International Research Journal of Plant Science

Quantitative ethno botanical survey of medicinal plants used in the infertility by local people in Cameroon

Noiha Noumi V^1*, Awe Djongmo V¹, Nyeck B², Noubissi T¹, Kouam Kamning P¹ and Zapfack L^{3 1}Division of Life Science, Higher Teacher Training College of Bertoua, University of Bertoua, P.O.Box: 652 Bertoua, Cameroon
²Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) Wakwa Regional Research Centre, P.O. Box 65 Ngaoundere, Cameroon
³Deaprtment of Plant Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Yaounde I, Yaoundé, Central Province, Cameroon
^*Corresponding Author:
Noiha Noumi V, Division of Life Science, Higher Teacher Training College of Bertoua, University of Bertoua, P.O.Box: 652 Bertoua, Cameroon, Tel: (00237) 670 835 813, Email: noiha64@yahoo.fr

Received: 28-Feb-2022, Manuscript No. IRJPS-22-58629; Editor assigned: 02-Mar-2022, Pre QC No. IRJPS-22-58629(PQ); Reviewed: 16-Mar-2022, QC No. IRJPS-22-58629; Revised: 25-May-2022, Manuscript No. IRJPS-22-58629(R); Published: 01-Jun-2022, DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.14303/irjps.2022.011

Introduction

Nowadays, plants continue to meet an important need despite the growing influence of the modern health system and socio-cultural habits. Plant remedies are low toxic, less expensive, accessible and bioavailable compared to conventional medicines (Tahri et al., 2012). Unfortunately, this traditional knowledge is being eroded simultaneously with the loss of plant biodiversity and modernization. Today, plant species of great value to rural communities are threatened in their natural habitat by deforestation, wildfires, extensive cattle grazing, land clearing, agriculture and destruction of natural habitats (Fleurentin, 2004). It is therefore necessary to develop strategies for the development and sustainable use of these plants, because when the costs of pharmaceutical products developed in the laboratory are compared, it can be seen that they are more expensive than products from medicinal plants (Betti & Gueri, 2002; Fleurentin, 2004). Moreover, the use of medicinal plants depends on the cultures. Therefore, ethnobotanical work conducted in several regions would certainly contribute to a better knowledge of the plants used in the treatment of various diseases. Numerous ethnobotanical surveys have been conducted on medicinal plants in various regions of Cameroon (Betti & Gueri, 2002; Nana et al., 2011; Emmanuel & Didier, 2012; Mapi, 1988; Mbenkum and Duncan, 1989; Mehdioui & Kahouadji, 2007; Lakouéténé, 2009; Ndah et al, 2013; Tsague, 2019; Epouopa, 2019; Kapnang, 2021; Magny, 2021; Noubissi, 2021; Tamotsop, 2021; Nyeck et al., 2021) However, very little work on infertility has been undertaken in Cameroon.

The present work aims to contribute to a better knowledge of medicinal plants used in the treatment of infertility in men with resource persons (traditional doctors, old people, patients or any other persons using plants for therapeutic purposes.

Material and Methods

Knowledge of the study site

This study was done in three selected localities in the Moungo Division in the Littoral region of Cameroon. With a population of 452722 inhabitants, the Moungo Division covers an area of 3723 km2 (INS, 2011). The localities of Lala, Manjo and Nlowe cover the territory of the manoj subdivision which is one of the 13 subdivisions of Moungo. The subdivision of Manjo is bordered to the south by the subdivision of Loum, to the north by the subdivision of Nkongsamba and Mount Manengouba, to the east by the subdivision of Nlonako and to the west by the division of Koupé Manengouba. Its surface area is 305 km2. The climate is equatorial with two seasons. Two distinct climatic zones characterize the subdivision, the southern part is hotter and the northern part is colder. Concerning the relief, Manjo is at an altitude of 450 m in its southern part and 1200 m in its northern part. It is surrounded by mountainous massifs, the most important of which are: Manengouba at 2400 m, Kupe at 2070 m and Nlonako at 1800 m. The vegetation is made up of forest in full regression, replaced by vast industrial plantations of bananas, pineapples, cocoa trees and food and fruit crops. The main river is the Dibombe. The soils are diverse and varied. Generally, they are of volcanic origin, rich in organic matter and very fertile. Typical ferralitic soils, soils that are not very developed on basalts, and hydro morphic soils are also found in the lowlands.

Sampling

The sampling principle is based on the non-probability method whose technique concerns the sample size (n) based on a 95% confidence interval and a 5% risk of error calculated according to the Schwartz (1993) formula: n= P(1-P)x α²/i².

P=10% is the prevalence of hepatitis B in Cameroon; α=1.96 is the standard deviation corresponding to the 5% risk of error and i=5% is the precision. This results in a sample of 148 individuals who were interviewed.

Ethno botanical survey

To achieve our objectives, a pre-survey was conducted in March 2020 in the study area to assess the feasibility of the project. The aim was to identify the resource persons (informants) who should be interviewed at the time of the survey and to become better acquainted with them and the study area. These resource persons are phytotherapists, old people, patients or any other people using plants for therapeutic purposes. The actual investigation was conducted between June-October 2020 and was consisted of interviews with 138 people (herbalists or not) who had used several times plants for the treatment of hepatitis B, using a previously established survey form. These interviews were carried out with the help of forms made of closed questions (answers by yes or no); open (answers according to the point of view of the respondent) and directed (several answers to the choice proposed to the respondent). Semi-open-ended questions were preferred in order to allow informants greater freedom of expression. The main headings of this questionnaire concern the informant's profile (age, sex, religion, level of education, marital status, professional status, type of collector, origin of information), the medicinal plants used by the informant (vernacular or common names of the plants used, diseases, method(s) of preparation, part(s) used, types of plants, place of procurement of his/her plants, period of collection, method of administration, condition of the plant used, duration of treatment, dose, method of diagnosis, method of preservation, follow-up of treatment) (Figure 1).

After the interview with these people, the indicated plants were photographed on the site for those for which it was possible or in the forests to help with the identification of the plants. Samples of fertile organs (fruits) and samples of sterile organs (leaves, bark) were collected. Once collected, the samples were identified with the help of botanical experts and the national herbarium of Cameroon. In this study, we followed the APG (2009) nomenclature for the classification of the recorded species.

Data analysis

The data obtained from the surveys were inserted into the EXCEL 2016 software. The frequency of distribution of a species within the Phytotherapists community is expressed as the percentage of citations of a species in relation to the total number of people surveyed. The citation frequency of each taxon surveyed is calculated by the formula used by Gbeckley et al. (2019) and Orsot (2016): FC= Σ(n/N) *100; n= number of people who cited the species; N: total number of respondents.

Results

Ethno botanical surveys

During the investigation carried out in the Commune of Manjo, 36 species of which 30% were spontaneous, 42% cultivated and 28% semi-cultivated were identified. These species are distributed in 21 families and 32 genera. The most represented families are Asteraceae and Liliaceae with 4 species, followed by Acanthaceae, Malvaceae and Zingiberaceae with three species each, then Anacardiaceae, Myrtaceae and Rutaceae, with two species each and the rest one species.

The morphological types are dominated by grasses with 64% of species followed by trees with 19% and shrubs with 17% species.

Concerning the state of use of the plants, 94% of the plants recorded are used in a fresh state against 6% of the plants used in a dry state (Table 1).

Table 1. Catalog of plants used in the treatment of infertility.

Socio-demographic characteristics

The epidemiological profile of the informants is characterized by the predominance of men (65%) compared to women (35%). The age group [50-60] years are the most represented (43%), while that of (20-30) years is the least represented (5%). Of the 138 people interviewed, 20% are illiterate, 27% have primary education, 47% have secondary education, and 7% have university education. As for the marital status of the informants, 53% are married, 23% are single, 16% are widows/widowers and 6% are divorced.

Recipes

The study identified 25 recipes. Leaves are the most used organs (48%). Fruits and rhizomes (14%), leaves and stems (10%), pods (7%), barks (5%) and roots (2%) are also used. Our recipes are prepared in the form of macerations and decoction (38%). It is followed by syrups and infusions (10%) and powders (3%). In these localities, the most used solvent is water (80%), followed by palm oil (12%) and palm wine (8%). The recipes are administrated orally (Per os; 76%); anally (17%) and often both orally and anally combined (7%) (Table 2).

Table 2. Recipes used in the treatment of infertility.

Discussion

From this study, 138 resource persons were interviewed. According to them, when knowledge about the virtues of medicinal plants is hidden and held by few people, it is economically profitable. The epidemiological profile of the informants is characterized by the predominance of men (65%) over women (35%). This finding can be explained by the inability of women to travel to the forest to collect samples, even though they have the same traditional knowledge. Diame (2010) has assimilated this dominance with a power imbalance.

For the distribution of resource persons according to age, the distribution of interviewees according to the age group [50-60] years is the most represented (43%), while that of (20-30) years is the least represented (5%). This is explained by the fact that the information provided by older people is more reliable, since they hold a good part of the ancestral knowledge that is part of the oral tradition.

Of the 138 people interviewed, 26.67% have a primary level of education; 46.67% have a secondary level of education; 20% are illiterate and 6.67% have a university level of education. The very low proportion of resource persons with a university level could explain the lack of documentation of traditional medicine in these localities.

The experience of informants in terms of administering care in the condition studied varied from 2 to at least 13 years. This result is consistent with the work of Benkhnigue et al (2011) who reported that knowledge of medicinal plant ingredients and uses are generally acquired through long accumulated experience and passed down from one generation to the next. Thus, experience accumulated with age is the main source of information at the local level.

It is noted, that on 25 listed recipes, leaves are cited 20 times in the preparations and are the most used organs for the therapy of our disease. Fruits and rhizomes are cited 6 times in the recipes. The combination leaves and stems is cited 4 times, pods 3 times, barks and roots 2 times in preparation. The more recurrent use of leaves can be explained by the ease and speed of harvesting, but also by the abundance of chemical groups they contain, as they are known to be the place of synthesis of primary and secondary metabolites (Simbo, 2010). As for the barks, they are the places of storage of secondary metabolites. According to Hseini (2008) and Lahsissene & Kahouadji (2010), several organs of the same plant can be used in the treatment of one or several diseases. It is also noted that each exploited part has a disadvantage on the survival of the species. The overexploitation of plant organs (roots, leaves, bark, and wood) leads to physiological disorders and a decrease in the reproductivity of the exploited plants.

Regarding the state of the plants, 94% of the plants are used in a fresh state compared to 6% of the plants used in a dry state. Drying a plant can lead to the loss of many therapeutic properties (Nga et al., 2016). In addition, the best use of a plant would be the one that preserves all its properties, while allowing the extraction and assimilation of the active principle (Betti, 2001; N'Guessan et al., 2009; Didier et al., 2011).

The majority of our plants are prepared in the form of macerations and decoctions 38%. This is explained by the fact that maceration allows the extraction of the active principle for the purge very used to clean the genital tract in women suffering from ovarian cysts or any other pathology blocking the tubes. The decoction, allows to collect the most active principle, disinfect the plant and could attenuate or cancel the toxic effects of certain recipes (Betti, 2002; Gurib-Fakim, 2006; Ameenah, 2006; Salhi et al., 2010; Hele et al., 2014). In addition, decoctions have a longer shelf life than other preparation methods (Betti, 2001; Jiofack et al., 2009; Jiofack et al., 2010). The preparations mentioned are almost administrated orally or anally or both. This could be explained by the fact that the disease is related to bacterial, fungal and/or parasitic infections localized in deep organs. To reach these organs, the compound must pass through the digestive tract to facilitate uptake and action (Tra-Bi et al., 2008; Jiofack et al., 2008; Didier et al., 2011).

Most of these recipes are prepared using a combination of plants. Several studies conducted on traditional treatments in Africa have highlighted this complexity in the preparation and content of traditional remedies, which rarely contain a single plant species, with some recipes containing more than three to four different plant ingredients. This form of combining various plant species in treatment could present risks of interactions or toxicity. However, Fleurentin et al. (2004), emphasized that the real therapeutic activities of certain medicinal plants cannot be explained by the sole presence of one or other of the constituents. Indeed, in these complex mixtures that are the molecular soups of extracts of various plants, it is the association or the synergy that exists between the molecules, which is very often responsible for the desired effect. The contribution of plants to the constitution of recipes is relatively higher in some plants than in others. In this case with species such as Aframomum landestuanum Ageratum conyzoides, Tandrapleura tandraptera, Allium sativum, Crinum distichum, Cyathula prostrata, Kalanchoe pinnata, and Zingiber officinale; their presence in many recipes could be a proof of their efficacy in the treatment of infertility. These species are found domesticated in agro-ecosystems, as domestication of plants may prove to be an alternative in strategies for sustainable exploitation of this resource (Mvogo, 2013; Ndjouondo et al., 2015). The dosage depends on the gender involved.

Conclusion

This study allowed making a non-exhaustive inventory of medicinal plants used in the treatment of infertility in the localities of Lala, Nlowe and Manjo. The survey series led to identifying 36 species belonging to 32 genera and 21 families from 138 informants. The most represented family is Asteraceae, Liliaceae, Acanthaceae, Malvaceae and Zingiberaceae. The most used plants in the treatment of female and male infertility in the localities are Aframomum letestuanum Ageratum conyzoides, Tetrapleura tetraptera, Allium sativum, Crinum distichum, Cyathula prostrata, Bryophylum pinnatum and Zingiber officinale. Some findings were made during this study most of the recipes are prepared in the form of maceration (48%). It is followed by decoction (35%), Infusion (13%) and powder (4%). Leaves are the most used organs in the treatment (42%), followed by whole plants (16%), fruits (13%), rhizomes (9%), barks (7%), seeds (5%), flowers (4%), bulbs (2%) and roots (2%). According to the literature review, several plants listed in this study have not yet been the subject of laboratory studies for the verification of their beneficial effects on female and male fertility and could constitute interesting subjects of research. Also, phytochemical screening in the laboratory is necessary to know the chemical compounds contained in the main plants and their degree of toxicity.

Acknowledgement

We sincerely thank the people interviewed for their good will and their contribution to the project. We also express our sincere gratitude to the traditional authorities of the Manjo subdivision.

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Citation: Noiha NV et al. (2022). Quantitative ethno botanical survey of medicinal plants used in the infertility by local people in Cameroon. IRJPS. 13: 011