Survey of ethno-veterinary medicinal plants at selected districts of Harari Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

The survey of ethno-veterinary medicinal plants was conducted from November,
2014 to April, 2015 at selected districts of Harari Regional State, eastern Ethiopia.
The aim of the study was to identify and document medicinal plants and the associated ethno-medicinal knowledge of the local community. Semi-structured interview, guided field observation, group discussion and market survey were used to collect the required data. Informant consensus method and group discussion were
conducted for crosschecking and verification of the information. Both descriptive
statistics and quantitative methods were used for data analysis. About 46 plant
species belonging to 33 families were identified and documented based on the local
claims of the plants. Majority plant taxa were collected from the wild (54.4%) followed by domestic once (24%). Among these plant families, Fabaceae, Solanaeceae and Euphorbiaceae were commonly used to treat Equine colic, retained placenta and Black leg respectively. The most frequently used plant parts were reported to be the leaves (37%) and then the roots (30.4%). The condition of preparation was in the fresh form (82.5%) and fresh/dry form (17.5%). Oral  administration (65.3%) was the most common route of administration. In  conclusion, the participants have a wealth of indigenous knowledge about plant medicines for treating their livestock but, agricultural expansion was the major threats to medicinal plants in the study area. Thus, awareness creation should be done in order to conserve and document the plants.

Keywords: Ethno-veterinary, Medicinal plants, Indigenous knowledge, Harari
Regional State