Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1000
100
y =
100.36Ln( x ) + 364.55
R 2 = 0.9568
10
1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0.1
0.01
Species rank
Frequency
Relative frequency
Log. (frequency)
Figure 12.1 Diversity of plants in home gardens in 750 compounds in Gyamfiase-Adenya,
Sekesua-Osonson, and Amanase-Whanabenya demonstration sites
The case of Odorkor Agbo's home garden
Among the home gardens selected for a closer study was the approximately 0.2 ha
(0.5 acres) one managed on an owner-occupied basis by the PLEC farmers
Odorkor Agbo and his wife Akwele at Adwenso in Sekesua-Osonson (Plate 5).
The chapter focuses on it for deeper insights into home gardening as a system of
securing both germplasm and food.
Species richness
A total of 83 different plant species belonging to 37 families were recorded.
Four plant families, namely Apocynaceae , Dioscoreaceae , Mimosaceae , and
Sapindaceae , dominated. On the average, a total of 27 species was recorded
per 0.03 ha (0.074 acres) plot, i.e. 10 25 m 2
plots. The similarity of species
among all 10 plots studied was 48
0.05 significance). Figure
12.2 shows the weighted averages of the different life-form categories found
in Table 12.4, and the species richness.
1 per cent ( P
Uses and other values
Out of the 83 species recorded, 47 (equivalent to 57 per cent) were distin-
guished for their “actual” uses and value (Table 12.5). About 30 per cent of the
47 species have locally known uses in native medicine as anti-venom, blood
tonic, enema, treatment of boils, coughs, stomach troubles, and fever, and in
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