ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY oN MEDICINAL PLANTS iN KOLA MEKETEWA DISTRICT, SOUTH GONDAR ZONE, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA.

WORKALEM, ABEBAW

dc.contributor.author	WORKALEM, ABEBAW
dc.date.accessioned	2024-09-20T12:05:21Z
dc.date.available	2024-09-20T12:05:21Z
dc.date.issued	2024-01
dc.identifier.uri	http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/15955
dc.description.abstract	Over centuries, indigenous people have developed their own knowledge on plant use. Traditional medicine remains to be a locally available, affordable and easily accessible remedies for the community. This knowledge is the key tool for the survival of the local communities. The main objective of this study was to investigate, collect and document traditional medicinal plants in Kola Meketewa district, This research was done from October, 2022 to July 2023.Kola Meketewa district has a total of 12 kebeles. Out of these, six kebeles were selected purposively due to the availability of traditional healers and medicinal plant distributions for ethnobotanical data collection. A total of 180 informants were selected from the six kebeles. Out of the total 180 informants, 30 key informants (traditional healers) were selected purposively based on their skills and experiences. The other 150 general informants were selected randomly from the local people of the study area. The Ethnobotanical data were collected using Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, guided field walks and market surveys. Descriptive statistical methods such as percentage and frequency distribution were employed to analyze and summarize the data on medicinal plants, associated knowledge, management methods, and conservation. Data were analyzed using informant consensus factor, fidelity level, preference ranking, direct matrix ranking and SPSS. The overall medicinal plants identified in the Kola Meketewa District belong to 88 species, 79 genera and 49 families. Asteraceae were the most dominant family which consisted 9(10.22%) species followed by Solanaceae 6 (6.8%) species and Fabaceae and Lamiacea 5 (5.7%) species each. The growth habit of medicinal plants in the study area were 35(39.8%) herbs, shrubs 28(31.6%), tree 19(21.6%) and climber 6 (6.8%). Leaves (46.6%) were the greatest widely used plant parts in preparation of medications followed by roots (24.1%). Leaves (63.6%) were also the dominant plant parts used to prepare remedies for the treatment of livestock ailments followed by bark 27.3%. Based on the type of the diseases, the remedies were applied through different routes to treat ailments. Accordingly the most popular mode of administration in the studied district was oral (53.1%) followed by dermal creaming which covers about 27.1%. According to the information obtained from informants of the people of Kola Meketewa District, there were 45 different human ailments which can be treated by 77 different medicinal plant species and 15 livestock diseases using 30 different medicinal plant species. The Independent t- test statistical analysis indicated that variables (sex, literacy level and experiences of informants) shown significant differences (P <0.05) among different groups of the community, but age did not show significant differences (p>0.05) on the use of traditional medicinal plants. Emergency (sudden) diseases scored the highest ICF of 0.83. On the basis of healing cough, Ruta chalepensis was the most preferred plant species. Cordia africana was the highest multipurpose and the most threatened species. There was no significant effort witnessed to conserve and sustainably use and there is high consumption of medicinal plant species of the district. KeyWords and Phrases: Ailment, informants, indigenous knowledge, healer, medicinal plant.	en_US
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.subject	Biology	en_US
dc.title	ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY oN MEDICINAL PLANTS iN KOLA MEKETEWA DISTRICT, SOUTH GONDAR ZONE, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA.	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US