Knowledge About Medicinal Uses of Plants Among People of Rural Haryana Sain Kiran 1, Yadav Beena 2 and Goel Rita 3 0 1,3 Department of EECM, CCSHAU, Hisar, Haryana 2 Directorate of Research, CCSHAU, Hisar,Haryana Abstract The present study was undertaken to study the knowledge about uses of medicinal plants among the people of rural Haryana. The study was conducted on 360 rural respondents i.e 180 male and female each of Bhiwani, Hisar and Mohindergarh districts of South West Zone of Haryana state. Out of total 21 plants recorded useful for medicine purposes, 11 plants i.e. aloevera, basil, bael, carom, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, liquorice, margosa, mint and turmeric were reported to be of importance by the selected respondents. Total 69 medicinal uses of these plants were reported. Margosa was reported to have maximum uses (10 uses) followed by carom and garlic (8 uses each); basil (7 uses), aloe vera and fenugreek (6 uses) and turmeric had lowest number of uses i.e 5. Relative frequencies of citation (RFC) of basil, carom and turmeric were 100.0% each however and that of liquorice was the lowest (46.3%). Knowledge utility index (KUI) of five plants (fenugreek, turmeric, fennel, carom, mint) was of high extent and of six plants (margosa, aloevera, liquorice, basil, bael, and garlic) was of medium extent. KUI of not even a single plant was of low extent. Keywords: Medicinal plants, Rural people, Medicinal uses, Ailments, Knowledge utility index, Relative frequency of citation. I. INTRODUCTION The importance of medicinal plants and traditional health systems in solving the health care problems of the world is gaining increasing attention. The ongoing growing recognition of medicinal plants is due to several reasons, including escalating faith in herbal medicine. Allopathic medicine may cure a wide range of diseases; however, its high prices and side-effects are causing many people to return to herbal medicines which have fewer side effects [3]. People have not only realized the high cost of the allopathic medicines but also realized their dangerous side effects which forced them turning around to the naturally grown traditional medicinal plants. Preference for natural therapies and preventive medicines; concern regarding undesirable side effects of modern medicines; the belief that herbal drugs are free from side effects; great interest in alternative medicines; the belief that herbal medicines might be of effective benefit in certain diseases where conventional medicines have proven to be inadequate; tendency towards self medication; improvement in quality; and proof of efficacy and safety of herbal medicines have contributed to the growth of phytotherapeutic market [2].The indigenous technological knowledge (ITK) preserved by our forefather needs to be documented, validated and transferred among the stakeholders. This precious ITK can act as a strong foundation not only for agricultural industry but also for green health security of the masses. Increased demand and decreased availability of herbs from forest resulted in commercial cultivation of herbs. Indian farmers are cultivating more than 30 species in hectares of land. [4]. The status of medicinal plants in India is in transitory phase and the demand for these plants is increasing day by day. The use of plants for healing purpose is getting increasingly popular as they are @IJAPSA-2016, All rights Reserved Page 120
believed as being beneficial and free of side effects [7]. Awareness and knowledge is the first and foremost importance conditions for adoption of any idea/technique/practice. The probability of adoption increases with the increased number of potential adopters who are knowledgeable. With this background in view, the present study was undertaken with the objective of assessing the knowledge of respondents about medicinal uses of plants by applying descriptive statistics. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted in randomly selected Bhiwani, Mohindergarh and Hisar districts of South-West Zone of Haryana State. One block from each district and two villages from each block were selected randomly. Six villages i.e Ladwa and Harita from Hisar-1 block; Badwa and Rupana from Siwani Block; and Akoda and Khudana from Mohindergarh block were selected for the present study. From each selected village, 60 adult respondents (30 male and 30 female each) were randomly selected. In this 180 adult male and female respondents each constituted a final sample of 360 respondents. Knowledge was operationally defined as the body of understood information possessed by rural respondents regarding human uses of the selected medicinal plants. An exhaustive list of the plants was prepared by consulting the scientists from the MAP (Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) section; elder persons, ayurvedic doctors and traditional healers. It has been reported in various ethno-botanical studies that if less than 10.0% users report any use of a plant, that plant is considered to be of little importance to the members of that community. In present study, out of 33 plants, 11 plants i.e. margosa, carom, basil, turmeric, bael, aloe vera, garlic, liquorice, fenugreek, mint, fennel were reported to be of importance by the selected rural respondents. The detailed results pertaining to these 11 plants are discussed in present paper. As the present data were ethnobotanical in nature and keeping the importance of descriptive statistics in analyzing such data following indices were calculated. Number of uses: Free listing method was used to assess the knowledge of respondents. It is a method that documents all (or many) of the plants or uses that a research participant can cite at a given time.the respondents were asked to mention as many uses of 11 plants as they knew. The reported uses were listed against respective plant and were read out once to the respondents to confirm it and to provide them an opportunity to express any other uses. Knowledge utility index (KUI): This index refers to the sum of proportion of the respondents who had the knowledge about uses of a particular plant and those who actually used it divided by total number of respondents. Relative frequency of citation (RFC): Relative frequency of citation (RFC) was calculated to determine the well-known and most useful plants among the selected sample and obtained by dividing the number of respondents mentioning a useful species (FC or frequency of citation) by the total number of respondents in the study (N). RFC value varies from 0 (when nobody refers to a plant as a useful one), to 1 (when all the informants mentioning it as useful) and calculated by the formula given by 9. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. Number of uses of the medicinal plants reported by respondents (Table 1.) The data in table 1 indicate that both male and female reported total medicinal uses (64 and 69, respectively) of 11 plants. Out of which maximum 10 medicinal uses of margosa were reported by female only which were 14.4% of the total reported uses whereas in case of male 9 (14.0%). Total @IJAPSA-2016, All rights Reserved Page 121
reported uses of garlic and carom were equal in number in case of female respondents i.e. 8, which were 11.5% of the total reported uses, but in case of male it is 7(10.9%) for garlic and 6(9.3%) for carom. Basil plant was perceived to have 7 medicinal uses and it was 10.1% of the total uses reported by female whereas in case of male it was 6 (9.3). Four plants viz., aloe vera, fenugreek, mint and fennel were reported to have equal number of 6 uses constituting 8.6% of the total uses by females and 6 uses constituting (9.3%) of the total uses by male. Reported uses of bael and turmeric were also equal in number i.e. 5 of each plant and were 7.2% and 7.8% of the total uses in female and male respondents. The female respondents indicated minimum medicinal uses of liquorice plant i.e 2 having 2.8% share in the total uses and male 2(2.8%). It needs to be mentioned here that 38 ailments based on total uses of plants 69 by female and 64 by male respondents were reported to be addressed by these 11 plants. This means that more than one plant was reported useful for a single ailment. Interesting fact was observed from this table that female respondents reported more number of uses of medicinal plants than male in case of four plants basil, carom, garlic and margosa. Table 1. Number of uses of the medicinal plants reported by the respondents Plant Total Reported uses Male Female Margosa Acne and boils, Headache, Toothache, Intestinal worm, Dandruff, Diabetes, Fever, Swelling in legs, Eye disorders, Gas and flatulence Garlic Cold, Earache, Arthritis, Gas and Flatulence, Body Cramps, Stomach infection, Allergy, Toothache Carom Pregnancy related ailments, Stomach ache, Digestion, Swelling in body parts, Gas and flatulence, Arthritis, Acidity, Earache Basil Cold & cough, Sore throat, Fever, Rheum, Vomiting, Asthma, Kidney stone Aloevera General health, Skin care, Arthritis, Gas and flatulence, Eyes problem, General pain No. of uses (%) No. of uses (%) 9(14.0) 10(14.4) Except dandruff 7(10.9) 8(11.5) Except earache 6(9.3) 8(11.5) Except swelling in body parts and earache 6(9.3) 7(10.1) Except vomiting 6(9.3) 6(8.6) Fenugreek General health problem, Gas and flatulence, 6(9.3) 6(8.6) Digestion, Stomach ache, Arthritis, Blood purification Mint Headache, Heat stroke, Loose motion, Gas and 6(9.3) 6(8.6) flatulence, Constipation, Stomach ache Fennel Heat stroke, Digestion, Bad breath, Swelling in body 6(9.3) 6(8.6) parts, Breast milk production, Diarrhoea Bael Heat stroke, Gas and flatulence, Digestion, Diarrhoea, 5(7.8) 5(7.2) Joint pains Turmeric Internal injury, Diabetes, Joint pain, General Health 5(7.8) 5(7.2) improvement, Allergy Liquorice Sore throat, Cough 2(3.1) 2(2.8) Total uses 64 69 Total 69 uses were reported by the female respondents for the medicinal plants and 64 uses by the male members. As observed from table 1 knowledge about margosa plant was on the top for medicinal @IJAPSA-2016, All rights Reserved Page 122
use against 10 different ailments like acne and boils, headache, tooth ache, intestinal worm, dandruff, diabetes, fever, swelling in legs, eye disorders and gas and flatulence reported by female but male member lacked knowledge regarding use of margosa for dandruff. Females reported uses of garlic and carom with similar number of uses i.e 8 (cold, earache, arthritis, gas and flatulence, body cramps, stomach infection, allergy, toothache and pregnancy related ailments, stomach ache, digestion, swelling in internal body parts, gas and flatulence, arthritis, acidity, earache) whereas male members lacked knowledge about medicinal use of garlic for earache; carom for swelling in body parts and earache. Female respondents had knowledge about uses of basil for 7 ailments i.e cold & cough, sore throat, fever, rheum, vomiting, asthma, kidney stone whereas male member lacked in knowledge about controlling vomiting. Irrespective of the gender, all the respondents had knowledge about similar number i.e 6 medicinal uses of aloe vera, fenugreek, mint and fennel like (general health, skin care, arthritis, gas and flatulence, eyes problem, general pain) ; (general health, gas and flatulence, digestion, stomach ache, arthritis, blood purification); headache, heat stroke, loose motion, gas and flatulence, constipation, stomach ache; heat stroke, digestion, bad breath, swelling in body parts, breast milk production, diarrhoea. 5 uses of turmeric were reported by both male and female for internal injury, diabetes, joint pain, general health improvement and allergy. Only 2 uses of liquorice were reported by both male and female for sore throat and cough. B. Knowledge utility index of medicinal plants reported by respondents (Table2.) The information about knowledge of respondents about various uses of plants and the actual usages of the plants or its parts for the reported uses was also obtained to work out knowledge utility for each plant separately and the data in this regards are presented in table 2. Irrespective of gender knowledge utility index of fenugreek was the highest (0.78) followed by turmeric (0.73), fennel (0.67), carom (0.54) and mint (0.52).The KUI of these 5 plants was of high extent. Rest six plants i.e. aloe vera (0.45), liquorice (0.40) and margosa (0.46), bael (0.31), garlic (0.29) and basil (0.38) had KUI of moderate extent. Table 2. Knowledge utility index of medicinal plants reported by respondents Plant Knowledge use index(kui) Male Female Total Fenugreek 0.76(H) 0.81(H) 0.78(H) Turmeric 0.69(H) 0.71(H) 0.73(H) Fennel 0.63(H) 0.72(H) 0.67(H) Carom 0.47(M) 0.61(H) 0.54(H) Mint 0.49(M) 0.55(H) 0.52(H) Margosa 0.36(M) 0.57(H) 0.46(M) Aloevera 0.50(H) 0.41(M) 0.45(M) Liquorice 0.45(M) 0.36(M) 0.40(M) Basil 0.44(M) 0.33(M) 0.38(M) Bael 0.39(M) 0.44(M) 0.31(M) Garlic 0.25(M) 0.33(M) 0.29(M) H=High (> 0.50); M=Medium(0.25-0.50) @IJAPSA-2016, All rights Reserved Page 123
Gender wise data indicated that female respondents reported KUI of 6 plants (fenugreek, turmeric, fennel, carom, mint, margosa) to be of high extent and of 5 plants (aloe vera, liquorice, basil, bael, garlic) to be of medium extent. Males respondents reported medium extent of KUI of 7 plants (carom, mint, margosa, liquorice, basil, bael, garlic) and high KUI of 4 plants (fenugreek, turmeric, fennel, aloevera). It needs to be emphasized here that knowledge utility index of not even a single plant was of low extent (< 25%). C. Relative Frequency of citation of medicinal plants (Table3) Relative Frequency of citation (RFC) related data in table 3 show that 3 plants i.e basil, carom and turmeric were cited useful by all the respondents as RFC was 100.0 %. RFCs of fennel, fenugreek and mint were more than 90.0 percent (98.1%, 97.2% and 96.1%, respectively). Aloevera (85.8%), margosa (85.8%) and bael (81.6) were recorded to have RFCs more than 80% but less than 90.0%. RFCs of garlic (67.5%) and liquorice (46.3%) were comparatively less than rest of the plants. Similar trend was observed in case of both male and female respondents. Table 3. Relative Frequency of citation (RFC) of medicinal plants Plant RFC Male Female Total Basil 100.0 100.0 100.0 Carom 100.0 100.0 100.0 Turmeric 100.0 100.0 100.0 Fennel 99.4 97.7 98.1 Fenugreek 97.2 97.2 97.2 Mint 96.1 96.1 96.1 Aloe vera 85.0 86.6 85.8 Margosa 86.1 85.5 85.8 Bael 81.1 82.2 81.6 Garlic 66.6 68.3 67.5 Liquorice 37.7 55.0 46.3 IV. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The importance of 11 medicinal plants in the selected locale was highlighted in present study. Total 69 uses of these plants were reported by the female and 64 by male respondents indicating that female respondents were comparatively better equipped with the knowledge about medicinal uses of plants than their male counterparts. It was further observed that the male respondents had comparatively less knowledge regarding uses of basil and carom than female. This fact was also highlighted by 1who confirmed that In semi arid region of Brazil, women were also more proactive regarding the knowledge and use of medicinal plants in relation to men [1].) In Haryana, traditionally women prefer plants based medicines rather than modern medicines for women related problems and use of 52 plant species by women was reported in the state [10]. In the present study, margosa plant was reported to have maximum uses; however, its relative frequency of citation was comparatively less (67.5%) than other commonly available plants. The @IJAPSA-2016, All rights Reserved Page 124
respondents informed that there is declining trend in plantation of this tree. Conservation of such high use value plants is important for future reference. Liquorice was reported the least versatile plant as it was grown by very small fragment of the respondents. Knowledge utility index of fenugreek was the highest which may be due to the fact that maximum number of respondents had knowledge of using fenugreek for various medicinal purposes. The final conversion of existing knowledge into actual use of this plant was also maximum resulting into highest knowledge utility index. This indicated the importance of fenugreek plant among selected respondents. Out of eleven plants, seven plants (carom, aloe vera, bael, garlic, margosa, mint and fenugreek) were reported to be useful for addressing the problem of gas and flatulence. In Nepal, digestive system disorders were frequent and their treatment with locally available medicinal plants was the most consistent and the informants described the usefulness of 44 species for this purpose [6]. Uses of various medicinal plants were reported for curing minor ailments like gas and flatulence, diarrhea, stomach ache, tooth ache, kidney stone, constipation, skin diseases, cough and colds, arthritis, arthritis, asthma, fever, general pain, sore throat. A high number of plants have been reported to treat gastrointestinal and dermatological problems [5].The use of carom and fennel were reported for pregnant and lactating women. Traditional use of plants during pregnancy to ensure the good development of the fetus and to have thus a beautiful baby (51.9 %); to facilitate labour (23.1 %), to prevent or cure malaria (21.1 %), a very frequent affliction during the first trimester of pregnancy; and to prevent the spontaneous abortions and miscarriages have been reported [8]. Considering the results obtained in present study, it is important that effective steps to conserve the plant species of medicinal importance. The local communities need to be made aware of their medicinal importance and be encouraged for domestic as well as commercial cultivation of these plants. This will help in providing green health security in an affordable manner. BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] Coutinho, P. C.; Soares, Z.A.; Ferreira, C. E. ; Diego, S. V.; Oliveira, R.S. and Lucena, R. F. P. 2015. Knowledge and use of medicinal plants in the Semiarid Region of Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Biological Sciences. 2(3): 66. [2] Das, K.. 2013.Medicinal Plants- Their importance in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi: 1-4. [3] Kala, C.P. 2005. Current status of medicinal plants used by traditional Vaidyas in Uttaranchal state of India. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, (3): 267-278. [4] Kala, C.P. and Sajwan, B.S. 2007. Conservation of medicinal plants: Conventional and contemporary strategies, regulations and executions. Indian Forester, 133(4):484-495. [5] Khan, I.; Elsalam, N. M.; Hassan, F.; Tariq, A.; Riaz, U. and Muhammad, A. 2014. Application of ethnobotanical indices on the use of traditional medicines against common diseases. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Hindawi Publishing Corporation. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/635371 [6] Kumar, M.R. and Janagam, D. 2011. Export and import pattern of medicinal plants in India. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 4 (3): 245. [7] Leonardo, D.C.L.; Franco,A.; Gustavo, A.T.L.; Luciano, M.A. Lius, F.M.E.S.; Gabrille, P.O.S.; Isabela, D.M.A.; Jose, F.N.N.; Israel, F. and Karla, K. 2000.Toxicological Evaluation by invitro and invivo assays of an aqueous extract prepared from Echinodorus macrophyllus leaves. Toxicology Letts.. 116:180-198. [8] Malan, D.F. and Neuba, D. F.R. 2011. Traditional Practices and Medicinal Plants Use during Pregnancy by Anyi- Ndenye Women (Eastern Côte d'ivoire). African Journal of Reproductive Health, 15(1): 87. [9] Tardio, J.; Pardo-de, M. and Santayana. 2008. Cultural importance indices: a comparative analysis based on the useful wild plants of southern Cantabria (Northern Spain). Economic Botany, 62: 24 39. [10] Yadav, J; Kumar, S. and Siwach, P. 2006. Folk medicine used in gynaecological and other related problems by rural population of Haryana. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge,5: 323-326. @IJAPSA-2016, All rights Reserved Page 125