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Ethnomedicinal study of plants used for human ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

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Abstract
Background: Ankober District has long been inhabited by people who have a long tradition of using medicinal plants to treat human ailments. Overexploitation of medicinal plants coupled with an ever-increasing population growth, deforestation and agricultural land expansion threatens plants in the area. Hence, this study aimed at documenting and analyzing the plant-based ethnomedicinal knowledge of the people in order to preserve the dwindling indigenous knowledge. Methods: Ethnobotanical data were collected using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and walk-in-the-woods. Quantitative approaches were used to determine Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) and Fidelity level (FL) values. Statistical tests were used to compare the indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants among different informant categories. Results: A total of 135 medicinal plant species belonging to 128 genera and 71 botanical families were reported to treat human diseases in the District. Families Asteraceae (12 species, 9%) and Fabaceae (10, 7.4%) were found to be best represented in the area. About 44% of preparations were reported to be obtained from roots. Significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed on the mean number of medicinal plants reported by groups of respondents compared within age, literacy level and experience parameters. Highest ICF values were recorded for gastrointestinal & parasitic and dermatological disease categories (0.70 each) indicating best agreement among informants knowledge on medicinal plants used to treat aliments in these categories. Highest fidelity level values were recorded for Zehneria scabra (95%) and Hagenia abyssinica (93.75%) showing conformity of knowledge on species of best healing potential. Podocarpus falcatus was ranked first in a direct matrix ranking exercise of multipurpose medicinal plants. The output of preference ranking exercise indicated that Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata was the most preferred species to treat atopic eczema. Conclusion: The study revealed that Ankober District is rich in medicinal plant diversity and associated indigenous knowledge. However, anthropogenic factors coupled with acculturation and very poor conservation efforts threaten medicinal plant survival in the area. Promoting a complementary in situ and ex situ conservation strategy for medicinal plants of the District is highly recommended.
Keywords
Fidelity level, Informants consensus factor, Indigenous knowledge, Medicinal plants, Traditional healers, MEDICINAL-PLANTS, ETHNIC-GROUP, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, PEOPLE, ETHNOBOTANY, STATE, CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT, COMMUNITY, GENDER, Ethnomedicine

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MLA
Molla, Ermias Lulekal, et al. “Ethnomedicinal Study of Plants Used for Human Ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.” JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE, vol. 9, 2013, doi:10.1186/1746-4269-9-63.
APA
Molla, E. L., Asfaw, Z., Kelbessa, E., & Van Damme, P. (2013). Ethnomedicinal study of plants used for human ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE, 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-9-63
Chicago author-date
Molla, Ermias Lulekal, Zemede Asfaw, Ensermu Kelbessa, and Patrick Van Damme. 2013. “Ethnomedicinal Study of Plants Used for Human Ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.” JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-9-63.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Molla, Ermias Lulekal, Zemede Asfaw, Ensermu Kelbessa, and Patrick Van Damme. 2013. “Ethnomedicinal Study of Plants Used for Human Ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.” JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 9. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-9-63.
Vancouver
1.
Molla EL, Asfaw Z, Kelbessa E, Van Damme P. Ethnomedicinal study of plants used for human ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE. 2013;9.
IEEE
[1]
E. L. Molla, Z. Asfaw, E. Kelbessa, and P. Van Damme, “Ethnomedicinal study of plants used for human ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia,” JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE, vol. 9, 2013.
@article{4314775,
  abstract     = {{Background: Ankober District has long been inhabited by people who have a long tradition of using medicinal plants to treat human ailments. Overexploitation of medicinal plants coupled with an ever-increasing population growth, deforestation and agricultural land expansion threatens plants in the area. Hence, this study aimed at documenting and analyzing the plant-based ethnomedicinal knowledge of the people in order to preserve the dwindling indigenous knowledge.
Methods: Ethnobotanical data were collected using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and walk-in-the-woods. Quantitative approaches were used to determine Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) and Fidelity level (FL) values. Statistical tests were used to compare the indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants among different informant categories.
Results: A total of 135 medicinal plant species belonging to 128 genera and 71 botanical families were reported to treat human diseases in the District. Families Asteraceae (12 species, 9%) and Fabaceae (10, 7.4%) were found to be best represented in the area. About 44% of preparations were reported to be obtained from roots. Significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed on the mean number of medicinal plants reported by groups of respondents compared within age, literacy level and experience parameters. Highest ICF values were recorded for gastrointestinal & parasitic and dermatological disease categories (0.70 each) indicating best agreement among informants knowledge on medicinal plants used to treat aliments in these categories. Highest fidelity level values were recorded for Zehneria scabra (95%) and Hagenia abyssinica (93.75%) showing conformity of knowledge on species of best healing potential. Podocarpus falcatus was ranked first in a direct matrix ranking exercise of multipurpose medicinal plants. The output of preference ranking exercise indicated that Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata was the most preferred species to treat atopic eczema.
Conclusion: The study revealed that Ankober District is rich in medicinal plant diversity and associated indigenous knowledge. However, anthropogenic factors coupled with acculturation and very poor conservation efforts threaten medicinal plant survival in the area. Promoting a complementary in situ and ex situ conservation strategy for medicinal plants of the District is highly recommended.}},
  articleno    = {{63}},
  author       = {{Molla, Ermias Lulekal and Asfaw, Zemede and Kelbessa, Ensermu and Van Damme, Patrick}},
  issn         = {{1746-4269}},
  journal      = {{JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE}},
  keywords     = {{Fidelity level,Informants consensus factor,Indigenous knowledge,Medicinal plants,Traditional healers,MEDICINAL-PLANTS,ETHNIC-GROUP,TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE,PEOPLE,ETHNOBOTANY,STATE,CONSERVATION,MANAGEMENT,COMMUNITY,GENDER,Ethnomedicine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{13}},
  title        = {{Ethnomedicinal study of plants used for human ailments in Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-9-63}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}

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