Survey of ethno-veterinary medicinal plants at selected districts of Harari Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

The survey of ethno-veterinary medicinal plants was conducted from November, 2014 to April, 2015 at selected districts of Harari Regional State, eastern Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to identify and document medicinal plants and the associated ethno-medicinal knowledge of the local community. Semi-structured interview, guided field observation, group discussion and market survey were used to collect the required data. Informant consensus method and group discussion were conducted for crosschecking and verification of the information. Both descriptive statistics and quantitative methods were used for data analysis. About 46 plant species belonging to 33 families were identified and documented based on the local claims of the plants. Majority plant taxa were collected from the wild (54.4%) followed by domestic once (24%). Among these plant families, Fabaceae, Solanaeceae and Euphorbiaceae were commonly used to treat Equine colic, retained placenta and Black leg respectively. The most frequently used plant parts were reported to be the leaves (37%) and then the roots (30.4%). The condition of preparation was in the fresh form (82.5%) and fresh/dry form (17.5%). Oral administration (65.3%) was the most common route of administration. In conclusion, the participants have a wealth of indigenous knowledge about plant medicines for treating their livestock but, agricultural expansion was the major threats to medicinal plants in the study area. Thus, awareness creation should be done in order to conserve and document the plants.

Ethnoveterinary survey of medicinal plants used for treatment of animal diseases in Ambo District of Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia

“…The majority of the claimed medicinal plants in the study District were found to be uncultivated ones, which is in agreement with reports of other studies conducted elsewhere in the country [8,13,26,28]. The fact that the majority of medicinal plants were harvested from the wild indicates serious threat to the same amid ongoing deforestation and habitat destruction that are taking place in the country.…”

“…The common use of crushing in the preparation of remedies may be related to its easiness. Most remedies in the study District are prepared from fresh plants materials and other studies conducted in different parts of Ethiopia [8,10,13,26,27] also reported the common use of fresh materials. The wider use of fresh materials in remedy preparation could indicate the availability of most of the needed plant parts in the vicinity any season of the year.…”

“…The wider use of leaves may be related to the fact it is much easier and faster to prepare remedies from such plant part. Most remedies in the study District were prepared by crushing, a method which is also commonly applied in the preparation of remedies elsewhere in the country [1,13,[24][25][26]. The common use of crushing in the preparation of remedies may be related to its easiness.…”

Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants, its utilization, and conservation by indigenous people of Gera district, Ethiopia

“…About 86.6% of plants were obtained from the wild and this shows that the attempt of the local community is not promising for cultivating livestock remedies in the home garden. Several studies in Ethiopia show that the majority of medicinal plants with 54.4%-94.6% were harvested from the wild (Jima, 2018;Mohammed et al, 2016;Usmane et al, 2016;Yigezu et al, 2014;Yineger et al, 2008).…”

“…Medicinal plants can be conserved using appropriate conservational methods in gene banks and botanical gardens (Zerabruka & Yirga, 2012). Conservation of medicinal plants can also be possible in the home garden, as the home garden is an intentional and perfect farming system for the conservation, production, and improvement of medicinal plants (Amsalu et al, 2018;Usmane et al, 2016). For poor rural people, medicinal plants represent affordable and locally available resources to address many diseases and health problems.…”