Plant Diversity And Management In The Home Garden Of Abaya District: Ethino-Botanical Approach; Borena Zone; South Eastern Ethiopia.

Abstract

Home garden is the traditional land use system around a homestead, where several species of plants are grown and called as “Dawoo” in Abaya district. However, plant diversity and its management were not well known. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify plant diversity and management in the home garden of the district. A total of 70 informants from eight kebeles were selected by using single population proportion and interviewed on plant diversity and management. The collected data was entered in MS Excel spread sheet using a descriptive statistical method such as frequency distribution and percentage to analyze and summarize data on useful home garden plant. The study found out that a total of 49 home garden plant species (belonging to 47 genera and 36 families) were recorded and identified in the study area. Of the total 49 identified species 21 of them were grouped in 8 families and the remaining 28 species are found single to their family. Comparing their families Fabaceae comes first contributing to four (4) species (8.1%) followed by Poaceae , Solanaceae and Astreraceae containing three (3) species (6.1%) each. With regard to the occurrence of plant species in the home garden Zea mays were the most common with the 68 (97%) followed by Enset ventricosum, 63 (90% ), Musa paradisiaca , 54 (77.1%), Coffee arabica and Persa americna each 53 (75.7%). Fifty percent of food plant parts cultivated in the district is fruit followed by leaves with 23.1%, seed and stem 19.2% each, root 15.4% and bulb 3.8 %. In conclusion, plant diversity in the home garden of the study area is mainly affected by factors such as home garden handling and socio-economic status of the owner, lack of rain fall and lack of awareness. Awareness raising of local population and training on management of plant resource needs to be taken up seriously.