Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 3434, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Bule Hora University, Bule Hora, Ethiopia.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2024 Feb 27;20(1):27. doi: 10.1186/s13002-024-00671-2.
Plants deliver livelihood and food for millions of people in the world. Indeed, wild edible plants support rural communities in developing countries to overcome seasonal unfavorable conditions. In rural areas of Ethiopia, wild edible plants play an indispensable role in fighting food insecurity as emergency or supplementary foods. Hence, this research was aimed at studying the ethnobotanical assessment of wild edible plants in Dibatie district, Metekel zone, western Ethiopia.
Ethnobotanical data was collected using a semi-structured interview, field observation, focus group discussions, a market survey, and the ranking of selected plants. Besides, voucher specimens were collected and stored at the National Herbarium of Ethiopia. Descriptive statistics, preference ranking, direct matrix ranking, and familiarity index were computed for data analysis.
This study has documented 54 wild edible plant species belonging to 33 plant families and 46 genera. Of these, most (38.90%) had tree growth habits. Wild edible plants bear mostly fruits (72.20%) as edible parts. Local people usually consume these plants freshly raw as complementary foods, though some wild edibles require processing. They were mostly harvested in the January (31.48%) and May (27.78%) months, with the least collected in September (7.41%). Most wild edible plants (78.57%) were available in uncontrolled habitats, while others (21.43%) live in farmlands, home gardens, and as live fences. Out of the recorded plants, about 98% had additional uses besides their nutritional values.
Wild edible plants assist the livelihoods of the local people in food security, agriculture, energy sources, construction, medicines, ecological services, aesthetics, income generation, and household utensils. Nevertheless, wild edible plants are recently threatened due to various anthropogenic factors in the study area. Thus, they need wise use and in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures from all the concerned bodies for sustainable use in the future.
植物为世界上数百万人提供生计和食物。事实上，野生食用植物为发展中国家的农村社区提供支持，帮助他们克服季节性不利条件。在埃塞俄比亚农村地区，野生食用植物作为应急或补充食品，在解决粮食不安全问题方面发挥着不可或缺的作用。因此，本研究旨在研究埃塞俄比亚西部梅特克勒地区迪巴蒂地区野生食用植物的民族植物学评估。
采用半结构式访谈、野外观察、焦点小组讨论、市场调查和选定植物的排名对民族植物学数据进行了收集。此外，还收集了凭证标本，并储存在埃塞俄比亚国家植物标本馆。对数据进行了描述性统计、偏好排名、直接矩阵排名和熟悉度指数分析。
本研究记录了 54 种野生食用植物，隶属于 33 科 46 属。其中，大多数（38.90%）为乔木。野生食用植物的可食用部分主要为果实（72.20%）。当地人通常将这些植物新鲜生食作为补充食品，尽管有些野生食用植物需要加工。它们主要在 1 月（31.48%）和 5 月（27.78%）收获，9 月（7.41%）最少。大多数野生食用植物（78.57%）生长在不受控制的栖息地，而其他植物（21.43%）生长在农田、家庭花园和活篱笆中。在所记录的植物中，约有 98%除了具有营养价值外，还有其他用途。
野生食用植物在食物安全、农业、能源、建筑、医药、生态服务、美学、收入来源和家庭用具等方面为当地人民的生计提供帮助。然而，由于研究区域内各种人为因素的影响，野生食用植物最近受到威胁。因此，所有相关机构都需要明智地利用这些植物，并采取就地和迁地保护措施，以确保它们在未来的可持续利用。
