Ermias Lulekal Molla Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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PLANT DIVERSITY AND ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN ANKOBER DISTRICT, NORTH SHEWA ZONE OF AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA Ermias Lulekal Molla Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June 2014 PLANT DIVERSITY AND ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN ANKOBER DISTRICT, NORTH SHEWA ZONE, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA Ermias Lulekal Molla A Thesis Submitted to The Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management Presented in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Biology: Botanical Science) Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June 2014 ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY GRADUATE PROGRAMMES This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Ermias Lulekal Molla, entitled: Plant Diversity and Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia, and submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Biology: Botanical Science) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality Signed by Research Supervisors: Name Signature Date 1. __________________________ _________________ _____________ 2. ___________________________ _________________ _____________ 3. ____________________________ _________________ _____________ 4._____________________________ __________________ _____________ _____________________________________________ _______________ Chair of Department or Graduate programme Coordinator Abstract Plant Diversity and Ethnobotany of Medicinal Plants in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia Ermias Lulekal, PhD Dissertation Addis Ababa University, 2014 This research aimed at providing documentation and analysis of plant diversity in Dense Forest along with the ethnobotanical knowledge associated with the medicinal plants used by the people in Ankober District, Ethiopia. Vegetation data were collected from 51, 30 m x 30 m quadrats laid for trees at every 50 m altitudinal drop along transects and 5 m x 5 m and 2 m x 2 m subplots for shrubs and herbs, respectively. Woody species with a diameter at breast height (DBH) > 2 cm were counted and cover abundance values estimated. A hierarchical cluster analysis, with PC- ORD for Windows version 5.0 software, was used to identify plant communities and synoptic values for identification of the dominant species for naming plant communities. Frequency, density, DBH, basal area and importance value indices (IVI) of woody species were also computed. Shannon-Wiener diversity index was used to assess species richness and evenness. Sorensen's similarity coefficient was used to measure similarities among communities in Dense Forest, and between Dense and other montane forests. Ethnobotanical data were collected by interviewing 352 informants (235 males and 117 females). Quantitative approaches were used to determine informant consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), use value (UV), use diversity (UD) and use equitability (UE) values. Ethnomedicinal knowledge held by different informant categories was compared using One-way ANOVA and t-tests. A total of 23 ethanol extracts of various parts of 19 most-preferred medicinal plants were also studied for potential antimicrobial activity against 12 microbial strains using broth microdilution method. The Dense Forest yielded 158 vascular plant species belonging to 143 genera and 75 families. The vegetation of the Forest was classified into five, namely Erica arborea, Maesa lanceolata-Discopodium penninervium, Podocarpus falcatus-Allophylus abyssinicus, Olea europaea-Galiniera saxifraga and Maytenus arbutifolia-Bersama abyssinica community types, based on the PC-ORD hierarchical cluster analysis. The percentage distribution of individual tree species across different DBH classes indicated relatively high proportion (27.26%) of individuals in DBH class 10-20 cm. The highest IVI values were recorded for Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata (57.63) and the next for Podocarpus falcatus (45.61). The overall Shannon-Wiener diversity and evenness values of Dense Forest were 4.07 and 0.80, respectively. Five representative woody plant population structures were identified. Results of the ethnobotanical study revealed a total of 151 medicinal plant species belonging to 141 genera and 75 families in the whole of Ankober District. The Asteraceae with 13 (9%) species and the Fabaceae with 11 (7.3%) species were families represented by more species in the District. Plants in which roots are used as medicine were more frequent than other parts in the District’s ethnomedicinal lore. Significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed in the mean number of medicinal plants reported by respondents in different age classes, literacy levels and experiences. About 123 (81%) species of medicinal plants were cited for one or more non- medicinal uses. The highest ICF value (0.71) was recorded for livestock gastro-intestinal disease category. The highest fidelity level values were recorded for Zehneria scabra (95%) and Hagenia abyssinica (93.75%). About 17 (74%) of the ethanol extracts showed antimicrobial activity against one or more of the microbial strains tested. Extracts from Embelia schimperi showed the strongest antibacterial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 64 µg/ml against Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes and Streptococcus pyogenes. The Dense Forest and the medicinal plants in Ankober District are under pressure due mainly to ever-increasing anthropogenic influences. Thus, the declining vegetation and wild medicinal plants of the area are in need of application of complementary in-situ and ex-situ conservation. Joint management of the Dense Forest with the local people and increased participation of the local people in overall medicinal plant conservation are actions that would save and rehabilitate the fast-declining plant resources with the rich ethnomedicinal wealth in the District. Key words:Ankober, antimicrobial activity, ethnobotany, floristic composition, medicinal plants iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the people of Ankober District who maintained their rich medicinal plant knowledge and practices for generations despite the tremendous environmental and socio-political changes that took place over the year. iv Acknowledgments I would like to pass heartfelt thanks to my supervisors Dr. Zemede Asfaw (AAU), Prof. Ensermu Kelbessa (AAU) and Prof. dr. ir. Patrick Van Damme (UGhent) for their unreserved guidance, support, suggestions, effective followup of the research work, and detailed reading and correcting of all my manuscripts to this end. My heartily acknowledgment goes to Debre Berhan University (DBU) for sponsoring me for this PhD study. I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the Graduate Programmes of Addis Ababa University for funding the cost of all field expenses; the Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds (BOF), UGhent, Belgium, for funding all expenses of my laboratory work and research stay at Ghent University; and the Committee for Scientific Research under the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University for the travel grant and fund supplied for part of the laboratory work of this project. I am indebted to the inhabitants of Ankober District, particularly the traditional medical practitioners who unreservedly shared with me their knowledge on medicinal plants, together with their wonderful hospitality throughout my stay in the study area for field activities. I thank Shewamene Teklemariam, Zebene Haile, Ashenafi Mihrete, Abebe Shewamene, Getu Shewamene, Dawit Tewabe and Getachew Abebe for their field assistantship, Dr. Henok Lulekal from North Shewa Agriculture and Rural Development Office and Sr. Tsehay Aytenew, Hayat Hospital, Addis Ababa, for translating local names of diseases into their English equivalents based on descriptions of symptoms. Prof. Ladislav Kokoska (head of the laboratory of Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology) at Czech University of Life Sciences (CULS), Johana Rondevaldova, Eva Bernaskova and Jindriska Cepkova are also heartily acknowledged for their support with various aspects of the laboratory work. Prof. Sebsebe Demissew, Prof. Zerihun Woldu, Prof. Sileshi Nemommisa, Dr. Tamrat Bekele and all other staff members of the Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management (AAU) and Prof. Demel Teketay (University of Botswana) are also deeply acknowledged for their persistent encouragement during my course and research works. v I would like to pass my gratitude to Ato Getachew Tefera (President of DBU), Dr. Tamire Zewdie (Academic Vice-President of DBU), Ato Teferi Adinew (Research Vice-President of DBU) for their valuable encouragement and support during the study period. Prof. Will McClatchey, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, USA, is heartily acknowledged for providing useful references, and discussions on scientific concepts related to traditional knowledge dynamics. Dr. Matteo Baralado (head of Increasing Peoples Opportunity (IPO) project in Ethiopia) is also deeply acknowledged for his support and encouragement throughout the research work. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the technical staff members of the National Herbarium (ETH) for their cooperation with all aspects of the herbarium work, beside their persistent and very friendly encouragements. The National Meteorological Services Agency of Ethiopia is acknowledged for providing meteorological data of Ankober station, in the study District. Staff members of the digital libraries of AAU, UGhent