In India, Ayurveda has made a major contribution to the drug discovery process with new means of identifying active compounds. Recent advancement in bioavailability enhancement of drugs by compounds of herbal origin has produced a revolutionary shift in the way of therapeutics. Thus, bibliographic investigation was carried out by analyzing classical text books and peer-reviewed papers, consulting worldwide-accepted scientific databases from last 30 years. Herbal bioenhancers have been shown to enhance bioavailability and bioefficacy of different classes of drugs, such as antibiotics, antituberculosis, antiviral, antifungal, and anticancerous drugs at low doses. They have also improved oral absorption of nutraceuticals like vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and certain herbal compounds. Their mechanism of action is mainly through absorption process, drug metabolism, and action on drug target. This paper clearly indicates that scientific researchers and pharmaceutical industries have to give emphasis on experimental studies to find out novel active principles from such a vast array of unexploited plants having a role as a bioavailability and bioefficacy enhancer. Also, the mechanisms of action by which bioenhancer compounds exert bioenhancing effects remain to be explored.

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Plants are rich source of antibacterial agents because they produce wide array of bioactive molecules, most of which probably evolved as chemical defense against predation or infection. A major part of the total population in developing countries still uses traditional folk medicine obtained from plant resources With an estimation of WHO that as many as 80% of world population living in rural areas rely on herbal traditional medicines as their primary health care, the study on properties and uses of medicinal plants are getting growing interests. In recent years this interest to evaluate plants possessing antibacterial activity for various diseases is growing. Different solvent extracts (aqueous, alcohol and ethanol) of leaves, flower and seed of various plants selected based on an ethnobotanical survey from India were subjected to in vitro antibacterial activity assay against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria employing different diffusion method. Based on local use of common diseases and Ethnobotanical knowledge, an attempt has been made to assess the antibacterial properties of selected medicinal plants viz. Argemone mexicana (Shialkanta), Aster lanceolatus (White panicle), Capparis thonningii and Capparis tomentosa (Woolly caper bush), Cardiospermum halicacabum (Balloonvine), Cassia alata (Herpetic alata), Centaurea sclerolepis, Cinnamomum zeylanicum (Cinnamon), Curcuma longa (Turmeric), Cymbopogon nervatus, Ficus religiosa (Peepal), Indigofera aspalathoides (Ajara), Marrubium vulgare (Horehound), Medicago Spp.(Medick, Burclover), Morus alba (Mulberry), Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi), Origanum marjorana (Marjoram), Oxalis corniculata (Amli), Piper nigrum (Kala mirch), Plectranthus amboinicus (Indian borage, Patharchur), Plumeria acutifolia (Kachuchi), Salvadora persica (Piludi), Salvia repens and Syzygium aromaticum (Clove) for potential antibacterial activity against some important bacterial strains, namely Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas spp, Proteus spp, Salmonella Typhi, Escherichia coli, Shigella dysentriae, Klebsiella pneumoniae. The plant extracts were more active against Gram-positive bacteria than against Gram-negative bacteria. [J Intercult Ethnopharmacol 2012; 1(1.000): 52-61

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This study was conducted between January to July 2015 in Junagadh and surrounding villages to document the use of medicinal plants for veterinary practices by people living in this area. A total 121 farmers, cowshed owners or livestock owners were contacted personally in the survey with a semi-structured questionnaire. Out of 121, 82 male informants of age 40 to 70 years have responded well and were included in this study. Sixty-seven medicinal plants from 40 different families have been reported to be effective in 13 different animal ailments. A total of 13 medicinal plants were cited 47 times for gastrointestinal problems, which were the highest. Leaves were used prominently (27.59 %) whereas, epicarp was the least used (0.86 %). Large number of medicinal plants reported were from the Fabaceae family (15.38 %). Junagadh area is important due to a large plant biodiversity.

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