ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT Dryland Biodiversity Stream Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Medicinal Plants of Goma Wereda, Jima Zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia By Behailu Etana June, 2010 Addis Ababa ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT Dryland Biodiversity Stream Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Medicinal Plants of Goma Wereda, Jima Zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia By Behailu Etana A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN BIOLOGY (DRYLAND BIODIVERSITY) Approved by Examining Board: 1. Ensermu Kelbessa (Prof.) (Examiner) _____________________ 2. Mirutse Giday (PhD) (Examiner) _____________________ 3. Sebsebe Demissew (Prof.) (Advisor) _____________________ 4. Zemede Asfaw (PhD) (Advisor) _____________________ 5. Dawit Abate (PhD) (Chairman) _____________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................................................i LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................. ……….….….......v LIST OF APPENDICES..................................................................................................................vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..............................................................................................................vii ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................................viii 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ .1 1.1 Background of the Study ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Objectives ........................................................................................................................ 3 1.2.1 General objective ...................................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Specific objectives ..................................................................................................... 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Origin and Development of Ethnobotanical Study ......................................................... 4 2.2 Indigenous Knowledge and Medicinal Plants .................................................................. 4 2.3 The Role of Medicinal Plants ........................................................................................... 5 2.4 Medicinal Plants in Ethiopia ............................................................................................ 6 2.4.1 Medicinal plants in human healthcare system ......................................................... 7 2.4.2 Plants in ethnoveterinary medicine .......................................................................... 7 2.5 Threats and Conservation of Medicinal Plants in Ethiopia ............................................. 8 2.5.1 Threats to traditional medicinal plants ..................................................................... 8 2.5.2 Threats to indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants ............................................ 9 2.5.3 Conservation of traditional medicinal plants ........................................................... 9 2.5.3.1 Conservation of medicinal plants in homegardens .......................................... 10 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA ............................................................................ 11 3.1 Geographic Location ...................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Soils and Drainage ......................................................................................................... 13 3.3 Climate ........................................................................................................................... 13 3.4 People, Population and Healthcare Status .................................................................... 14 3.5 Livestock ........................................................................................................................ 15 3.6 Land Use and Agriculture. ............................................................................................. 15 3.7 Vegetation ...... .............................................................................................................. 18 i 4. MATERIALS AND METHODS ......................................................................................... 19 4.1 Reconnaissance Survey and Selection of Study Sites .................................................... 19 4.2 Sampling of Informants ................................................................................................. 19 4.3 Data Collection .............................................................................................................. 19 4.4 Specimen Collection ...................................................................................................... 19 4.5 Specimen Identification ................................................................................................. 19 4.6 Vegetation Description .................................................................................................. 20 4.7 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................. 20 4.7.1 Descriptive statistics ............................................................................................... 20 4.7.2 Informant consensus ............................................................................................... 20 4.7.3 Preference ranking .................................................................................................. 21 4.7.4 Paired comparison .................................................................................................. 21 4.7.5 Direct matrix ranking .............................................................................................. 21 4.7.6 Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity ............................................................................ 22 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................... 23 5.1 Knowledge of Local People on Health ........................................................................... 23 5.2 Local Beliefs on Medicinal Plants .................................................................................. 23 5.3 Indigenous Knowledge on Soil, Landform and Botanical Classification ........................ 24 5.3.1 Soil classification by indigenous people ................................................................. 24 5.3.2 Landform classification ........................................................................................... 25 5.3.2.1 Use based land classification ............................................................................ 25 5.3.2.2 Topographic land classification ........................................................................ 26 5.3.3 Indigenous Vegetation classification ...................................................................... 27 5.4 Visual Vegetation Classification ..................................................................................... 27 5.5 Plants in the Homegardens ........................................................................................... 29 5.5.1 Habit and use category of homegarden plants ...................................................... 30 5.6 Plant Resources of the Study Area ................................................................................ 32 5.7 Ethnomedicinal Plant Species Used by People of Goma Wereda ................................. 33 5.7.1 Distribution of medicinal plants in different plant community types .................... 35 5.7.2 Medicinal plants used to treat human diseases ..................................................... 36 5.7.2.1 Sources of medicinal plants .............................................................................. 36 ii 5.7.2.2 Habits, parts used, method of preparation, route of administration, dosage and application of human medicinal plants ........................................................................ 37 5.7.2.3 Major human diseases and plant species used by local people ...................... 42 5.7.3 Medicinal plants used to treat livestock health problems ..................................... 45 5.7.3.1 Habits, parts used, method of preparations, route of administration and application of livestock medicinal plants .................................................................. ...45 5.7.3.2 Major livestock diseases and number of plant species used by local people . 48 5.7.4 Medicinal plant species used to treat both livestock and human ailments ........... 49 5.7.4.1 Habits, parts used, method of preparation, route of administration and application ...................................................................................................................................... 49 5.8 Informant