Use of Medicinal Plants for Respiratory Diseases in Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Abstract

The most common ethnomedicinal plants being effective in respiratory disorders were studied for the first time in Bahawalpur District. The herbal medication represents a low-cost treatment for the local community. There is a need for documenting the traditional uses of plants for further investigation of bioactive compounds. Using a qualitative approach, the ethnobotanical data was collected from the district of Bahawalpur, Pakistan, from February 2018 to February 2020 through semistructured interviews with the local people and traditional healers. The quantitative analysis included use value, informant consensus factor, family importance value, and relative frequency citation. A total of 20 indigenous plants belonging to 17 families were documented from 185 informants. These plants were claimed to be used for the treatment of 10 respiratory ailments. The plant habit, part of the plant used, and mode of preparation were standardized for authentication. The herbs are the most used life form (55%), while trees and shrubs are also used. Leaves dominate with high use value (47.62%) followed by fruit, stem, flower, and other parts of plants. For the preparation of traditional remedies, decoction (76.19%) and extract (71.43%) are common preparation methods. However, other methods of paste infusion, powder juice, and ash are used to a lower extent. The plants with higher use value are Glycyrrhiza glabra, Acacia arabica, and Mentha piperita; these have significant potential therapeutic activity for respiratory disease. The ethnomedicinal importance of plants against respiratory diseases used by the local population (traditional healers) is the commercial availability of the herbal product. It is a first-time study in this area to fill the gap between traditional practices and synthetic medicine to screen out the phytochemical and pharmacological properties of plants that have a highly futuristic use value to develop antibiotic drug with least side effects by using sustainable methods.