Anti-Malarial Plants of Jonai, India: an Ethnobotanical Approach

Tonlong Wangpan,Sumpam Tangjang,Luk Bahadur Chetry,Jambey Tsering,Tapi Taka

doi:10.15835/nsb819750

Tonlong Wangpan, Sumpam Tangjang + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.15835/nsb819750

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Abstract

North-East India represents a unique ecosystem with treasured medicinal plant wealth closely related with Folk medicines. A large number of plants having medicinal properties and their folk uses have remained confined to the natives of this region. The tribal community of Jonai, Assam was explored to expose the indigenous herbal remedy for malaria. Sixteen antimalarial plants belonging to 13 families were reported. The analysis revealed highest fidelity level (FL) value for Ajuga integrifolia (100%) followed by Ricinus communis (94%), Alstonia scholaris (88%), Oroxylum indicum (86%) and Achyranthes aspera (82%). The percentage of respondent’s knowledge (PRK) about anti-malarial plants showed Alstonia scholaris as the most commonly known antimalarial species (53%) within this region. Preference ranking (PR) unveiled eight species to be very effective against malarial parasite, which includes Allium sativum, Artemisia indica, Azadirachta indica, Carica papaya, Clerodendrum glandulosum, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Oroxylum indicum, Piper longum and Piper nigrum. All medicine preparations are made using water as the medium and are orally administered in the form of crude extract, powder, juice and decoction. Overall analysis suggested Ajuga integrifolia, Achyranthes aspera, Alstonia scholaris, Artemisia indica, Oroxylum indicum and Ricinus communis to be used for the development of novel, economical, effective and ecofriendly herbal formulations for healthcare management.

Highlights

Malaria is the most prevalent disease that kills more than one million people every year, with as many as 300-500 million people being infected
The percentage of respondents having knowledge (PRK) regarding the use of a species in the treatment of malaria was estimated using the formula: percentage of respondent’s knowledge (PRK) (%) = Np/Nt × 100 The Np is the total number of informants that are claiming to use a plant species to treat malaria and Nt is the total number of individuals interviewed (Yaniv et al, 1987)
The current work was a preliminary effort to quantify the information on antimalarial plants among the Mishing indigenous tribal communities of Jonai, which revealed the competency of traditional medicines in treatment of malaria

Summary

Introduction

Malaria is the most prevalent disease that kills more than one million people every year, with as many as 300-500 million people being infected. In spite of several control measures, there has been very scarce improvement in the control of the disease, which leads to both economic and human fatalities (Shankar et al, 2012). It is one of the major devastating problems in NorthEast India and this region was labeled as ‘malaria zone’ by the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (COEDMHA) and Pacific Disaster Management Information Network (PDMIN) survey team within their report during 2005. World Health Organization (WHO) classifies this region as a highly endemic area for malaria (Korenromp, 2004)

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