The determination of medicinal value on the economy of plants grown in the province of Aksaray and used in traditional medicines

In this study,medicinal plants grown in Aksaray province were identified, the possibilities of using these plants in traditional medicine were investigated and their economic medical value was presented. Aksaray is located in an extremely important place with its geographical location,socio-economic structure and climatic characteristics; in terms of plant diversity.The place has a very rich flora,especially in terms of halophyte plants. The wide diversity of plants in Aksaray also enablesthe people to use these plants for treatment. The use of plants in various ways for treatment has led to an increase in the economic importance of plants used in traditional medicine. This situation has also increased the importance of studies which are carried out to determine the economic value of plants. From this point of view,plant species(70 species) grown in, and around Aksaray, and used in traditional medicine were identified in the research.In the determination of these plant species,detailed flora studies carried out in the region were selected as the baseline.In the second stage of research,face-to-face interviews were conducted with local people(N:565) and herbalists (N:15) living in the sample areas (1 district center and 25 villages and 3 towns). In these interviews, the data about the local names of the plant species,the purpose of use,how they are used for which treatment,which parts are used,the way of sale,the sales amount and the sales price were obtained. In the third stage,these data were analyzed using SPSS(26) and ANOVA package program.The results were quantitatively evaluated using ethnobotanical indexes (ICF, RFC, UV and RI). In this way,the use-value, and importance value of the medicinal plant species in the region were determined.In the last stage, an economic medical value analysis was made for the selected plant species using all the data, and an average medical value calculation was made. In the research, 30 families,61 genera, and 70 taxa grown in Aksaray province and used in traditional medicine were identified through interviews with both local people, and herbalists.Among these families, it was determined that the families having the most taxa were Asteraceae with 16%, Rosaceae with 13%, Lamiaceae with 9%, Malvaceae with 6%, Apiaceae with 4%, Fabaceae with 4%, Salicaceae with 4%, respectively. It was also identified that the most sold parts of these plant species were flowers (28%), leaves ( 27%), fruits(15.7%) , seeds (9.9%), and above-ground parts (4.5%),respectively.It was determined that taxa used for therapeutic purposes were mostly used in gastroenterological diseases with 37.14%, in enhancing the immune system with 24.29%, in respiratory system diseases with 22%, in food with 21.43%, and in circulatory system diseases with 15.71%. According to the results of the research, when we specify the identified plant species according to their use values, it was found out that walnut (junglas regia), garlic (allium sativum), grape (vitis vinifera), linden (tiliato mentosa), quince (cydonia oblonga), spearmint (mentha spicata), onion (allium cepa), thyme (thymus sipyleus), corn (zea mays), black cumin (nigella arvensis), rosehip (rosa canina) and may chaomile (matricaria chamomilla) have high UV values, andare used both for food and therapeutic purposes.When we list these plant species according to their importance, we can see that chamomile (matricaria chamomilla), nettle (urtica dioica), black cumin ( nigella arvensis ), garlic (allium sativum ), golden herb (helichrysum plicatum) , rosehip (rosa canina), jujube (ziziphus zizyphus) have high RI values, and the importance of these species is relatively higher than other species. According to the results of the research, the average medical value of these plant species used in traditional medicine was calculated as 380 TL/year, and the added-value to be provided to the household income from the production of each plant species was calculated as 40 TL per kilo.It has been determined that the high medical value of these plants,which do not have any cost,will provide a positive added-value to the household income through the production or collection of these plants by the local people.It is predicted that the increase in interest in natural plant species and treatment methods with these plants,especially in recent years,will create an economic proxy effecton the medical value, and accordingly,the average medical value,which has been revealed, will tend to increase continuously. The results of the research showed that these species, which are grown in Aksaray and widely used in traditional medicine, have a very high economic medical value and sustainable use-value for the local people.For this reason,the involvement of local people should be ensured and even encouraged in the protection and sustainable usage of these types.It is also important in terms of preserving this traditional knowledge and transferring it to future generations.