Ethnobotanical study of knowledge and medicinal plants use by the people in Dek Island in Ethiopia

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2009.04.005

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Volume 124, Issue 1, 6 July 2009, Pages 69-78

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2009.04.005 Get rights and content

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance

It reveals the trend of knowledge of medicinal plants and the documentation serves as a baseline data for future phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

Aim of the study

The medicinal plants are the integral part of the variety of cultures in Ethiopia and have been used over many centuries. Hence, the aim of this study is to assess knowledge specifically with regard to gender and age, and to document medicinal plants used by the people in Dek Island.

Materials and methods

The ethnobotanical surveys and quantitative analytical methods were used to study the level of knowledge and medicinal plants use in Dek Island.

Results

The male (mean = 5.75 ± 0.65; p < 0.001) and informants with ≥40 years of age (mean = 5.25 ± 0.56; p < 0.05) reported more medicinal plants. Age (p < 0.05) and sex (p < 0.05) have influence on knowledge of medicinal plants though sex (partial eta squared = 0.496) has stronger influence than age. The medicinal plants uses showed similarity with other studies conducted in different cultural setups and locations.

Conclusion

The trend of knowledge loss in both age categories and sexes implicates the likely risk of loss of knowledge. The documented data could be useful for future phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

Introduction

The Ethiopian people have been using medicinal plants to treat different diseases over many centuries, though the religious and secular pharmacopoeia had been compiled since 15th century. The traditional medicinal plants are the integral part of the variety of cultures in Ethiopia; resulted in the traditional medical system pluralism (Pankhurst, 1965, Pankhurst, 1990, Abebe and Ayehu, 1993).

In Ethiopia, about 800 species of plants are used in the traditional health care system to treat nearly 300 physical and mental disorders, and remains to be the main resource of treatment for a large majority (80%) of the people. Medicinal plants occur throughout the country's diverse highland and lowland areas (Edwards, 2001).

The documentation of the traditional medicinal plants used by the people in Ethiopia is limited compared to the extent of variety of cultures and the diversity of the terrain. Furthermore, the majority of these studies are focused only on the herbalists and Ethiopian medico-religious manuscripts (Abebe and Ayehu, 1993) without regarding the existing traditional knowledge and practices of common people. This trend might ignore the study on the level of knowledge in the society, affect the documentation and the search for medicinal plants conserved and administered by the local people.

Therefore, assessment or investigation and documentation of knowledge of indigenous people on the use and management of medicinal plants would fill the gap of indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants. Moreover, the presence of natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the losses of valuable medicinal plants calls for the need to document the eroding medicinal plants and the associated knowledge. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess traditional medicinal plants knowledge specifically with regard to gender, age and to document the knowledge and the uses of medicinal plants used by the people in Dek Island, which is part of an initiative to document baseline data for future pharmacological and phytochemical studies.

Section snippets

Description of the study area

Dek Island (11°53′N, 37°17′E) is the biggest island (approximately 16 km²) in Lake Tana with an estimated total population of 17,000. Lake Tana is the largest fresh water lake in Ethiopia and the source of the Blue Nile River. It is located in the country's northwest highlands at 600 km northwest of Addis Ababa and at an altitude of 1800 m (Fig. 1). The residents are Amahra people and speak the country's official language, Amharic. The main occupation of the people is fishing and farming.

Sampling informants

Two

Knowledge of medicinal plants

The male (mean = 5.75 ± 0.65) reported more medicinal plants than women (mean = 1.67 ± 0.45) did and the difference in the knowledge of traditional medicinal plants between male and female was significant: Pearson Chi-square statistics_{(α=0.05) d.f (6)} = 38.099 and p < 0.001 (Table 1).

The t-test on the number of plants reported by the two age categories showed significant difference: t_{(α=0.05, d.f. =11)} = 4.36; p < 0.05. Fig. 2 shows the median for the number of medicinal plants reported by the informants:

Medicinal plants and the associated knowledge

In this study, the average number of medicinal plants reported by informants of 18–39 years of age is 2.167 ± 0.63 and this may elucidate the loss of the local traditional medicinal plants associated knowledge and their uses. The knowledge of medicinal plants use is nearly disappearing among the young generation, because, may be most of the knowledgeable persons did not properly pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Hence, the young generation may not have the opportunity to acquire the

Acknowledgements

I am very much grateful to the local informants who shared their knowledge on the use of medicinal plants. Without their contribution, this study would have been impossible. I would like to thank Dr. Mirutse Giday and Mr. Melaku Mandefro for their assistance in identification of the medicinal plants. I would like to thank Associate Vice President Office for Research and Publication, Addis Ababa University for the grant to conduct this study.

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Ethnobotanical study of knowledge and medicinal plants use by the people in Dek Island in Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance

Aim of the study

Materials and methods

Results

Conclusion

Introduction

Section snippets

Description of the study area

Sampling informants

Knowledge of medicinal plants

Medicinal plants and the associated knowledge

Acknowledgements

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Medicinal Plants and Enigmatic Health Practices of Northern Ethiopia

A survey of traditional medicine in Shirka District, Arsi Zone, Ethiopia

Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Journal

Attitudes of modern and traditional medical practitioners toward cooperation

Ethiopian Medical Journal

The ecology and conservation status of medicinal plants on Ethiopia. What do we know?

Intestinal helminth infections at Zegihe, Ethiopia, with emphasis on schstosomiasis mansoni

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