Ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants in dabo hana district, buno bedele zone, oromia regional state, southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants in Dabo Hanna District, Buno Bedele Zone, Oromia Region, Southwest Ethiopia Wild edible plants are valuable resources in rural livelihoods for supplementing the staple food, ensuring food security, for income, ecological and socio-cultural values. The aim of this study was to identify and document wild edible plant species of the study area and associated Ethnobotanical knowledge of local people related to uses of wild edible plants and assessment of the existing threats to these plants, as well as the conservation status of the local people of study area. Direct observation, semi-structured interviews, group discussion and questionnaires were employed to gather ethnobotanical data. For data analysis qualitative and quantitative Ethnobotanical methods were used. 86 respondents (59 males and 27 females) were selected from three study sites for data collection and 15 key informants were identified. A total of 31 of wild edible plant species belonging to 24 genera 22 families were collected and documented. The family Myrtaceae had the highest proportion comprise of four species and Moraceae and Acantaceae families were contributed three species each. While 4 families were consist of 2 species each (8 species), and the other rest 13 families consist only 1 species each. Among the documented wild edible plant species in this study, most of them were trees, 13(41.93%) followed by shrubs 12 (38.70), liana and herbs consist of 3 (9.67) species each. Fruits were the most frequently used parts whereas, nectar, tuber, bark and stem are less frequently used parts. These wild edible plants of the study area were under serious anthropogenic threats due to their multi-propose values like; medicinal, forage, food, firewood, construction, charcoal, fencing, and furniture making values, hence, need priority attention for conservation.