Abstract:
Plants have been used for medicinal purpose more than a century by most of the population in Ethiopia to treat human and livestock ailments. This study is aimed to fulfill the existing knowledge gap by identifying and documenting the indigenous medicinal plants that are used to treat human and livestock ailments at Dessie Zuria District. Totally, 396 informants participated in this study, from them 383 were household informants and 13 were traditional healers. Data was collected through administrating semi-structured interview, observation and focused group discussions. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered. Quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics methods such as percentage and frequency whereas qualitative data was analyzed manually through thematic contents. Overall 99 plant species were recorded across 88 genera and 48 families to treat 52 different human and livestock ailments. From these (62.7%) plant species were used only for human treatment, (24.2%) plant species were used for only livestock treatment and the remaining (13.1%) plants were used for treating both human and livestock ailments. Fibril illness and stomach ache were the major human ailments in the study area while Blackleg was major livestock ailment. The Asteraceae family, containing 13 species (13.2%), was the dominant family over other families. In this regard, Rumex nervosus stood first based on preference and efficacy while Cupressus lusitanica ranked first in its multi-usage. The highest informant consensus value was obtained for Ocimum lamiifolium (0.66). Most medicinal plants were herbs (48%) and the dominant habitat where medicinal plants collected was wild (56%) followed by homegarden (45%). The best-harvested plant part was leaf (64.6%) and the preferred route of application was oral (55.3%). The common method of medicinal plant preparation was crushing (45.4%) and the major application method was drinking (47.8%). Using medicinal plant for firewood (40.9%) was stated as the major cause of decreasing for the abundance of medicinal plants from the previous status. In conclusion, medicinal plants are a vital part of health care system for both human and livestock ailments and it also has multi-usage beyond its medical purpose in Dessie Zuria District. Therefore, the local people should be trained, encouraged and supported on how to conserve and manage medicinal plants.
