoid and Saponin
As an extra information, breeders should be aware that taro plants contain high levels of flavonoid and saponin. Flavonoid contains several antibacterial features that helps prevents animals from catching diseases and illnesses, whilst saponin contains anti fungal features that helps speed up one’s healing process.
So there you have it, 10 medical benefits of the taro plant for livestock. Note that these are just some general benefits, and that prescribing and feeding your animals should be taken with precaution. Every animal requires different needs and doses of vitamins, so it is wise that you consult medical professionals and do more prior research in knowing what is best for your farm. It is also strongly advised that breeders do not replace this natural remedy with already-prescribed medicine given by professionals, as they may not reach the right requirements as modern medicine might.