Ethnography of major wild food plants uses and their consumption in the Thar Desert of Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Wild Food Plants (WFPs) are non-cultivated plants, being used as food in food insecure countries including underdeveloped and developing countries. They occupy key position among economically and medicinally important plants throughout the world. Pakistan, especially deserts as a natural habitat, has rich diversity of WFPs. The desert's indigenous inhabitants have a wealth of traditional knowledge about the use and consumption of important WFPs. A comprehensive study is conducted in the Thar Desert of Sindh province, Pakistan, for socio-economically beneficial documentation of nutritionally and medicinally important WPFs. During ethnobotanical survey, 60 inhabitants of the Thar Desert were interviewed and a total of 32 WFP species belonging to 17 families were reported to be used for treatment of different diseases as asthma, cancer, skin diseases, diabetes and many more. The most cited families were Fabaceae (05 species) followed by Cucurbitaceae (4 species) while most of the species belong to herb life forms (species). Among reported plant species, Commiphora wightii, Blepharis scindica and Moringa concanensis Abrus precatorius, Acacia Senegal, Cistanche tubulosa, Pedalium murex Tricholepis chaetolepis had the highest importance among informants and considered as precious wild food plants (WFPs) that are rarely available in different habitats in Pakistan. In life forms, most of the plant species were herbs (64%) while least reported were climbers (9%). The most frequently cited plant part used were leaves (25 records) followed by fruit (9 records) while the least used part was the whole plant. Most of the plants are consumed as raw and cooked as vegetables. This study was also involved in the collection of some nutritionally important local wild plant species. Results of the study may contribute in the preservation of local knowledge about WFPs and the development of the management and sustainable use of the wild plants of the Thar Desert.