2023/12/31 by Regasa, Tena, Guteta, Gedefa
#Ethnoveterinary #Fidelity Level #Informant Consensus #Limu #Livestock Ailments #Medicinal Plants #Traditional Healers
paper · doi:10.20372/star.v12i4.01
This study was undertaken in Limu district, western Ethiopia, in order to investigate the ethnobotanical knowledge of ethnoveterinary plants used by the Oromo communities in the area. The resulting data are expected to contribute to the conservation of the fast-eroding plant resources and the preservation of the associated ethnobotanical knowledge of the study area. Ethno-botanical data were collected by interviewing 221 informants (143 males and 78 females), of whom 18 were key informants. Quantitative approaches were used to determine informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (FL) values. Ethno-medicinal knowledge held by different informant categories was compared using one-way ANOVA and t-tests in SPSS version 20. A total of 25 ethnoveterinary plant species categorized under 25 genera and 21 families were reported to treat 27 livestock ailments. Herbs (ca. 10) were the dominant plant growth forms, followed by shrubs (ca. 8) and trees (ca. 5) among the ethnoveterinary medicinal plants documented in the area. Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Solanaceae, and Cucurbitaceae (with two species each) were the most taxonomically diverse families. Leaves (36.6%), followed by roots (19.98%), and seeds (10.34%) were the most consumed ethnoveterinary medicinal plant parts in remedy preparation. Most remedies were prepared from fresh plant materials (66.48%). Preparations of the majority (76.29%) of remedies involved a single medicinal plant (monoherbal preparation). The dominant mode of ethnoveterinary medicinal plant remedy application was through crushing and steeping plant parts in cold water (35.96%) and giving the resulting infusion to the target animal under question to drink. The oral route of administration was the dominant route, followed by dermal/topical. These recipes are given to the livestock with their feed, along with different types of ingredients like salt, injera (traditional Ethiopian flat bread prepared from teff, Eragrostistef, and other cereals), flour, flour, milk, and so forth, in the area. The cattle category had the highest number of known ethnoveterinary remedies (39.64%), followed by sheep (18.34%) and goats (13.01%). Knowledge associated with the use of ethnovetrinary medicinal plants is generally kept secret and transferred orally. Age, literacy level, distance from health centers, and experience of informants had a statistically significant influence on ethnovetrinary knowledge of medicinal plants (P<0.05). Further phytochemical and pharmacological investigations of these ethnovetrinary medicinal plants reported by this survey are recommended.