Abstract:
Ethiopia has rich flora with different plant species having use in health care system based on
local indigenous knowledge. However, the documented ethnomedicinal plants information
was lacking in Gedeb Hasasa district. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify, document
and evaluate the antifungal activities of extracts of some selected plant species prescribed by
traditional healers in study area.A total of 60 (48 males and 12 females) informants were
selected as recommended by the elder people in the district.Data were collected using
purposively random sampling method. Interviews and discussions were conducted using a
checklist of topics. The three selected plants namely; Cordia africana (leaf), Xanthium
strumarium (leaf) and Citrus aurantium (fruit) were collected from the study area. Then, the
collectedsamples were taken to General Biology Lab 1, Haramaya University to evaluate
their antifungal activities.The antifungal activity test was conducted based on disc diffusion
and broth dilution method.The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as
percentage, frequency, and preference ranking. Person’s correlation test was also run in
SPSS 16.0 software (SPSS 2008). A total of 32 species of ethnomedicinal plants used to treat
different fungal health problems were documented from study area.The highest zone of
inhibition (mm) was recorded in methanol extracts of Citrus aurantium (16.17mm), and that
of Xanthium strumarium (16.00mm) showed the antifungal activities againstCandida albicans
and Aspergillus niger respectively. On the other hands, the lowest zone of inhibition was
recorded in the distilled water extracts ofXanthium strumarium (6.07mm)and Cordia
africana (6.33mm) showed that the antifungal activities ofCandida albicans whencompared
to the control. This indicated that methanol was more effective solvent to produce relatively
higher yield of crude extract from medicinal plants for the purpose of producing antifungal
substances compared to water.On the basis of this clues, the phytochemical and
pharmacological investigation is recommended with due consideration to frequently used
medicinal plants.
