ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF FODDER PLANT RESOURCES IN DISTRICT MANDI, HIMACHAL PRADESH

摘要

The present study has been carried out in district Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) during 2012-2015. A total number of 78 angiosperm species belonging to 65 genera and 41 families were recorded as fodder. Poaceae was found to be the most dominating family followed by Moraceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Salicaceae, etc. Among the all reported species, trees were the most commonly used (50%) followed by shrubs (21.79%), herbs (21.79%), lianas (5.12%) and climber (1.28 %). Wild plant species constitute the major proportion of fodder i.e. 88.46%. About 10.25% herbaceous species were cultivated followed by 1.28% both wild and cultivated species. Various plant parts like leaves with young twigs, leaves, leaves with shoots, aerial parts, seeds or sometimes even the whole plant is used as fodder. Out of 78 plant species, 12 species were exclusively used as fodder whereas the remaining 66 were also used for other purposes. The species which are not traditionally fodder, can be evaluated further for their nutritional value and chemical composition.