Author(s):

FA Shah Khan, MA Islam, SA Gangoo, AA Gatoo, AH Mughal, Showkat Maqbool and Ummar Atta

Abstract: Despite tremendous advances in allopathic medical practices, medicinal plants still play a vital role in the health care system. Equally, livelihoods are significantly supported by the commercial sale of large numbers of medicinal plants and medicinal formulations. The indiscriminate exploitation of biodiversity, alarming bio piracy threats, escalating patent conflicts on bio-resources and livelihood degradation led to document and preserve the traditional wisdom on health care practices by the indigenous communities. This study provides ethno-medicinal information on the plants used for production of various drugs to cure different diseases and valued for livelihood support by the indigenous communities in Leh district of Ladakh. Multi-stage random sampling technique was employed to select the blocks (5), villages (10) and households (185). Primary data were collected through personal interviews using the interview schedule and non-participant observations. The study documented the information on indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) on medicinal plants, local names, parts used, medicinal formulations, diseases cured and mode of treatments. The local people used 65 plant species belonging to 52 genera under 332 families for treatment of various ailments. Among the plant part used, the whole plant represented the maximum (26) followed by leaves (18), flowers (10), seeds (7), roots (6), fruits (2), bulbs (1) and stem (1). Of the total (65) medicinal plants, mostly (80.00%) were herbs while rest (20.00%) were shrubs. The medicinal plants accrued an income of ₹274034.40 annum^-1 and an employment of 514.09 man-days annum^-1. To conserve the medicinal biodiversity, preserve traditional health care systems and strengthen livelihood support some policy implications are imperative.

Pages: 1888-1893  |  1210 Views  419 Downloads

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