Abstract

Traditional medicinal plant species documentation is very crucial in Ethiopia for biodiversity conservation, bioactive chemical extraction and indigenous knowledge retention. The present study is initiated with an objective to assess and document medicinal plants, the knowledge and practices on use of medicinal plant species used by the by people of Western Hararghe to treat different human and livestock ailments. The study was conducted in 2020 and used descriptive field survey design. Multi stages sampling techniques were applied to collect the data. First stage, the districts in Western Hararghe zone were stratified into three (highland, midland and lowland) based on their agroecologies. In the second stage, 3 districts (Gemechis from highland, Habro from midland and Hawi Gudina from lowland) were selected randomly. In the third stage, from each selected districts three kebele were selected purposively based on extensive use of medicinal plants. Finally 141 informants were selected from the nine kebele Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews, guided field walks, demonstrations, and focus group discussions with the help of guided questions. Data was organized and analyzed by descriptive statistics with SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Office Excel 2013. Most of the respondents get indigenous knowledge of medicinal plant from their father (43.57%). A total of 162 medicinal plant species within 70 families were documented to treat various livestock and human ailments. The study indicated that many of the medicinal plants are harvested from the forest (53.2%) followed by home-garden (38.8%) and the other accounts for (7.9%). Ocimum lamifolium scored the highest use frequency and highest Familiarity index, followed by Cissampeclos pareira. Sorenson and Jaccard’s similarity index among the three districts were above 61.79 % which showed significant similarity/even distribution of species among the three districts. According to Jaccard’s similarity indices Hawi Gudina and Gemachis were the most similar pairs. Herbs constitute the highest species representative followed by trees and 59.03% of medicinal plants were collected from wild whereas 35.68% from cultivation 5.29% both wild and cultivation. The most frequently utilized plant part was leaf (35.47%) followed by root (21.80%), Seed (12.50%). A total of 115 ailments were identified as being treated by traditional medicinal plants, among which sudden sickness was frequently reported. Allium sativum was reported for the treatment of many of the reported diseases. The processed remedies were mostly administered through oral (62.09%) and dermal (20.26%) routes. Traditional medicinal plants and associated indigenous knowledge are the main systems to maintain human and livestock health in West Hararghe Zone. But minimal conservation measures were recorded in the community. Thus, in-situ and ex-situ conservation practices and sustainable utilization are required in the Zone.