Qualitative and Quantitative Ethnobotanical Analysis of Ricinus communis L. and Azadirachta indica A. Juss. in Sonipat District of Haryana, India

Nature being a repository to vast scientific knowledge has always encouraged human efforts to indulge in exploration activities. This exploration act by humans has not only pacified the curiosity and inquisitiveness but has also led to the discovery of many cost effective and affordable solutions for treatment of several ailments. Despite marvelous examples of synthesis of novel compounds by chemists around the world, humans are in no competition to natural synthetic process and its efficiency. Natural products are being utilized by different civilizations in various parts of the world. About 80 percent world population is dependent on crude drugs, plant extracts, and formulations1,2. To treat various ailments and diseases, large number of plant based formulations are being used worldwide3. Literature study disclosed that Ricinus communis and Azadirachta indica are widely used medicinal plants which belong to Euphorbiaceae and Meliaceae families respectively4,5. Ancient Egyptian tombs have been found to contain castor seeds which date back to 4000BC. Egyptian doctors have mentioned use of castor oil to treat eye irritation in the medical text named “Ebers Payrus”6. Castor oil is used to cure severe foot pain, back pain, soreness. Castor oil massage over abdomen in women alleviates menstrual cramps and reduces its irregularity7. Azadirachta means azadi-dirakht (free tree) and indica implies its Indian origin. This plant is considered to be free tree of India8,9. Common names for studied plants are shown in Table 1. On account of high number of therapeutic uses of Azadirachta indica, “US National Academy of Sciences” in 1992, said “It is a tree for solving global problems”. In old days, people would treat chicken pox using water boiled neem leaves and dried leaves of neem were used for fumigation9,11. In view of the above literature, it has become imperative to further investigate and analyze ethnobotanical information about both Ricinus communis and Azadirachta indica. Qualitative and Quantitative Ethnobotanical Analysis of Ricinus communis L. and Azadirachta indica A. Juss. in Sonipat District of Haryana, India


Introduction
Nature being a repository to vast scientific knowledge has always encouraged human efforts to indulge in exploration activities. This exploration act by humans has not only pacified the curiosity and inquisitiveness but has also led to the discovery of many cost effective and affordable solutions for treatment of several ailments. Despite marvelous examples of synthesis of novel compounds by chemists around the world, humans are in no competition to natural synthetic process and its efficiency. Natural products are being utilized by different civilizations in various parts of the world. About 80 percent world population is dependent on crude drugs, plant extracts, and formulations 1,2 . To treat various ailments and diseases, large number of plant based formulations are being used worldwide 3 .
Literature study disclosed that Ricinus communis and Azadirachta indica are widely used medicinal plants which belong to Euphorbiaceae and Meliaceae families respectively 4,5 . Ancient Egyptian tombs have been found to contain castor seeds which date back to 4000BC. Egyptian doctors have mentioned use of castor oil to treat eye irritation in the medical text named "Ebers Payrus" 6 . Castor oil is used to cure severe foot pain, back pain, soreness. Castor oil massage over abdomen in women alleviates menstrual cramps and reduces its irregularity 7 .
Azadirachta means azadi-dirakht (free tree) and indica implies its Indian origin. This plant is considered to be free tree of India 8,9 . Common names for studied plants are shown in Table 1. On account of high number of therapeutic uses of Azadirachta indica, "US National Academy of Sciences" in 1992, said "It is a tree for solving global problems". In old days, people would treat chicken pox using water boiled neem leaves and dried leaves of neem were used for fumigation 9,11 . In view of the above literature, it has become imperative to further investigate and analyze ethnobotanical information about both Ricinus communis and Azadirachta indica.

Reasons for the Selection of the Study Site
The area under study is characterized by its remoteness, cultural maintenance, and far-off location from urban areas, lack of modern education and health care facilities and other enabling services. The area having close contact with nature, homogeneity of population, social stratification etc. are other factors that make the area a fit case for ethnobotanical investigations. The livelihood of people mainly revolved around agriculture, livestock and associated activities. The area can be considered as a remote site due to lack of communication and conveyance. The study was carried out in urban and rural model. A field visit of the area was undertaken in January 2019. Ethnomedicinal information was collected in the form of proforma and analyzed statistically. The proforma consisted of following components: 1. Socio-economic profile of informants.
2. Ethno-botanical information of selected plants. 3. Ethnobotanical data in relation to local name, usage of plants in various forms i.e. crude drugs, formulated drugs, method and preparation of formulation, method of application, side effects, precautions and experience of usage of plants as medicines was documented.

Analysis and Interpretation of the Data
The analysis of data included following steps: • Firstly, a well-planned format was designed for documentation of ethnobotanical data of studied plants.
• Preliminary survey of urban and rural areas was undertaken and the study areas were selected randomly.
• Informants were classified on the basis of age group, gender and qualification as explained in Table 2.
• Primary data obtained from local informants was translated, compiled, listed and documented in tabular and graphical form.
• Scores were allotted to informants according to various statistical formulae as shown in Table 4. Criteria for scoring pattern is given in Table 3.
• Ailments being treated by plants under study was divided into 19 different disease categories (Table 5) and PCTK scores were calculated.

2.
Average Score (%age) Average score is the ratio of number of informants under selected group (NG) divided by total number of informants (N) 16

4.
Relative Frequency Citation (RFC) RFC is the ratio of total number of cited reports for medicinal and non-medicinal use of particular plant species to the total number of informants in survey (N) 16 .

Reported Uses of Particular Plant Part (RUPP)
Total number of reported uses for particular plant part 16 .

Plant Parts Value (PPV)
PPV is the ratio of total number of reported uses for each plant parts and total reported uses for a given plant 16 .

Specific Uses (SU)
Total number of specific uses of particular plant parts which is maximally used among the reported uses [17] .

Reports of Specific Uses (RSU)
Total number of cited reports for specific uses 16 .

9.
Intra specific Use Value (IUV) It is the ratio of number of reported specific uses to the total number of reported uses of particular plant part 16 .

10.
Overall Use Value (OUV) OUV is the overall ranking of uses which is multiple of plant part value and intra specific use value [16] .

Results and Discussion
The study revealed that investigated plants were used to treat health problems of human beings and livestock. The distribution of informants as per selected criteria ( Table  2) showed that majority of informants who were females, illiterate, and are in 50 years and above age group, carried more traditional knowledge. Rural people shared and possessed more ethnobotanical knowledge than urban ones (Table 7). It could also be interpreted from the present study that rural sites possessed poor public health services and therefore local people are forced to move to cities for major health issues.
Biostatstical methods were employed to analyze ethnomedicinal data (Table 4). Results were prepared, analysed and presented in the form of tables and bar graph (Table 6-12; Figure 1,2). Demographic details of studied rural sites are shown in Table 6. On the basis of ethnomedicinal uses, average scores (Table 8, 9), ICTK ( Table 8) and PCTK score (Table 9) were calculated. Application of Score strengths was plotted in the form of bar graph and line graph (Figures 1 and 2). Plant parts were ranked according to frequency of their medicinal use (        It can also be concluded from the study that storehouse of ethnobotanical information of studied plants are under threat due to lack of knowledge transmission and its inadequate usage from native sites. Such vital knowledge is disappearing because the young who are in contact with outside world have adopted an attitude that traditional ways are irrelevant and illegitimate. However, it is worth mentioning here that before any ethnomedicinal formulation is fully put to use and commercialized, it needs to be thoroughly investigated in terms of its chemical composition and concentration of different constituents. Clinical trials are required to ascertain the physiological effects of different components of formulation and to arrive at the exact dosage.

Acknowledgement
I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my mentor and supervisor Dr. Neelu Sood for her expert advice and professional help during the completion of this study. I sincerely thank and am indebted to my husband, Mr. Rupinder Kumar for extending financial aid and for the constant encouragement on this work. He has been a constant help to conduct field surveys, required for successful completion of this manuscript. I am also grateful to Dr. B. D. Vashistha who guided me during the course of this study. My workmate Anju Kumari has been a genuine help. I also thank my family, friends and my teachers for their continuous support to bring about this research work to a successful end.