International Journal of Silviculture and Agroforestry (IJSA) ISSN 1720-349X, Vol. 3(1), pp. 093-101, June, 2020. © Advanced Scholars Journals

Full length Research paper

Plant species Diversity and Composition of Home Gardens in Benue State, North Central Nigeria.

*¹Labe TE, ²Agera  SIN, ³Amonum JI and ⁴Ekheumelo  DO

Department of Forest Production and Products, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding Author’s Email:[email protected]

Accepted 19 June, 2020.

Absract

Growing of useful plant species in home gardens has a long tradition in various cultural groups but the value of traditional home-gardening in the conservation and management of plant species by indigenous people of Benue State has not been evaluated. The study there for sought to assess the floristic composition of home gardens and their diversity in order to investigate the conservation importance of home gardens through domestication. The study area was Benue State. Two (2) Local government areas from each of the three ecological zones of the State were randomly selected for the study. Data were collected by identifying and listing the plant species found in each home garden. Descriptive statistics and Simpson diversity index were used to analyse the data collected. The diversity indices of plant species found in home gardens in Benue State ranged from 0.01‒0.50. Plant species with diversity indices of 0.50 were considered to be the most diverse species. Those with Simpson diversity indices of 0.01 were considered to be the least diverse. The highest number of plant species were found in Vandeikya (57) followed by Katsina-Ala and Ogbadibo with a total of 47 plants each. About 16 plant species were highly diverse in home gardens in Zone A Local Government Areas with Simpson index of (Ds=0.50) each. A total of 21 plant species were highly diverse with diversity indices of (0.50 each) in home gardens in Zone B.A total of12plant species showed high diversity indices of 0.50 each in Zone C. It was concluded that a great diversity of plant species were found in home gardens in Benue State. It was recommended that more efforts should be made at conserving important wild plant species through domestication in home gardens in order to prevent them from becoming extinct.

Key words: Assess, Plant, species, diversity, composition and home-garden.