Ethnobotanical investigation of plants traditionally used to treat and prevent malaria inSibusire district, western Ethiopia

Medicinal plants have been used for treating humans and animals since time immemorial. Patients and sick animals have been given a variety of traditional remedies of plant origin by local practitioners in Ethiopia. This study was conducted in the Sibu Sire district to look into the plants that the local Oromo communities have traditionally utilized to cure and prevent malaria in 2022. The snowball (referral) sampling was used for interviewing 62 interviewees (42 men and 20 women). In addition, 8 (five men and three women) key informants were included for the purpose of collecting more ethnobotanical data through purposive sampling. With the statistical software MINITAB Release 14.3.0 and SPSS version 26, one-way ANOVA and t-tests were used to compare the ethnomedical knowledge possessed by various informant categories. The study found 46 known species of antimalarial medicinal plants, belonging to 46 genera and 24 families. When preparing remedies, the most commonly used ethnomedicinal plant components were roots (31.91%), which were followed by leaves (27.65%). The majority of medicines (69.56%) were made using fresh plant materials; these were typically produced and applied by boiling the decoction, drinking it when it cooled (43.30%), and then drinking the mixture (10.86%). The most popular mode of administration was oral (69.56%), which was followed by nasal (21.73%). The ethnobotanical knowledge of therapeutic plants was statistically significantly influenced by age, literacy level, distance from a health center, and informant experience (P < 0.05). In the study setting, storage practices were kept to a minimum, and the majority of the valuable plants were harvested from wild sources. The elements that pose the greatest threat to plant resources in the Sibu Sire district were determined to be agricultural expansion, overstocking/grazing, and fuelwood collecting. It is recommended that federal, regional, and local government forestry agencies move swiftly to preserve these invaluable resources before they are gone forever, since the data that is obtained will likely help preserve the rapidly depleting plant resources. To further support the survey results, a thorough phytochemical screening, phytotoxicity, and pharmacological investigation are needed.