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Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa)
BACKGROUND: Spices have always been used for their flavor-enhancement characteristics and for their medicinal properties. In Benin, scientific research on spices is scarce, despite their importance in the local population’s daily needs. This study investigated the diversity of wild spices and docume...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6238395/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30442169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13002-018-0267-y |
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author | Kafoutchoni, Konoutan Médard Idohou, Rodrigue Egeru, Anthony Salako, Kolawolé Valère Agbangla, Clément Adomou, Aristide Cossi Assogbadjo, Achille Ephrem |
author_facet | Kafoutchoni, Konoutan Médard Idohou, Rodrigue Egeru, Anthony Salako, Kolawolé Valère Agbangla, Clément Adomou, Aristide Cossi Assogbadjo, Achille Ephrem |
author_sort | Kafoutchoni, Konoutan Médard |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Spices have always been used for their flavor-enhancement characteristics and for their medicinal properties. In Benin, scientific research on spices is scarce, despite their importance in the local population’s daily needs. This study investigated the diversity of wild spices and documented the associated traditional knowledge that can be used for their valuation, domestication, and sustainable management in the Sudano-Guinean Zone of Benin. METHODS: Data were collected during field expeditions using semi-structured interviews in ten localities across the three phytodistricts of the zone. Species richness and Shannon’s diversity index were estimated using species accumulation curves. Use report (UR), cultural importance, use value (UV) index, and informant consensus factor (F(ic)) were used to assess traditional knowledge on wild species, their local importance, and informants’ agreement among sociolinguistic groups. Priority wild spices were finally identified using an approach combining eight criteria (native status, economic value, ethnobotanical value, global distribution, national distribution, in-situ and ex-situ conservation status, legislation, and threats assessment) in four prioritization methods (point scoring procedure, point scoring procedure with weighting, compound ranking system, and binomial ranking system). RESULTS: A total of 14 species, belonging to 12 genera and 9 families, were inventoried. The most prominent families were Zingiberaceae (21.43%), Annonaceae (21.43%), and Rutaceae (14.29%). More than 200 specific uses were reported, with the Tchabè people holding the greatest level of knowledge (70 uses; UR = 5.70 ± 0.33). The culturally most important spices differed among sociolinguistic groups. Most of the informants agree on the use of the species among (F(ic) = 0.72–0.98) and across the considered use categories (F(ic) = 0.88–0.99). The highest UV were registered for Aframomum alboviolaceum (UV = 0.93), Lippia multiflora (UV = 0.76), and Aframomum angustifolium (UV = 0.18). Overall, people perceived wild spices as declining due to agriculture, grazing, and drought. Five species, A. alboviolaceum, L. multiflora, Monodora tenuifolia, Xylopia aethiopica, and Z. zanthoxyloides, were the most prioritized for conservation. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides information relevant for the implementation of conservation and domestication actions of wild spices in Benin. Priority species could be integrated into traditional agroforestry systems (e.g., home gardens). However, for this to be effective, further research should be undertaken on morphological and genetic diversity and propagation methods of priority wild spices. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6238395 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-62383952018-11-26 Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa) Kafoutchoni, Konoutan Médard Idohou, Rodrigue Egeru, Anthony Salako, Kolawolé Valère Agbangla, Clément Adomou, Aristide Cossi Assogbadjo, Achille Ephrem J Ethnobiol Ethnomed Research BACKGROUND: Spices have always been used for their flavor-enhancement characteristics and for their medicinal properties. In Benin, scientific research on spices is scarce, despite their importance in the local population’s daily needs. This study investigated the diversity of wild spices and documented the associated traditional knowledge that can be used for their valuation, domestication, and sustainable management in the Sudano-Guinean Zone of Benin. METHODS: Data were collected during field expeditions using semi-structured interviews in ten localities across the three phytodistricts of the zone. Species richness and Shannon’s diversity index were estimated using species accumulation curves. Use report (UR), cultural importance, use value (UV) index, and informant consensus factor (F(ic)) were used to assess traditional knowledge on wild species, their local importance, and informants’ agreement among sociolinguistic groups. Priority wild spices were finally identified using an approach combining eight criteria (native status, economic value, ethnobotanical value, global distribution, national distribution, in-situ and ex-situ conservation status, legislation, and threats assessment) in four prioritization methods (point scoring procedure, point scoring procedure with weighting, compound ranking system, and binomial ranking system). RESULTS: A total of 14 species, belonging to 12 genera and 9 families, were inventoried. The most prominent families were Zingiberaceae (21.43%), Annonaceae (21.43%), and Rutaceae (14.29%). More than 200 specific uses were reported, with the Tchabè people holding the greatest level of knowledge (70 uses; UR = 5.70 ± 0.33). The culturally most important spices differed among sociolinguistic groups. Most of the informants agree on the use of the species among (F(ic) = 0.72–0.98) and across the considered use categories (F(ic) = 0.88–0.99). The highest UV were registered for Aframomum alboviolaceum (UV = 0.93), Lippia multiflora (UV = 0.76), and Aframomum angustifolium (UV = 0.18). Overall, people perceived wild spices as declining due to agriculture, grazing, and drought. Five species, A. alboviolaceum, L. multiflora, Monodora tenuifolia, Xylopia aethiopica, and Z. zanthoxyloides, were the most prioritized for conservation. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides information relevant for the implementation of conservation and domestication actions of wild spices in Benin. Priority species could be integrated into traditional agroforestry systems (e.g., home gardens). However, for this to be effective, further research should be undertaken on morphological and genetic diversity and propagation methods of priority wild spices. BioMed Central 2018-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC6238395/ /pubmed/30442169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13002-018-0267-y Text en © The Author(s). 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Kafoutchoni, Konoutan Médard Idohou, Rodrigue Egeru, Anthony Salako, Kolawolé Valère Agbangla, Clément Adomou, Aristide Cossi Assogbadjo, Achille Ephrem Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa) |
title | Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa) |
title_full | Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa) |
title_fullStr | Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa) |
title_full_unstemmed | Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa) |
title_short | Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa) |
title_sort | species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the sudano-guinean zone of benin (west africa) |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6238395/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30442169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13002-018-0267-y |
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