A Study of Indigenous Plant Species in Adilabad Forest Traditionally Utilized for Treating Infertility and Enhancing Sexual Vitality

1.1 Infertility and Sexual Health: International and Indian perspective.

The main health issues on a global scale are infertility and sexual health disorders, which impact physically, psychologically, and socially. The World Health Organization estimates that infertility is present in almost 10 to 15 percent of the reproductive-age couples in the world, with the majority of the cases noted in the developing nations. Infertility and sexual health-related issues are poorly reported in India because of cultural stigma, social pressure, and ignorance as well as poor access to specialized healthcare services especially in rural and tribal areas. This has seen several of the afflicted individuals resort to alternative and traditional modes of treatment instead of the modern medical intervention.

1.2 The purpose of Traditional Medicine in Reproductive Healthcare.

The use of traditional medicine is a significant part of primary healthcare systems in the world. The indigenous communities have gained a lot of knowledge throughout the years on medicinal plants through observations, trial, and errors as well as interaction with their natural environment. Plant-based traditional medicine in India is important in the treatment of reproductive health disorders like male and female infertility, sexual weakness, erectile dysfunction, and hormonal imbalance. All these remedies are popular because they are cheap, readily accessible, culturally acceptable and they are considered to be safe as compared to the synthetic drugs. Ethnobotanical knowledge on reproductive health is thus a valuable but under-researched source of health care.

1.3 Ethnobotanical Importance of Adilabad Forest Region.

Adilabad Forest area, which is situated in the north of Telangana, is one of the main areas of forest biodiversity with a variety of tribal populations of Gond, Kolam, Naikpod and Pardhan. These natives are relying on forests as a source of food, medicines and livelihood. The area sustains a broad range of therapeutic plants employed in conventional healthcare, mainly in the field of reproductive and sexual health. The traditional healers and elders pass on knowledge of medical plants mostly through the oral tradition, hence it is culturally important but also one that can be easily lost.

1.4 Knowledge Gaps and Requirement of the Study.

Although the studied area, Adilabad forest, is ethnomedically rich, few studies have documented scientifically the use of plants as a specific remedy to infertility and sexual vitality. Much of the knowledge in existence is dispersed, unwritten and exclusive to the geriatric practitioners. The survival of both the medicinal plant resources and traditional knowledge systems is further being threatened by the rapid deforestation, habitat degradation, modernization and the loss of interest by the younger generations. Also, quantitative ethnobotanical measurements that determine the significance and validity of these traditional remedies are limited to this region.

1.5 Objectives of the Study

On the basis of the above gaps, the current study was conducted with the following goals: In the Adilabad forest region the purpose of the project was (i) to record indigenous medicinal plants species that are commonly used as a form of traditional medicine to treat infertility and to improve sexual vitality. (ii) to document data on local names, the parts of the plant in use, how to prepare them, and how the plant is to be used therapeutically. (iii) in order to determine the ethnobotanical importance of these plants quantitatively using indices like Use Value (UV) and Fidelity Level (FL). And (iv) to put into the limelight the conservation issues and to stress the importance of sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plant resources. This study is expected to offer a credible starting point in the future phytochemical and pharmacological studies as well as conservation-based studies on phytochemistry by incorporating the traditional knowledge with scientific analysis on the same with reproductive health.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The current ethnobotanical analysis was carried out in the Adilabad Forest, which is positioned on the north of the state of Telangana. Geographically it is located between 1840-1956 N latitude and 7747-8000 E longitude. Adilabad is a region of Deccan Plateau and is typified with tropical dry deciduous forests. It has a tropical climate of hot summers, mild winters, and an average rainfall of 900-1100mm/annually. The forest ecosystem maintains good floral biodiversity and sustains a number of native tribal groups with Gond, Kolam, Naikpod, Pardhan populations highly relying on forest products in food, medicine, and livelihood (Reddy et al., 2016). The geographical location of the study area and selected survey sites is shown in Figure 1.

2.2 Ethnobotanical Survey and Informant Selection

Field surveys on the topic of ethnobotanical were conducted between 2023 and 2025, during various seasons to be able to guarantee the availability of the maximum number of plants. The purposive sampling of study sites was done according to the forest cover, accessibility, and the density of tribal population. Snowball sampling was used to identify the informants with the assistance of village elders and guides. There were a total of 45 informants, who were traditional healers, old men and women and old herbal practitioners aged between 35 and 80 years. All the participants had prior informed consent, which was done in accordance with the ethical guidelines recommended by the International Society of Ethnobiology (2006).

2.3 Data Collection Methods

The methods of data collection were semi-structured interviews, group discussions, and participant observation. Data documented were names of local plants, parts of plants used, how the plant was prepared, dose, route of administration, and selected reproductive health issues cured that included male and female infertility, sexual weakness, erectile dysfunction, and libido stimulation. They were conducted on guided field walks in the presence of knowledgeable informants in order to find and harvest medicinal plant species used in traditional remedies. To help in correct documentation, field notes and photographs were made (Jain and Rao, 2017).

2.4 Plant Collection and Identification

Field visits were conducted to collect plant specimens which were processed using the standard herbarium procedures. Identification was done by regional floras, taxonomic keys and comparison and authenticated herbarium specimen. Standard botanical literature was used to check scientific nomenclature. Specimens were put in a voucher labelled and stored in a known herbarium where they could be referred to in future.

2.5 Quantitative Ethnobotanical Analysis

Quantitative ethnobotanical indices were used to determine the cultural significance and validity of the recorded medicinal plants. Use Value (UV) was calculated to establish how much each species was relied upon by informants in terms of the number of use reports and Fidelity Level (FL) was the measure of agreement between informants on the use of a plant to treat a certain ailment (Phillips and Gentry, 1993; Friedman et al., 1986). The following were the formulas used in computing the indices:

Use Value (UV):

Fidelity Level (FL):

where is

RESULTS

3.1 Diversity of Medicinal Plant Species

In the ethnobotanical survey, 18 indigenous medicinal plant species were documented in relation to infertility and sexual vitality improvement, which were traditionally used in the Adilabad Forest in 2023-2025. These species were of 15 varieties of botanical families, which means that their taxonomical diversity was high. The prevalent form of growth was herbs (44%), trees (33%), shrubs (17%), and climbers (6%). Herbaceous species are most common in the field, which is explained by their easy accessibility and common application in traditional healthcare. Analysis based on family revealed that the most represented family was Fabaceae and Asparagaceae, and a number of families had single species. Table 1 shows the detailed ethnobotanical data in terms of scientific name, family, local name, habit, part of the plant being used, preparation, therapeutic use, Use Value (UV) and Fidelity Level (FL).

Table 1. Indigenous medicinal plants used for infertility and sexual vitality

Examination of plant parts that were used in traditional remedies showed that underground parts and leafy parts were the most preferred. The highest amount of usage was on roots and tubers (32%), then leaves (28%), bark (17%), seeds (13%), and whole plants (10%). The prevalence of roots and tubers also leads to the traditional belief that the roots and tubers are more medicinally active. Figure 2 represents the percentage distribution of the various parts of plants utilised.

Figure 2: Pie chart showing distribution of plant parts used.

Figure 2 shows the percentage composition of plant parts that were utilized by the indigenous population to prepare remedies of infertility and sexual vitality. Roots and tubers form the largest percentage (32%), then leaves (28%), bark (17%), seeds (13%), and whole plant (10%), which show preference of underground and leafy in conventional ethnomedicinal practices.

3.3 Quantitative Indices

3.3 Quantitative Ethnobotanical Indices

The ethnobotanical indices of quantitative evaluation gave information on cultural significance and trustworthiness of the medicinal plants recorded. The Use Value (UV) of documented species was 0.41-0.84; that is, it had different levels of dependence on a particular plant. The high UV values of species like Withania somnifera, Chlorophytum borivilianum and Asparagus racemosus gave evidence of high level of citations by informants and common use. Fidelity Level (FL) scores were found to be between 48 and 92 and showed varying degrees of informant agreement as to whether a certain reproductive health condition should be treated with the use of plants. FL value is high; this is a sign of a strongly correlated species with a specific therapeutic use, e.g. male infertility or sexual vitality enhancement. Figure 3 shows the top five medicinal plant species by Use Value, and it identifies those plants that the indigenous communities think are the most effective and culturally important.

Figure 3: Bar graph showing top five species based on Use Value

Figure 3 shows the five medicinal plant species that have the highest Use Value (UV) according to being mentioned and being of great cultural significance among informants. Withania somnifera exhibits the highest UV, which is then followed by Chlorophytum borivilianum, Asparagus racemosus, Mucuna pruriens and Curculigo orchioides because they are widely used in treating infertility as well as promoting sexual activities.

3.4 Family-wise Distribution of Medicinal Plants

Family-wise distribution analysis has shown that Fabaceae had the most number of medicinal plant species followed by asparagaceae and other families which only represent one species each. This distribution is an aptitude of a selective traditional knowledge and dependence on certain particular plant families that are described in terms of having therapeutic properties. Figure 4 shows the distribution of the number of medicinal plant species in the family-wise. Figure 4. Family Dissemination Distribution of indigenous medicinal plant species of treating infertility and improving sexual vitality.

Figure 4. Family-wise distribution of medicinal plant species