Bioinventory and documentation of traditional ecological knowledge of wild edible fruits of Kodagu-Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Forty-five species of wild edible fruits were identified and traditional local knowledge of their usage was recorded in 40 villages of Kodagu district in Central Western Ghats, India one of the eight top hotspots of biodiversity in the world. We combined biodiversity inventory of trees with village interviews to record traditional ecological knowledge. Wild edible fruits were an opportunistic source of food for rural people. Wild edible fruits were rich in minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, fats and fiber. In recent years there has been a decline in numbers of wild fruit trees due to changes in land use from uncultivated private wooded area to cardamom and coffee cultivation. The availability of wild edible fruits that were once very common on private cultivated areas has declined and their distributions are now restricted more to jungles and wildlife sanctuaries. We propose methods for conservation and describe the need for sustainable utilization to provide supplementary sources of nutritional and pharmaceutically useful edible wild fruits.

Keywords

wild edible fruits / nutraceutical / biodiversity / Kodagu / western Ghats

References

[1] Deshmukh BS, Waghmode A. Role of wild edible fruits as a food resource: Traditional knowledge. International Journal of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 2011, 2: 919-924.

[2] Garcia CA, Bhagwat SA, Ghazoul J, Nath CD, Nanaya KM, Kushalappa CG, Raghuramulu Y, Nasi R, Vaast P. Biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes: Challenges and opportunities of coffee agroforests in the Western Ghats, India. Conservation Biology, 2010, 24: 479-488.

[3] Keshavamurthy KR, Yoga Narasimhan SN. Flora of Coorg. 1990, Bangalore: Vimsat Publishers, 282.

[4] Mohana GS, Chittiappa S, Sinclair FL, Kushalappa CG, Raghuramulu Y, Vaast P. Essence of farmers knowledge on Coffee agroforestry systems in Kodagu. 2011, Karnataka, India: College of Forestry, Ponnampet, 32.

[5] Myers N, Mittermeier RA, Mittermeier CG, da Fonseca GAB, Kent J. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 2000, 403: 853-858.

[6] Pascal JP, Ramesh BR. A field key to the trees and lianas of the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats. 1987, India: Institut Francias De Pondichery, 236.

[7] Poornika Rani BJ, Sathish BN, Mohana GS, Chittiappa S, Kushalappa CG. Field guide — Trees of coffee agroforestry systems in Kodagu. 2011, India: College of Forestry, Ponnampet, Karnataka, CAFNET project, 237.

[8] Sheil D, Ducey MJ, Sidiyasa K, Samsoedin I. A new type of sample unit for the efficient assessment of diverse tree communities in complex forest landscapes. Journal of Tropical Forest Science, 2003, 15: 117-135.

[9] Sheil D, Puri RD, Basuki I. Exploring Biological Diversity, Environment and Local People’S Perspectives in Forest Landscapes. 2002, Jakarta, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research, 13 92

[10] Uthaiah BC. Wild edible fruits of Western Ghats — A survey. Higher plants of Indian subcontinent (Additional series of Indian journal of Forestry. 1994, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh, India: Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh (Volume-III), 87 98