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Nutraceuticals in Veterinary Medicine pp 25–35Cite as

Fenugreek in Health and Disease

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Abstract

Fenugreek is an herb which has been used in traditional medicines for centuries in wound healing, as an aphrodisiac, for promotion of lactation, etc. The consumption of the seeds as a spice results in different medicinal effects such as hypocholesterolemic, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, antibacterial, anthelmintic, anticancer, and galactogogue. Flavonoids, saponins, pyridine alkaloids, and steroidal sapogenins are some of the phytochemicals present in the plant. The plant is also embraced for its high content of important vitamins, minerals, protein and amino acids, and fibers making it a nutritious fodder for livestock. Extracts of the leaves and seeds of fenugreek are considered safe and are found to have potential therapeutic explicabilities in the treatment and/or management of diabetes, cancer, toxicities, cardiovascular diseases, physical injuries, and hormonal imbalances. The seeds and leaves of this plant are now being incorporated into animal, bird, and fish foods to increase feed intake, to promote weight gain, and to decrease the feed conversion ratio. The addition of fenugreek in the drinking water of poultry reduces stress, and this can be an important strategy to replace the use of antibiotics such as enrofloxacin as an anti-stress agent, and thus the issues of antibiotic residues in meat, as well as widely developing antibiotic resistance, would be less.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to all the scientists, scholars, and staff of the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izzatnagar, Bareilly, India, for their support and cooperation in completion of this book chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Dinesh Kumar

  2. Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry, R.K. Nagar, West Tripura, India

    Ramdas Singh Wangkheirakpam

  3. Central Institute for Research on Goat (CIRG), Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Anu Rahal

  4. IVRI, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Jitendra K. Malik

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  1. Dinesh Kumar
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  2. Ramdas Singh Wangkheirakpam
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  3. Anu Rahal
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  4. Jitendra K. Malik
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Toxicology, Breathitt Veterinary Center, Murray State University, Hopkinsville, KY, USA

    Ramesh C. Gupta

  2. Vets Plus Inc., University of Wisconsin–Stout, Menonomie, WI, USA

    Ajay Srivastava

  3. Vets Plus Inc., Menomonie, WI, USA

    Rajiv Lall

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Kumar, D., Wangkheirakpam, R.S., Rahal, A., Malik, J.K. (2019). Fenugreek in Health and Disease. In: Gupta, R., Srivastava, A., Lall, R. (eds) Nutraceuticals in Veterinary Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04624-8_2

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