2015, Vol. 3, Issue 6, Part B

Methods: Based on vegetation cover and availability of wild edible plants a total, of five rural kebeles in three agroecological areas were selected for the study following a stratified sampling method from August 21-28, 2013. In each kebele, two parallel transect lines were laid out 700 m apart, with quadrats at an interval of 600 m. Each transect had eight 20×20 m (400 m2) quadrats. Therefore, sixteen quadrats were laid out in each kebele, in total 80 quadrats for the whole study. A hierarchical cluster analysis, with PC-ORD for Windows version 5.0 software, was used to identify plant communities and synoptic values for identification of the dominant species for naming plant communities. Shannon Wiener index of species diversity was applied to quantify species diversity and richness. Ethnobotanical data were collected by interviewing 65 informants selected from five study sites (40 males and 25 females). Information on local marketability, cultivation practices, habitat, abundance and threats of wild edible plants was gathered through semi-structured interviews, field observations, group discussion, preference ranking, paired comparisons and direct matrix ranking with informants.rn