Diversity, yield potential and economic value of medicinal herbs in dominant forests of western Himalaya

Abstract

The forests of Himalayan mountains are rich in diversity of medicinal herbs that contributes immensely to the health care and economy of local people. To ensure sustainable utilization of this precious resource under changing climate and declining biodiversity, it is necessary to understand the diversity, yield potential, and economic value of these medicinal herbs. The study aims to evaluate the diversity, yield potential, and economic value of medicinal herbs in Western Himalayan forests, across different forest stands. We studied three dominant forest types (250–2500 m asl) by employing twenty-seven randomly laid plots measuring 0.1 ha (810 sub-plots of 1×1m) in low Tropical Dry and Moist Deciduous forests (TMDF), mid Subtropical Pine forests (SPF) and high Himalayan Moist Temperate forests (HMTF) altitude forests and recorded a total of 52 economically important herb species falling under 38 families and 46 genera. The SPF was rich in medicinal herbs (46 spp.) than the HMTF (31 spp.) and TMDF (04 spp.). Leaves of 27 % species, followed by whole plants (16 % species), root (13 % species), flowers (10 % species), stem (8 % species), rhizome (8 % species), and shoots (8 % species) were used traditionally by the local people for the treatment of 41 different diseases. The yield (g/ha) of the medicinal herbs was recorded maximum in TMDF (4217.5), followed by HMTF (2455) and minimum (2318) in SPF forest. Economic valuation of the medicinal herbs revealed maximum (Rs. 3546/ ha) value for SPF (Rs. 3546/ha), followed by HMTF (Rs. 2405/ ha), and minimum for TMDF (Rs. 576 /ha). The maximum value was recorded for Hedychium spicatum and least for Agrimonia japonica. This pioneering study provides species-specific contribution of these medicinal herbs in the economic value of these forests that will facilitate development of forest management plan to sustainably utilise and conserve them as well as to improve livelihoods of the local people. These medicinal herbs not only contribute to healthcare but also play a significant role in food and nutritional security by providing essential nutrients and medicinal properties that support the well-being of local communities.