Developing Herbal Medicine Ideas for Female Lamb, IPB Students Win Third Place

The abnormal development of reproductive organ on sheep becomes a problem for farmers in increasing livestock production. One of the problems that breeders face is anestrus. Anestrus is a condition in which a female animal does not show estrus symptoms for long periods of time.

This anestrus problem prompted Rizky Diyu Purnama and Rahmatussyifa, students of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FKH) Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) to find a solution by utilizing kenikir leaves. They use kenikir leaves to correct the reproductive hormone of sheep in a natural way.

This idea won third place in the national competition "Sociology and Anthropology National Essay Commerce (SANEC)" at State University of Semarang, last April. The  theme of this competition was "Optimizing Youth Role in Revitalizing Local Knowledge-Based Wisdom and Technology to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030".

"In general, kenikir leaves contain phytoestrogens and flavonoids, which can stimulate estrogen hormone formation and repair the epithelial cell wall of ovary," he explained.

SANEC competition gives its own impression for Rizky. In this competition he could meet great people with unique experiences. In addition, this competition increased his time management skill and he also learnt how to do a good presentation.

Rizky hopes that through this idea the other researchers can do more research on kenikir leaves. "I hope the government supports morally and materially for research on optimization of kenikir leaves in improving the productivity of sheep. It is also important to develop commercial products as a solution to reduce the use of antibiotics which have cheap price, "he concluded. (SMH/Zul)