ETHNOMEDICINAL PLANTSOF TOP PRIORITY WITH ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES USED BY THE COMMUNITY IN GEDEB HASASA DISTRICT, WEST ARSI ZONE, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia has rich flora with different plant species having use in health care system based on local indigenous knowledge. However, the documented ethnomedicinal plants information was lacking in Gedeb Hasasa district. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify, document and evaluate the antifungal activities of extracts of some selected plant species prescribed by traditional healers in study area.A total of 60 (48 males and 12 females) informants were selected as recommended by the elder people in the district.Data were collected using purposively random sampling method. Interviews and discussions were conducted using a checklist of topics. The three selected plants namely; Cordia africana (leaf), Xanthium strumarium (leaf) and Citrus aurantium (fruit) were collected from the study area. Then, the collectedsamples were taken to General Biology Lab 1, Haramaya University to evaluate their antifungal activities.The antifungal activity test was conducted based on disc diffusion and broth dilution method.The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentage, frequency, and preference ranking. Person’s correlation test was also run in SPSS 16.0 software (SPSS 2008). A total of 32 species of ethnomedicinal plants used to treat different fungal health problems were documented from study area.The highest zone of inhibition (mm) was recorded in methanol extracts of Citrus aurantium (16.17mm), and that of Xanthium strumarium (16.00mm) showed the antifungal activities againstCandida albicans and Aspergillus niger respectively. On the other hands, the lowest zone of inhibition was recorded in the distilled water extracts ofXanthium strumarium (6.07mm)and Cordia africana (6.33mm) showed that the antifungal activities ofCandida albicans whencompared to the control. This indicated that methanol was more effective solvent to produce relatively higher yield of crude extract from medicinal plants for the purpose of producing antifungal substances compared to water.On the basis of this clues, the phytochemical and pharmacological investigation is recommended with due consideration to frequently used medicinal plants.