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| Survey of Invasive Alien Plants (IAPs) and Their Ethnomedicinal Uses in District Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh- India | |||||||
| Paper Id :
17054 Submission Date :
08/01/2023 Acceptance Date :
21/01/2023 Publication Date :
25/01/2023
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| Abstract | Invasive Alien Plants (IAPs) are threatening the native biodiversity and ecosystem. IAPs colonized in the field due to anthropogenic activities, absence of natural enemies and their allelopathic competitive strategies. Present study deals with the survey of IAPs and their medicinal uses in the local and tribal areas for primary treatment of various ailments. During the study total 34 medicinally important IAPs belonging to 21 families are being reported from district Bahraich of Uttar Pradesh. In this study the reported medicinally use IAPs are: Amaranthus spinosus L., Calotropis procera Roxb., Ageratum conyzoides L., Tridax procumbens L., Xanthium stumarium L., Sonchus oleraceous L., Parthenium hysterophorous L., Opuntia elatior Mill., Cassia occidentalis L., Cassia tora L., Cannabis sativa L., Chenopodium album L., Convolvulus arvensis L., Ipomoea fistulosa Mart DC., Bryophyllum pinnatum Lam., Croton bonplandianum Boil., Euphorbia hirta L., Ricinus communis L., Hyptis suaveolens L., Ocimum americanum L., Malvastrum coromandelianum L., Sida acuta Burm.f., Callistemon lanceolatus L., Mirabilis jalapa L., Oxalis corniculata L., Argemon mexicana L., Cynodon dactylon L., Eichhornia crassipes Mart., Anagalis arvensis L., Datura metel L., Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv., Physalis minima L., Solanum nigrum L., and Lantana camera L | ||||||
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| Keywords | Ailments, Biodiversity, Ethnomedicinal use, IAPs, Invasion. | ||||||
| Introduction |
Bahraich is the Terai (low land) District of Uttar Pradesh which has great historical & archaeological importance. It is surrounded by district Shravasti on the east, district Barabanki & Sitapur on the west, district Gonda on the south and district Lakhimpur Kheri on the North. Geographical area of the district Bahraich is 5020.6 km2 and it is located at 27004' to 28024' N latitude and between 81003' to 82024' E longitude. District Bahraich has an international border with two districts such as Bardiya to the northwest and Banke to the northeast of Nepal. Thus the introduction of exotic plants in this district became possible. The fast flowing river and dense forest are the specialties of the district. The study area has tropical moist deciduous type of climate and major vegetation types (Champion and Seth, 1968). Therefore, the climate of this district is suitable for the growth of IAPs. Northern part of the district is covered by dense natural forests such as Chakia, Sujauli, Nishangara, Mihinpurwa, Bichhia and Baghauli. Mihinpurwa block of the north portion of district having dense forest and there are forest villages where there is a good population of Tharu tribes, who reside in forest villages named as Phakeerpuri, Balaigaon, Harraiya, Bhaishahi, Ranapur, Jaliya, etc. These tribes are very well acquainted by the different ethnomedicinal plants and they heal various ailments with the help of different parts of the plant, hence they are the real informers regarding the ethnomedicinal properties of the plants. Thus, nature has abundantly provided forest wealth to the district which is helpful in the economic development of the district.
IAPS are dominating in this area and threatening not only to the biodiversity and ecosystem service but also to the economic development and human welfare (Ricciardi et.al., 2000). Instead of harmful impacts of invasive plants, most of the IAPs are traditionally used for the treatment of various ailments.Thus the medicinal plants are regarded as a gift of nature for curing various diseases like diuretic, anthelmintic, neurological disorders, inflammation, jaundice, dysentery, typhoid, etc. Due to poverty and lack of modern medicines, people inhabiting different rural as well as tribal areas are completely dependent on the local medicinal plants for their primary healthcare and food.
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| Aim of study | After an extensive review of literature on invasive species of India, it has been observed that many of the invasive plant species have medicinal value. Keeping this view, extracts of invasive plants will be utilized for the control of different phytopathogenic fungi which have minimal environmental impact and danger to consumers than chemical fungicides. Extracts of these ethnomedicinal IAPs are also used to inhibit the phytopathogenic fungi. Thus these plants have great significance in the field of pharmaceutics.So management is required to use these IAPs. Ethnomedicinal plants provide a major source of natural compounds and play vital roles in treatment of various ailments. Thus, IAPs are used as an alternative source of synthetic chemical drugs. | ||||||
| Review of Literature | In 2000,
IUCN defined invasive species as “species which becomes established in natural
or semi natural ecosystem, is an agent of cause, and threatens native
biological diversity” According to
Reddy, 2008, in India a good number of high value biodiversity sites have been
invaded by several invasive alien plants. Reddy reported 173 species in 117
genera under 44 families as invasive alien plant species. During
2008–2013 exhaustive field surveys were conducted by Wagh and Jain, 2018, for
the collection of the ethnobotanical data, voucher specimen and information
regarding ethnobotanical uses of a total of 102 plant species belonging to 38
families for curing of 37 types of ailments from the tribal people using a
semi-structured questionnaire. 77 plant
species from Chhindwara district and 50 plant species from Betul district are
forest origin and have medicinal properties have been reported by Nath and
Khatri in 2010.
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| Methodology | The field survey of the different agricultural land areas of different villages, viz. Raniya Pur, Balai Gaon, Rama Pur, Fakirpuri, Aama of district particularly wheat, sugarcane, and paddy fields as well as forest wise done during 2018-2020. Discussion and interview held by the local farmers, old persons and tribals of different age groups randomly according to questionnaire developed by Jain (1977, 1995). The aim of the interview and conversation related to IAPs was to collect the information regarding local names of the plants and their ethnomedicinal uses. Such plants were collected, brought to the department and herbarium was made by using herbarium technique of Jain and Rao, 1977. The plants have been identified by using relevant floras and standard literatures (Duthie, 1903; Panigrahi et.al. 1969; Saini 2005a, 2005b) and by seeking help from authorities of the field. The herbarium was put in the department for record and reference. |
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| Result and Discussion | During the field survey 34 alien
plant species belonging to 21 families from different agricultural land areas
of villages and forests were recorded. These IAPs are extensively growing in
this habitat. We determined and recorded medicinal uses of IAPs during
interviews with local people from the study site. Tharu tribes and local old
people are using these IAPs for the treatment of various ailments. Out of 21
families; asteraceae, solanaceae and euphorbiaceae were the most represented
family with taxa of medicinal plants, followed by others families. Brief
description of these IAPs such as local name, habit, nativity, period of
flowering and fruiting as well as ethnomedicinal uses are mentioned in the
table.
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| Conclusion | The above study shows that the IAPs have a great impact on biodiversity especially in the growth and development. In the crop field it has been observed that if the aforesaid species are growing in the dominant form they are affecting the yield of other crop’s quality as well as quantity. National strategy to manage IAPs is needed to consider a broad range of management actions simultaneously. Currently it is more essential to understand why these species become invasive and dominating day by day. Aforesaid mentioned 34 IAPs have ethnomedicinal properties and these are used for the treatment of various ailments. It has been also observed that IAPs are also used as bio-control agents for the treatment of various phytopathogenic fungi. So management is required to use these IAPs. | ||||||
| References | 1. Champion, H.G., Seth, S.K. A Revised Survey of the Forest Type of India. Government of India Publications, New Delhi, 1968.
2. Duthie, J.E. (1929) Flora of The Upper Gangatic Plain and of the adjacent Sivalic and Sub- Himalayan tracts. Botanical Survey of India, Culcutta (Rep. Ed. 1960).
3. IUCN, 2000. IUCN Guidelines for the prevention of Biodiversity loss caused by Alien Invasive Species. Prepared by the SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group Approved by the 51st Meeting of the IUCN Council, Gland Switzerland, February, 2000
4. Jain, S.K., & Rao, R.R. (1977) A Handbook of Field and Herbarium Methods. Today and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, New Delhi, India, 1977, 107.
5. Nath, V., Khatri, P.K., 2010. Traditional knowledge on ethno-medicinal uses prevailing in tribal pockets of Chhindwara and Betul Districts, Madhya Pradesh, India. African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 4, 662–670.
6. Panigrahi, G. & Singh, A.N., Misra O.P. Contribution to the Botany of the Terai Forests of the Bahraich District of Uttar Pradesh. Bulletin of Botanical Survey of India.1969; 11(1&2):89-114.
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12. Wagh, V.V. and Jain, A.K., 2018. Status of ethnobotanical invasive plants in western Madhya Pradesh, India. South African Journal of Botany 114 (2018) 171–180.
13. Wittenberg, R. and Cork, M.J.W. (2000) Global Invasive Species Program: Invasive Alien Species. A Toolkit of Best Prevention and Management Practices. |
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