Plants used by the tribes of keonjhar district of Odisha, india, to induce lactation in nursing mother

Medicinal plants are the local heritage with global importance. World is endowed with a rich wealth of medicinal plants which have always been the principal form of medicine and presently they are becoming popular throughout the developed world, as people strive to stay healthy in the face of chronic stress and pollution. Tribes of Keonjhar district of Odisha depend basically on different herbs for a wide range of ailments including mother and child health care. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted to collect information about medicinal plants used as galactogogue by the tribals of the district. This includes the indigenous knowledge of local traditional healers and native plants used by the tribes for inducing lactation among nursing mothers through questionnaire and personal interviews. A total of 55 informants within the age group of 50 to 68 were interviewed, among them fifteen were tribal practitioners. The investigation revealed that, the traditional healers and the inhabitants of the district use 46 species of plants distributed in 43 genera belonging to 28 families to induce lactation in nursing mother. The study also revealed that fresh plant materials were invariably preferred for the disease management. Breast feeding is a major source of nourishment for the tribal infants and it is carried for a prolonged period. Lactation inducing remedies are commonly used by the nursing mothers in order to meet the nutritional requirement of their children. Some of the lactation inducing (galactogogue) plant species are found growing in their natural habitat while others are domesticated. Galactogogue plants used by tribes of Keonjhar have been listed along with plant parts used. The present paper dealt with the ethnobotanical exploration, identification and documentation of potential galactogogue plants used by the ethnic groups of Keonjhar district of Odisha.