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The Role of Homegarden Agroforestry in Biodiversity Conservation at Yayo Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve, Chora District, South-western Ethiopia

Received: 8 June 2021    Accepted: 13 July 2021    Published: 21 July 2021
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Abstract

Traditional homegardens in southwest Ethiopia is well-known land use practices playing important role in biodiversity conservation aspects. The objective of this study was to examine the contribution of homegardens towards of biodiversity conservation. Homegarden plant diversity assessment was done. A simple random sampling method was used to select 45 homegardens. Diversity indices were used for analysis. A total of 79 plant species belonging to 41 families were identified. Family Fabaceae and Rutaceae have a relatively higher number of species (6 species each). In terms of habit, (34%) of the species were herbs followed by trees (30%), shrubs (27%) and climbers (9%). Farmers manage both exotic (61%) and indigenous (39%), from which 57% were food and 43% nonfood plant species. The Shannon, Simpson and evenness diversity indexes were 3.27, 0.053 and 0.87 respectively. Coffea arabica was the most frequent (86.67%) species followed by Persea americana (68.89) and Catha edulis (64.44) in homegardens of the area. This study suggests that homegardens contribute to plant biodiversity conservation in the study area. However, due to few market-oriented crops concentration, biodiversity of the system have been affected. Thus, gardeners should be encouraged to cultivate versatile plants in the practice for effective biodiversity conservation.

Published in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Volume 6, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.12
Page(s) 78-87
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Yayo, Coffee Forest, Biodiversity Hotspot, Buffer Zone, Cash Crop, Food Security

References
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    Gemeda Terfassa. (2021). The Role of Homegarden Agroforestry in Biodiversity Conservation at Yayo Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve, Chora District, South-western Ethiopia. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 6(3), 78-87. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.12

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    Gemeda Terfassa. The Role of Homegarden Agroforestry in Biodiversity Conservation at Yayo Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve, Chora District, South-western Ethiopia. Ecol. Evol. Biol. 2021, 6(3), 78-87. doi: 10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.12

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    AMA Style

    Gemeda Terfassa. The Role of Homegarden Agroforestry in Biodiversity Conservation at Yayo Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve, Chora District, South-western Ethiopia. Ecol Evol Biol. 2021;6(3):78-87. doi: 10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.12,
      author = {Gemeda Terfassa},
      title = {The Role of Homegarden Agroforestry in Biodiversity Conservation at Yayo Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve, Chora District, South-western Ethiopia},
      journal = {Ecology and Evolutionary Biology},
      volume = {6},
      number = {3},
      pages = {78-87},
      doi = {10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eeb.20210603.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.eeb.20210603.12},
      abstract = {Traditional homegardens in southwest Ethiopia is well-known land use practices playing important role in biodiversity conservation aspects. The objective of this study was to examine the contribution of homegardens towards of biodiversity conservation. Homegarden plant diversity assessment was done. A simple random sampling method was used to select 45 homegardens. Diversity indices were used for analysis. A total of 79 plant species belonging to 41 families were identified. Family Fabaceae and Rutaceae have a relatively higher number of species (6 species each). In terms of habit, (34%) of the species were herbs followed by trees (30%), shrubs (27%) and climbers (9%). Farmers manage both exotic (61%) and indigenous (39%), from which 57% were food and 43% nonfood plant species. The Shannon, Simpson and evenness diversity indexes were 3.27, 0.053 and 0.87 respectively. Coffea arabica was the most frequent (86.67%) species followed by Persea americana (68.89) and Catha edulis (64.44) in homegardens of the area. This study suggests that homegardens contribute to plant biodiversity conservation in the study area. However, due to few market-oriented crops concentration, biodiversity of the system have been affected. Thus, gardeners should be encouraged to cultivate versatile plants in the practice for effective biodiversity conservation.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AU  - Gemeda Terfassa
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    AB  - Traditional homegardens in southwest Ethiopia is well-known land use practices playing important role in biodiversity conservation aspects. The objective of this study was to examine the contribution of homegardens towards of biodiversity conservation. Homegarden plant diversity assessment was done. A simple random sampling method was used to select 45 homegardens. Diversity indices were used for analysis. A total of 79 plant species belonging to 41 families were identified. Family Fabaceae and Rutaceae have a relatively higher number of species (6 species each). In terms of habit, (34%) of the species were herbs followed by trees (30%), shrubs (27%) and climbers (9%). Farmers manage both exotic (61%) and indigenous (39%), from which 57% were food and 43% nonfood plant species. The Shannon, Simpson and evenness diversity indexes were 3.27, 0.053 and 0.87 respectively. Coffea arabica was the most frequent (86.67%) species followed by Persea americana (68.89) and Catha edulis (64.44) in homegardens of the area. This study suggests that homegardens contribute to plant biodiversity conservation in the study area. However, due to few market-oriented crops concentration, biodiversity of the system have been affected. Thus, gardeners should be encouraged to cultivate versatile plants in the practice for effective biodiversity conservation.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 3
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Author Information
  • Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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