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Background Initiatives for beekeeping intensification across the tropics can foster production and income, but the changes triggered by the introduction of modern beehives might permeate traditional knowledge and practices in multiple ways, and as such should be investigated and understood. We conducted an ethnobotanical study in the Eastern part of the Mau Forest among Ogiek beekeepers who customarily practice forest beekeeping and who are involved in a project aimed at the modernization of their beekeeping activities. We aimed to document the beekeeping-associated ethnobotanical knowledge, exploring the relationships and complementarity between modern and traditional knowledge and practices. Methods Field research was carried out through semi-structured interviews with 30 Ogiek beekeepers and 10 additional stakeholders. We collected ethnobotanical data about plants used for beekeeping purposes, and ethnographic information on traditional and modern beekeeping systems. Results We report 66 plant species, distributed across 36 botanical families representing 58 genera, important as melliferous, for the construction and placing of hives, attracting bees, and harvesting and storing honey. Dombeya torrida (J.F.Gmel.) Bamps, Juniperus procera Hochst. ex Endl., and Podocarpus latifolius (Thunb.) R.Br. ex Mirb. are the species with the most mentions and the highest number of uses. Our study reveals that the Ogiek possess a detailed knowledge of the forest’s flora, its importance and uses and that this knowledge underpins beekeeping practices. Under the influence of external actors, the Ogiek have progressively adopted modern versus traditional log hives and moved beekeeping out of the forest into open areas of pastures and crop fields. Beekeepers are also experimenting with combinations of practices borrowed from modern and traditional beekeeping systems, particularly in the field of hive construction and in the criteria to set up apiaries. Conclusions The study indicates a complementarity and an incipient hybridization of traditional and modern beekeeping, in a way that suggests that modern beehives are instrumental in expanding the reach of beekeeping into deforested and cultivated areas. The study also points to the existence of a rift in the effects of beekeeping intensification on the livelihoods of the Ogiek and on their relationship with the forest. We argue that this intensification might be improving the former but weakening the latter, carrying the associated risk of erosion of traditional forest-based ethnobotanical knowledge.

Chalo DM, Lukhoba C, Fidahussein DS, Nguta JM. 2017. Antimicrobial activity, toxicity and phytochemical screening of selected medicinal plants of Losho, Narok County, Kenya. Biofarmasi (Rumphius J Nat Prod Biochem) 15: 29-43. In Kenya, microbial infections are a major cause of morbidity. The effectiveness of antibiotic is threatened by the increase of resistance of pathogenic microbes against most available drugs because new pathogens continue to emerge. Nowadays, herbal remedies offer hope since they are readily available and cheap. The aim of this research was to investigate the activity of antimicrobial, the lethality of brine shrimp and phytochemical composition of crude extracts of four selected plants namely Schrebera alata (Oleaceae), Ormocarpum kirkii (Papilionoideae), Helichrysum forskahlii (Asteraceae) and Cussonia holstii (Araliaceae) that are medicinally used by herbalists from Losho, Narok County Kenya for treatment of ear, nose and throat infections, gastrointestinal disorders and skin diseases. Qualitative antimicrobial susceptibility test against five microorganisms, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans was investigated using agar diffusion methods to produce inhibition zones and the data accrued were analyzed using Analysis of variance. Minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by broth microdilution method. Toxicity of the extracts was analyzed using brine shrimp lethality assay. The median fatal concentration of fifty was determined by data analysis using Finney‟s computer program. Phytochemical screening for flavonoids, sterols, alkaloids, tannins, quinones and terpenoids and saponins was determined using standard procedures. The observation showed that the organic crude extracts of H. forskahlii had the highest inhibition zone against methicillin-resistant S. aureus of 19.5 and 18.5 mm in agar well and agar disk diffusion respectively. In addition, organic extracts of H. forskahlii showed the highest antifungal inhibition zone of 8.5 mm in agar well diffusion. Minimum values of inhibitory concentrations varied from 15.625 to 250 mg/mL. Organic crude extracts of H. forskahlii and C. holstii were found to be highly toxic with lethal concentration of 0.009 mg/mL. All plant crude extracts contained flavonoids, sterols, alkaloids, tannins, quinones, and terpenoids. Saponins were present in all the plant extracts except in organic extracts of H. forskahlii. This study promoted the first record of antimicrobial activity, toxicity and phytochemical composition of S. alata and C. holstii. The study has shown that H. forskahlii and O. kirkii possess promising antimicrobial activity against microbes of health importance and could lead to the isolation of new, safe and efficacious antimicrobial compounds. Further research should be carried on O. kirkii and S. alata to isolate and characterize the compounds responsible for the observed activity.

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Dalbergia melanoxylon Guill. & Perr (Fabaceae) is widely utilized in the traditional medicine of East Africa, showing effects against a variety of ailments including microbial infections. Phytochemical investigation of the root bark led to the isolation of six previously undescribed prenylated isoflavanones together with eight known secondary metabolites comprising isoflavanoids, neoflavones and an alkyl hydroxylcinnamate. Structures were elucidated based on HR-ESI-MS, 1- and 2-D NMR and ECD spectra. The crude extract and the isolated compounds of D. melanoxylon were tested for their antibacterial, antifungal, anthelmintic and cytotoxic properties, applying established model organisms non-pathogenic to humans. The crude extract exhibited significant antibacterial activity against Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis (97% inhibition at 50 μg/mL) and antifungal activity against the phytopathogens Phytophthora infestans, Botrytis cinerea and Septoria tritici (96, 89 and 73% at 125 μg/mL, respectively). Among the pure compounds tested, kenusanone H and (3R)-tomentosanol B exhibited, in a panel of partially human pathogenic bacteria and fungi, promising antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Mycobacterium showing MIC values between 0.8 and 6.2 μg/mL. The observed biological effects support the traditional use of D. melanoxylon and warrant detailed investigations of its prenylated isoflavanones as antibacterial lead compounds.