Ethnobotanical Documentation of Harike Wildlife Sanctuary (Ramsar Site), Punjab: A Case Study

Sameer Gautam^* and B.S. Adhikari
^*Correspondence: Sameer Gautam, Department of Habitat Ecology, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, Tel: 9911317949, Email:

Keywords

Conservation • Ethnobotany • Fidelity level • Medicinal plants • Use value

Introduction

Traditional health management practices with medicinal plants have been supporting human civilizations globally and being used to extract useful phytochemicals to produce modern medicine [1]. The medicinal plants are usually accessible in plenty, particularly in the tropics. The effectiveness of any healthcare system endures due to suitable medicines. The marginal communities of society are unable to afford the cost of modern medicines hence medicinal plants are essential for healthcare [2]. Around 80% of people in Asia and Africa use traditional medicine [3]. The Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha healthcare systems is evolved with medicinal plants in the course of a sequence of several centuries. In India, there are around 2500 species of plant used for traditional medicine, where 100 species are serving as a regular source of plant based remedies for healthcare [4]. About 80% of the population of developing counties is actively engaged in using medicinal plants to treat health ailments [5]. The continuous rapid destruction of natural habitats is leading to the shrinking of the sources led to the loss of biodiversity as well as the population of medicinal plants. Therefore, the studies of ethnobotanical are important for developing conservation strategies. The use of traditional knowledge of plant materials for disease treatment and prevention has gotten a lot of attention from the plant based research community, which has led to an increase in drug discovery based on phytochemicals [6,7]. There are many bioactive compounds usually acquired from plants. Few medicinal plants like Tribulus terrestris and Urena lobata has been identified as a repository of diosgenin and quercetin, respectively, Acacia catechu contains catechin and a climber Basella alba produces carotenoids [8]. Harike Wildlife Sanctuary (HWS) is a natural bank of medicinal plants and native flora, therefore regular monitoring is required to maintain such diversity as there are many natural and anthropogenic pressures like an invasion of alien species and encroachment. The objective of the present study is to document the medicinal plants used by local people settled around HWS besides to develop a systematic record of traditionally used medicinal plants.

Study area

The study is one of the largest man-made wetland of north India, established in 1952 at the confluence of Beas and Sutlej rivers and designated as a Ramsar site in the year 1990, i.e. Harike Wildlife Sanctuary (HWS). It is located between 31 º05’15” to 31 º14’15” N Lat. and 74º 55’30’’ to 75º 07’30’’ E Long in the state of Punjab. The sanctuary is spreading over an area of approximately 86 sq. km (Figure 1), sharing its boundaries with Ferozpur, Tarn Taran and Kapurthala districts of the state Punjab. Harike wetland is also a foundation of the extensive Indira Gandhi Canal with two channels, Rajsthan (650 km) and Ferozpur (51.3 km), which provide water supply to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan states.

The diversity of habitats in the Sanctuary supports a number of medicinal plants with high population including Withania somnifera, Terminalia bellirica, Boerhavia diffusa, Bacopa monnieri and Centella asiatica. The sanctuary is interspersed with agricultural fields and villages.

Materials and Methods

Ethno-botanical data was collected through semi-structured interviews and observations were recorded during the field surveys held between September 2019 and March 2021. A total of 110 informants were interviewed and the composition of informants includes medicinal plant collectors, traditional drug makers, farmers, daily wage labourers, and government servants. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection following the snowball sampling [9]. The field observations with some informants have been made for the confirmation of plant species mentioned for the treatment of ailments, besides field surveys have been carried out across the habitat types in HWS to record the status and distribution of medicinal plants mentioned by informants. Direct and indirect evidence has also been recorded for the collection of medicinal plants from the sanctuary. The wild plants mentioned by the informant have been identified by following Nair 1978 and Sharma 1990 with some online resources were used. Plants species were photographed from the field and a voucher specimen of pictures has been submitted to the herbarium of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) [10].

Data analysis

Use value: To find out the significant plant species used by people, the Use Value (UV) index is calculated according to Rossato et al. and Silva and Albuquerque.

UVU : ΣU_i/N_i

U_i=Number of uses mentioned by all informants.

N_i=Number of the informant.

For example: If informant A has mentioned 2 uses and informant B has mentioned 6 uses, therefore, the use value will be (2+6)/2=4.

Relative importance index: The relative importance index is calculated by following Bennett and Prance.

RI=NUC+NT

NUC=Number of use categories of a given species divided by the total number of most versatile species in use categories.

NT=Is given by the number of kinds of uses attributed to a given species divided by the total number of types of uses attributed to the most important taxon.

Fidelity level: This is adopted from Friedman et al. to determine the particular medicinal plant used for certain ailments. A high percentage shows that the given species is used by people for treatment of a particular ailment.

Fidelity Level (FL)=I p/I u × 100

Ip=Number of informants that cited the principal use of the species.

Iu=The total number of informants that cited the species for any purpose.

The distribution of medicinal plants has been recorded from wild sources after direct field visits conducted on monthly basis from September 2019 to March 2021. A timeline chart for the availability of medicinal plants in the HWS is also been mentioned in the study.

Results and Discussion

Demographical details

The sanctuary is surrounded by agricultural fields and villages; the major population is engaged in mixed farming. Harike and Marrar village is the largest and smallest village around the sanctuary respectively [11]. Developing fine communication between informants is necessary therefore gathering information is always starts with informal talks. After developing a familiarity with the informant, various questions had been asked. A total of 110 informants from six villages (22 from Makhu, 28 from Harike, 8 from Marrar, 15 from Kiriyan, 10 from Kambo-Dhaiwala and 27 from Chamba Kalan) belonged to different age groups and gender (87 men and 23 women) were interviewed for ethnobotanical use of plants, including literacy level and occupation (Table 1).

Table 1. Demographical information.

The literacy level of informants was in the order: Illiterate (42.7%) >below matric (40.9%) >above matric (16.4%). The informants from the age group above 50 years were found to be more aware of the use and identification of medicinal plants [12]. During the investigation, 3 individuals were found engaged in practicing drug preparation and sale, while 5 individuals were involved in the collection of medicinal plants. The knowledge of medicinal plants has been observed at a young age (<40 years), but they were unable to identify the wild medicinal plants, besides many elder informants also accepted that there is a depletion in the population of medicinal plants and loss of biodiversity due to habitat destruction and conversion of habitats into agricultural fields [13].

Taxonomic details

A total of 85 species belonging to 79 genera and 51 families have been mentioned by the informants to treat 40 ailments (Table 2).

Table 2. Number of species, genera and family according to habit.

The maximum number of species was recorded from Leguminosae family (4 species), followed by Apiaceae, Apocynaceae, Brassicaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Lamiaceae, Myrtaceae, Papaveraceae, Rutaceae, Solanaceae, Zingiberaceae (3 species each) and Amaranthaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Combretaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Lythraceae, Malvaceae, Meliaceae, Moraceae, Phyllanthaceae, Poaceae (2 species each), while 30 families were represented by single species [14]. Herbs (51.8%) were recorded as the most used habit of medicinal plants mentioned by informants followed by trees (27.1%), shrubs (11.8%), Climbers (7.1%) and grasses (2.4%). There are 49 species common to the study conducted by Sidhu et al. (2011) with major species like Allium cepa, Acacia nilotica, Allium sativum, Aegle marmelos, Aegle marmelos, Brassica campestris, Bryophyllum pinnatum, Argemone mexicana, Azadirachta indica, Citrus reticulate and Euphorbia hirta. The study conducted in Kapurthala district of Punjab by Kaur et al. shows that 29 species are common with major species like Abutilon indicum, Achyranthes aspera, Aegle marmelos, Asparagus racemous, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Cassia fistula, and Ficus benghalensis. However, Sidhu et al. reported 50 species common from Jalandhar district of Punjab and the major species includes Achyranthes aspera, Argemone mexicana, Bacopa monnieri, Bryophyllum pinnatum, Calotropis procera, Brassica campestris, Camellia thea, Carica papaya, Cannabis sativa, Cassia fistula, Curcuma longa, Emblica officinalis, Ficus palmate, Fumaria indica and Piper nigrum [15].

Species used under various ailments

The ailments mentioned by the informants have been classified under 15 major ailments’ categories along with the medicinal plant species (Figure 2) used are in following order: Gastro-intestinal with 48 species (ailments: constipation (15 species), diarrhea (12 species), indigestion (7 species), piles and stomachache (5 species each), gastritis (3 species), ulcer (1 species)) >circulatory with 19 species (ailments: diabetes (13 species), anaemia (3 species), blood pressure (2 species), blood infection (1 species)) and general with 17 species (ailments: fever (8 species), cough and cold (5 species), headache (3 species), bee sting (1 species) >dental with 11 species (ailments: bad breath (1 species), periodontitis (5 species) and toothache (5 species)), skeleton and muscle with 10 species (ailments: arthritis (2 species), body pain (5 species), weakness (3 species)), respiratory with 9 species (ailments: asthma (5 species), lung infection (4 species)) and dermatological with 9 species (ailments: skin (ailments: skin disease (5 species), cut and wound (4 species)) >vital organs with 7 species (ailments: cardiovascular disease (1 species), kidney stone (2 species), liver disorder (4 species)) and vector-borne with 7 species (ailments: malaria (3 species), dengue (4 species)) and body heat (ailment: heatstroke) with 7 species >mental with 6 species (ailments: memory loss (1 species), mental disorder (3 species), insomnia (2 species)), genital with 6 species (ailments: sexual disorder (4 species), urinary tract infections (1 species), azoospermia (1 species)) and h>ahier pwaittihc 6w sipthe ci2e s s(paeilmcieesn t: (haailmir elonsts: ) jaundice) >ophthalmic with 1 species (ailment: eye irritation). The detailed description of each medicinal plant is mentioned in annexure II.

Plant parts used

The plant parts used (Figure 3) for medicinal purposes to treat various ailments are in the following order:

Leaves (26 species)>fruits (22 species)>whole plant (14 species) > seeds (11 species)> roots (9 species)>stem ≈ rhizome (5 species each)>latex (4 species)>flower ≈ bark (3 species)>oil (2 species).

each)>latex (4 species)>flower ≈ bark (3 species)>oil (2 species). The species like Achyranthes aspera, Azadirachta indica, Withania somnifera, Moringa oleifera and Carica papaya contribute for leaves; Aegle marmelos, Cordia myxa, Kigelia Africana, Mangifera indica, Moringa oleifera, Musa paradisiaca, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia bellirica, Ziziphus nummularia, and Vachellia nilotica for fruits; Bacopa monnieri, Centella asiatica, Coriandrum sativum, Sisymbrium irio, Phyllanthus niruri, Euphorbia hirta, Cuscuta reflexa, and Fumaria indica as whole plant; Abrus precatorius, Achyranthes aspera, Asparagus officinalis, Azadirachta indica, Boerhavia diffusa, Beta vulgaris, Ficus palmate, and Solanum virginianum for roots; Brassica campestris, Cleome viscosa. Piper nigrum, Sisymbrium irio. Trachyspermum ammi, Vachellia nilotica, and Trigonella foenum-graecum for seeds; Curcuma longa, Zingiber officinale, Allium sativum, and Allium cepa for rhizome; Azadirachta indica, Mimusops elengi, Achyranthes aspera, Nerium oleander and Pongamia pinnata for stems; Ficus palmata, Ficus benghalensis, Calotropis procera, and Argemone Mexicana for latex; Azadirachta indica, Cinnamomum verum, and Terminalia arjuna for bark; Catharanthus roseus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, and Syzygium aromaticum for flowers and Brassica campestris, and Ricinus communis for oil.

Source for collection of medicinal plants

The medicinal plants were collected by the local inhabitants from various sources, such as from wilderness areas, agricultural lands, wilderness areas/agricultural lands and from market (Figure 4) The study area is primarily dominated by the agricultural fields, which supports many cultivated species, among them 23 species used for medicinal purposes as cited by the informants. Curcuma longa, Allium sativum, Zingiber officinale, Bryophyllum pinnatum, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Brassica campestris, Ocimum basilicum, Raphanus sativus, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Beta vulgaris, Murraya koenigii, and Allium cepa were the common species. However, species like Asparagus officinalis, Mangifera indica, Phyllanthus emblica, Syzygium cumini, Psidium guajava, Moringa oleifera, Melia azedarach, Papaver rhoeas, Mangifera indica and Nerium oleander were collected from the wilderness areas. The maximum species (45 species) were collected from the wilderness areas according to informants and the prominent species were Tinospora cordifolia, Datura metel, Cannabis sativa, Tribulus terrestris, Phyla nodiflora, Pedalium murex, Cordia myxa, Withania somnifera, Achyranthes aspera, Ricinus communis, Bacopa monnieri, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Calotropis procera and Lawsonia inermis. The species like Piper longum, Piper nigrum, Trachyspermum ammi, Syzygium aromaticum, Camellia sinensis, Amomum subulatum, and Cinnamomum verum were procured from the market only (Figure 4).

Preparation of drug

Various modes of consumption of medicinal plants for the treatment of different ailments mentioned by informants are shown in Figure 5. The treatment of different ailments with the change in combination is in the following order:

Decoction (19 species)>raw form (18 species)>fresh juice (17 species)>powder (10 species)>blend (9 species)>fresh fruits (6 species)>paste (6 species)>smoke ≈ fry (1 species each)

The important species used for decoction: Tinospora cordifolia, Justicia adhatoda, Fumaria indica, Cleome viscosa, Cinnamomum verum, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Amomum subulatum, Piper nigrum, Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale; as raw forms: Abutilon indicum, Allium sativum, Azadirachta indica, Euphorbia hirta, Euphorbia prostrate, Withania somnifera and Zingiber officinale; as fresh juice: Aegle marmelos, Punica granatum, Phyllanthus niruri, Citrus aurantium, Lagenaria siceraria, Raphanus sativus, Allium cepa and Carica papaya; as powder: Abrus precatorius, Curcuma longa, Terminalia bellirica, Tribulus terrestris, Vachellia nilotica, Withania somnifera and Tribulus terrestris; as blend or juice: Aegle marmelos, Carica papaya, Brassica campestris, Beta vulgaris, Zingiber officinale, Ricinus communis, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Mangifera indica and Ficus palmata; as fresh fruits: Cordia myxa, Phyllanthus emblica, Ziziphus nummularia and Syzygium cumini; as paste: Lawsonia inermis, Mimusops elengi, Oxalis corniculata, Papaver rhoeas and Phyla nodiflora, whileCannabis sativa as smoke and Sisymbrium irio as fry administered to cure the various ailments [16].

Administration of drug

The drugs administered orally were 84.7% and the major species were Withania somnifera, Phyllanthus emblica, Piper longum, Terminalia arjuna, Tinospora cordifolia, Vachellia nilotica, Phyllanthus emblica, Raphanus sativus and Justicia adhatoda. The drugs administered topical were 11.8% and the major species were Ageratum conyzoides, Argemone mexicana, Calotropis procera, Cuscuta reflexa, Eclipta prostrata, Ficus palmata, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Lawsonia inermis, Mimusops elengi and Nerium oleander. However, the drugs administered orally/Topical were 3.5% and the species were Allium cepa, Azadirachta indica and Mangifera indica [17].

Use value

The UV of medicinal plants ranged from 1.8 to 0.3 in the study area. The higher UV indicates more utilization of a species. Species with high UV are Tinospora cordifolia and Curcuma longa (1.8 each), Piper longum and Allium sativum (1.2 each), Zingiber officinale (1.0), Euphorbia hirta, Azadirachta indica and Justicia adhatoda (0.9 each) and Withania somnifera (0.8). However, species with low UV are Fumaria indica (0.09), Pedalium murex (0.09), Tribulus terrestris (0.08), Cannabis sativa (0.06), Phyllanthus niruri (0.06) and Datura metel (0.03). The UV of documented species is given in annexure II.

Relative Importance (RI)

The RI (Annexure II) has been driven by the number of ailment categories for a particular species and the number of uses for concerned species, therefore the species which were recorded under various uses with multiple ailment categories exhibit higher value. The higher RI of medicinal plants suggests the level of awareness and use for the treatment of various ailments. In the present study, the higher RI were recorded for Allium sativum with RI value 2 (7 uses under 5 ailment categories) followed by Azadirachta indica with RI value 1.86 (6 uses under 5 ailment categories), Curcuma longa with RI value 1.51 (5 uses under 4 ailment categories) and Withania somnifera, Punica granatum, Oxalis corniculata and Cleome viscosa with RI value 1.37 (each with 4 uses under 4 ailment categories). The least RI value (0.34) was recorded for Ricinus communis, Ficus benghalensis, Amomum subulatum, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Lawsonia inermis, Argemone Mexicana, Catharanthus roseus, Ficus palmata and Sisymbrium irio.

Fidelity Level (FL)

FL is useful to know the most preferred species used by the informants for treating certain ailments and is given in Table 3.

Table 3. Fidelity level of each species under various ailments.

The FL specifies that the certain species are used for the treatment of a particular ailment and is expressed in percent is given in Table 3. The FL values for different ailments like fever, blood infection and constipation was 70, 80 and 40%, respectively shown by Fumaria indica. Similarly, FL values of Withania somnifera was 91.8% for malaria, 94.1% for sexual disorder and 65.9% for Stomachache. The species with 100% FL values for the treatment of certain ailments include Catharanthus roseus (Diabeties), Camellia sinensis (Diarrhoea) Cleome viscosa (Fever), Mimusops elengi (Periodontitis), Argemone Mexicana (Skin disease), Amomum subulatum (Indigestion), Datura metel (Insomnia) and Phyllanthus niruri (Jaundice) [18].

Collection of medicinal plants

HWS harbour 6 major habitat types, viz. Plantation, agricultural field, swampy, wetland, sandy and ravine areas, which support variety of plants including the medicinal plants are shown in Figure 6. The harvesting time of different medicinal plants have been recorded to estimate annual availability of wild medicinal plants for locals. A total of 45 medicinal plant species are collected from wild and the mean number of species available for harvesting in a year at any point of time is 25.4 ± 8.4 species.

Nine species found throughout the year for medicinal use are (tree: Azadirachta indica, Ficus benghalensis, Ficus palmata, Mimusops elengi, Pongamia pinnata, Terminalia arjuna, Vachellia nilotica; shrub: Calotropis procera and herb: Withania somnifera). It has been observed that there is a seasonal variability in the availability of medicinal plants for collection and shown in Figure 7.

There are 13 medicinal plant species available for harvest in the winter season (January-February) including species like Abrus precatorius, Ageratum conyzoides, Sisymbrium irio and Ziziphus nummularia. A total of 27 species including Tribulus terrestris, Cleome viscosa, Argemone Mexicana, Justicia adhatoda, and Boerhavia diffusa are available for harvest in summer season (March-June), wherein 37 species comprising Euphorbia hirta, Bacopa monnieri, Centella asiatica, Cordia myxa, Datura metel, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis and Tinospora cordifolia can be found in monsoon season (July-September). However, 27 species including Chrysopogon zizanioides, Kigelia Africana, Pedalium murex, Terminalia bellirica and Ricinus communis are available for harvest in the post-monsoon season (October-December). Some medicinal plants are seasonal, and hence not available throughout the year for use. The timeline chart of medicinal plants available in the field is given in annexure I [19].

Conclusion

The present study has been carried out while determining the benefits of provisioning ecosystem services at HWS. The study revealed that there are many species used for the treatment of various health ailments, even though modern health services are also available in the study area. Senior citizens were found more aware of plant identification and its use for health benefits. In order to create an opportunity for the collection of germplasm for ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants in future, the documentation on the availability of wild medicinal plant species in different habitats has been done. The timeline chart may be useful in order to observe the phenology of a particular medicinal plant for the best suited time for collection. The loss of biodiversity is a known fact in the present era, therefore documentation of ethnobotanical use of plants from the different areas can produce precise information for the traditional use of plants, and besides this the present study might contribute to the conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants by developing an effective strategy.

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