Plant Species Diversity and Composition of the Homegardens in Dilla Zuriya Woreda, Gedeo Zone, SNNPRS, Ethiopia

Abstract

Homegardens are one of the most complex and diverse agroforestry systems worldwide and played an important role towards the development of early agriculture and domestication of crops and fruit trees. The study was conducted with an objective of investigating the role of homegardens for improved livelihoods and food security in Dilla Zuriya Woreda. Simple random sampling was used to obtain a study population of 120 households, to whom an interview schedule and an observation checklist was used. The average size of the homegardens of the study area ranges from 250m 2 (small) to 2000m 2 (large) with mean of 665.42m 2 . The Shannon Weaver indices of plant species in Chichu, Golla, Bulla and Shigedo homegarden were H'=3.52, H'=3.46, H'=3.34 and H'=3.37 respectively. The dominance index also shows that only a few species dominated the homegardens in Bulla (λ=0.056) as compared to Chichu (λ=0.048), Golla (λ=0.052) and Shigedo (λ=0.054) homegardens. The evenness index shows that in Chichu homegardens most of the species are equally abundant (E = 0.45). In total, 75 different plant species with trees (44%), shrubs (20%), herbs (32%) and climbers (4%) were recorded under ten use categories. Of the identified species 40% were food crops, 17.3% were crops used for income, 13.3% were medicinal, 17.3% were plants used as live fence, 20% were used for building and fuel, 10.6% were used for home materials, 4% were used as spices, 5.3% were stimulants, 10.6% were used as ornamentals and 20% plant species were used for shading. The homegaden in the study area were highly diversified with different plant species that provide multiple use for the household.