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Ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plants used in the treatment of male infertility in southern Benin

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Abstract

Infertility is a concern for couples, families and society. In almost half of the cases, it is due to male infertility. This infertility, in developing countries like Benin, often cured by the use of medicinal plants. This study aimed to enlist knowledge about medicinal plants used in the treatment of male infertility in southern Benin. An ethnomedicinal investigation has been conducted in southern Benin by questioning traditional healers and market herbalists using the method of semi-structured interview. Ethnopharmacological data has been analyzed by ethnobotanical indices such as informant consensus factor (ICF), frequency of citation for each plant species and contribution of each plant to drug recipes. 90 respondents including 36 market herbalists and 54 traditional healers participated in this study. Data collected allowed us to list 60 plant species belonging to 56 genera and 38 botanical families. Informants had a high degree of consensus (ICF = 0.58) on plants used for treatment of male infertility. The most plants cited by market herbalists were Garcinia kola (10.09%), Cissus populnea (10.09%), Carpolobia lutea (07.40%) and the parts of plants most used were roots and fruits. For traditional healers, Garcinia kola (10.15%), Cyperus esculentus (06.09%), Citrus aurantiifiola (06.09%) were the most plants cited and parts of plants the most used were leaves and roots. This study provided a list of medicinal plants used for the treatment of male infertility in southern Benin. Further pharmacological and toxicological studies will assess the therapeutic efficacy of these medicinal plants.

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Acknowledgements

We certainly could not have carry out this study without the precious collaboration of our informants; it is about the market herbalists and the traditional healers. We show them our deep gratitude and here we praise their frank and kind collaboration.

Funding

We thank the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Benin who funded this work through the Ph.D. Student support program 2017–2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Recherche en Microbiologie Appliquée et Pharmacologie des substances naturelles (URMAPha), Laboratoire de Recherche en Biologie Appliquée (LARBA), Ecole Polytechnique d’Abomey-Calavi (EPAC), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, 01BP2009, Cotonou, Benin

    Eric Agbodjento, Jean Robert Klotoé, Victorien Dougnon & Esther Déguénon

  2. Ecole Normale Supérieure de Natitingou, Université Nationale des Sciences, Technologie, Ingénierie et Mathématiques, BP72, Natitingou, Benin

    Jean Robert Klotoé

  3. Ecole de Gestion et d’exploitation des Systèmes d’élevages/Université Nationale d’Agriculture (EGESE/UNA) - Kétou, Kétou, Benin

    Téniola Isabelle Sacramento

  4. Laboratoire de botanique et écologie végétale, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Godomey, Benin

    Frontenel Lopez Tchabi

  5. Laboratoire de Physiopathologie Moléculaire et Toxicologie, Faculté des Sciences Techniques (FAST), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, 01BP526, Cotonou, Benin

    Jean-Marc Atègbo

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  1. Eric Agbodjento
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Contributions

EA and JRK participated in all stages of the production of this article. JMA and DV provided the scientific direction of the works. IS and ED participated in the survey. LT participate in the botanical identification of plant species. All authors participated in reading and editing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean Robert Klotoé.

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Ethical statement

The study is part of a thesis. The committee of the “Ecole Doctorale Science de la Vie et de la Terre (ED-SVT)” of the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) under the No. 10185509 has authorized it. Verbal consent obtained from the participants. This choice is justified by the fact that the study population consists mainly of illiterates.

Conflict of interest

Eric Agbodjento has no conflict of interest. Jean Robert Klotoé has no conflict of interest. Téniola Isabelle Sacramento has no conflict of interest. Victorien Dougnon has no conflict of interest. Frontenel Lopez Tchabi has no conflict of interest. Esther Déguénon has no conflict of interest. Jean‑Marc Atègbo has no conflict of interest.

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Agbodjento, E., Klotoé, J.R., Sacramento, T.I. et al. Ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plants used in the treatment of male infertility in southern Benin. ADV TRADIT MED (ADTM) 21, 655–673 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-020-00473-3

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