Floristic Composition, Diversity and Management of Home-gardens in Uba-Debretsehay District, Southern Ethiopia: Implication for Biodiversity Conservation

Home-gardens contribute a lot to the fulfillment of ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural functions and local community needs. This study was conducted with the main objective of assessing the composition and measuring diversity of plant species grown in home-gardens of Uba-Debretsehay district, southern Ethiopia. Six sampling kebeles were purposively selected. 90 households were considered in this study for data collection. A total of 87 plant species belonging to 40 plant families were documented in the sampled home gardens. Family-wise distribution showed that Fabaceae and Poaceae were the richest families concerning the number of plant species each represents. The home-garden plants documented in Uba-Debretsehay have a range of use values including food, medicine, cash, ornament, spice, and construction. Regarding altitude, Ensete ventricosum, a staple food, was cultivated in home-gardens situated in highland and midland areas. Coffea arabica, various fruits, and vegetables were cultivated in midland areas of the study area while Mussa paradisca, Mangifera indica, and Saccharum officinarum were cultivated at lower altitude areas. Home-gardens in Uba-Debretsehay district consist of different varieties of plant species and serve as a basic agro-ecosystem required for the cultivation and conservation of various plant species. Home-gardens situated in Kolla agroecology have relatively a higher diversity than home-gardens in Woynadega and Dega agro-ecology; however, the overall diversity is low. Agronomists, researchers as well as other concerned bodies need to contribute to conserving plant species cultivated in the home-gardens of the study area and maintaining their diversity to protect them from getting impacted by various factors (natural/environmental and man-made factors).