Plants used for grilling sh in two ethnic groups in Guizhou, Southwest China

Dong and Miao, two major ethnic groups in Qiandongnan Prefecture of Guizhou Province, China, have practiced an ancient cooking technique, grilling sh or sh barbecue, to boost their spirits and enrich their spiritual life as well. Using a variety of edible plants and sh from the famous rice-sh agricultural ecosystem, they made the grilled sh as sacricial objects and food for the festivities. The knowledge of plants used for grilling sh has not been studied. Data were collected using direct observation, semi-structured interviews, individual discussions, key informant interviews and focus group discussions administered to 279 informants living in ethnic villages of Congjiang County between September 2017 and March 2019. The sh-grilling plant voucher specimens were collected in the eld excursions. The data were analyzed using ethnobotanical descriptive statistics, delity level (FL), and the cultural important plants index (CII). In addition, a cultural important plants matrix design was used for comparative analysis of the plant cultural importance among two major ethnic groups.

local plant resources. Results from this study will be helpful to protect agricultural cultural heritage of sh-grilling plants in southeast Guizhou, and provide a basis for the development of new food types.

Background
People, together other organisms, depends on the local ecosystem for survival. The local ecosystem is the source of food supplying which provides people with nutrients, as well as all other essential matters, including clothing, shelter and transportation, and cultural supporting. The local agricultural ecosystem is inextricably linked with the surrounding environment through local activities at various cultural levels. The local ecological environmental system, consisting of natural landscape characters and human-shaped parts, including crops, poultry, aquatic products, animals, and wild species, shows great diversity. One example is the subsistence culture of ethnic minorities such as the Miao and Dong in the rice-sh agricultural ecosystem of Congjiang County in southeastern Guizhou, China. It is a traditional agroecosystem where people have grown rice and cultured sh in the paddy elds for many generations [1].
Miao and Dong in Congjiang County, Guizhou Province, are two main ethnic groups, accounted for more than 90% of the population in the county. They live as neighbors. The Miao ethnic people settle mainly on the slopes with a higher altitude, while the Dong live close to rivers or streams at lower altitude. Both of them live in the environment with rich biodiversity, and manage and maintain the traditional riceduckweed-sh-duck agricultural ecosystem [2]. This traditional arti cial ecosystem was authorized as a globally important agricultural heritage systems (GIAHS) site, designated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2011 (http://www.fao.org/giahs/giahsaroundtheworld/en/). It is recognized as the indigenous community important knowledge resource, safeguard food security and poverty reduction. This ecosystem deeply in uences their culture and customs. The rich edible biological resources produced by the rice-sh ecosystem have been integrated into the social culture and spiritual activities of the local Miao and Dong peoples, who are the important guardians of this traditional knowledge. Local people manage forests around the paddy rice elds in support of ecological and biodiversity conservation. When they harvest rice, people collect sh, green fodder and so on, and process them into other products for future uses. For example [1][2][3], sh would be preserved with various edible plants for food and cultural demands (for large events such as weddings, funerals, and religious ceremonies), sh-grilling (for harvest celebrations), and so on. Among them, sh-grilling or sh barbecue is one of the most impressive activities. These activities retain their unique culture and the relationship with the environment, showing the way of interaction and evolution, re ecting the phenomenon of cultural development and evolvement.
Under the in uence of modern agricultural intensi cation and biotechnology, more and more people take a few food crops as staple food (such as rice, wheat, potato, or corn) [4,5]. One billion people worldwide still collect wild edible plants for diets. In many communities, such as in southern Ethiopia [6,7], southwestern China [8] and rural Cyprus [9], indigenous people gather and consume WEPs and semidomesticated plants to supplement their diets. In addition to collecting wild plants directly, some wild species deemed valuable have been purposefully domesticated in major production areas. For example, the native tuber crop Dioscorea dumetorum in Benin (West Africa) has been gained by local farmers as an important understanding of the species [10]. However, it is obvious that these traditional arti cial ecosystems and their diversity of species utilization, as well as their impact on local culture, have been well documented, but are still far from enough, as the traditional knowledge existed in southeast Guizhou to be recorded in the present paper.
In our ethnobotanical surveys, we investigated the species diversity and associated traditional knowledge of sh-grilling plants. They are edible plants related to sh-grilling activities, used primarily for avoring or increasing the availability of sh from the famous rice-sh agroecosystem in southeast Guizhou.
Although the collection and consumption of edible plants are widespread locally, their diversity and relevant indigenous knowledge have not been adequately investigated. The purpose of this ethnobotanical study is to provide an inventory of these plants, and to assess the signi cance of these plants in local cultural functions, and the differences among different ethnic groups and their causes. We calculated the delity (FL) and cultivated important plant index (CII) for each plant species and its application. The visual method was used to design the cultural important plant matrix, and the differences between the two cultural important plant species were compared and analyzed. The information provided here describes an ancient tradition of using edible plants associated with shgrilling, with potential social and environmental impacts that will contribute to local rural development and biodiversity conservation.

Study area
This ethnobotanical survey aimed to investigate the wild edible plant species used for traditional shgrilling by the Miao and Dong ethnic groups living in Northeast Congjiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province, China. These particular practices are being used since eternity descended from the traditional knowledge of locals. This area covers about 3,244 km 2 and in a mid-subtropical warmth and humid monsoon climate area with the average annual temperature of 18.4 °C, receiving 1,193 mm mean annual rain fall [11,12]. The area is composed of low mountains and hills occupied over approximately 90% of its total territory. Dong and Miao are two main ethnic groups in this area, with 90% of ca. 300 thousand people mainly living in rural areas. Agriculture is their main occupation. Most of the people, living in the villages along the hills, from the valley to the mid-mountain, sometimes to the top, make living from the environment appropriate age-old rice-sh agriculture. It has been recognized as an ecosystem with more levels of nutrition, longer food chain, and more complex food web [12]. Xiaohuang (a village dominated by Dong people) and Basha (dominated by Miao) are typical ethnic villages. The former resides in low altitude, near the hill foot, and close to the river. The later one resides to the middle of the hills. In Xiaohuang, the rice-sh agriculture practiced by Dong people has a long history. Nowadays, the glutinous rice and sh co-culture is still the main type of rice planting pattern in the local Dong communities in low altitude areas, while corn and many other crops are the main sources of income for Miao people living in the hill and mountains in Basha village. The sh is widely raised in the terraced elds, and the grilled sh is considered being one of important traditional food in Congjiang.
Based on the accessibility and availability of local informants, we visited several villages dominated by two ethnic groups, Dong and Miao, at the beginning of this study. Finally, two villages, Xiaohuang and Basha, were selected for intensive data-collecting during September 2017 and March 2020 ( Figure 1).

Data collection
For collecting data, informed consent was obtained from local people orally while explaining the scope of the investigation prior to the interviews. All the informants were interviewed through direct observation, semi-structured interviews, individual discussions, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions through snowball methodology [13] in two villages, Xiaohuang and Basha. We revisited the informants in order to verify the consistency of the information collected in the previous visit. Some inconsistent were occurred and was directly discussed with informants to clarify the reasons. So all the data presented in this paper are thorough and complete based on our surveys.
A total of 279 informants were randomly selected for the present study. These respondents include 161 Dong people (57.71%) in Xiaohuang and 118 Miao people (42.29%) in Basha (Table 1). All individuals were interviewed on commonly gathering and using wild species of plant origin (fruits, roots/tubers, leafy vegetables, spices, and others), their availability, preparation forms and conservation status for their traditional sh-grilling. All the plants mentioned by the respondents were collected and identi ed in the eld. The documented plant species were validated for identi cation based on "Flora of China" [14] and taxonomy updated according to "The Plant List" [15]. The specimens matched with the herbarium lodged and assigned voucher numbers in the Herbaria of Jishou University, Hunan Province, China.

Data analysis
The information of plant resources used for sh-grilling were recorded including the local names of species, habit, their uses in different forms, mode of administration, part(s) used and information concerning the edible value or relevance to local communities. The information forms are from at least three respondents for quantitative analysis [16]. To determine the in uence of socioeconomic factors, two different indicators of knowledge were used: (1) delity level [17], the delity level of each plant used was examined and based on combined use citation totals from all informants; (2) cultural important plants index [18], cultural important plants index for one species by all informants.

Fidelity level
The categories calculated for uses of the delity level (FL) percentage measure analysis are detailed in Table 2. Each plant use was added to the appropriate category prior to analysis calculated following formula: Where N p is the total number of informants that independently cited a speci c plant use and N is the total number of informants (N) that cited the plant for any use.

Cultural important plants index
For the purposes to evaluate the cultural importance of each species based on its cited uses of two ethnic groups. The cultural important plants index (CII) was calculated for each plant and in each group. Brie y, it is calculated as follows: Where NC is the total number of different use-categories, and UR is the total number of all the informants (from i 1 to i N ) that summing the same data, but grouping them in a different manner (Dong ethnic group and Miao ethnic group). As an additive index, CII takes into account both spread of the use (number of informants) for each species in different groups (CII D and CII M ) and its versatility.

Cultural important plants matrix design
The cultural important plants matrix design, a visual approach created by Cassandra et al. [19] and Kunwar et al. [20], was designed for the comparative analysis of how cultural important plants differ in two groups, Dong and Miao. The CII data for each group were plotted with a standard scatterplot, with Dong cultural important plants index data corresponding to the x-axis and Miao cultural important plants index data to the y-axis.

Socio-economic characteristics of informants
A total of 118 Miao and 161 Dong informants were interviewed in the present study (Table 1). All informants practiced sh-grilling and also kept this traditional sh processing method due to the emotional connection with local farmers and the age-old rice-sh agriculture system. Informants interviewed were mostly male and there were more percentage of male among Miao informants than that of Dong informants (respectively 61.0% and 56.5%), the sex ratio of Miao was higher than Dong (1.3 vs. 1.6). Farmers (83.1% of Miao, 77.0% of Dong) are the most important occupations, in addition to migrant workers, students and local o cials. More sh-grilling plants were reports by middle-age and old people (age > 40) than those by younger ones . Respectively 82.2% and 73.9 % of Miao and Dong informants were illiterate (someone even attended the school but cannot read).

Habits of sh-grilling plants
The plants for sh-grilling are from four habits, namely herbs (36 species), trees (12 species), climbers (2 species) and shrubs (2 species) in Congjiang County, Guizhou. Among them, herbs are the most important group for local sh-grilling, accounting for 69%, trees accounted for 23%, and climbers and shrubs each accounted for 4% (Fig. 3).

Status of sh-grilling plants
The Venn's diagram (Fig. 4) showed that most plant species for sh-grilling in Congjiang County are wild,

Fidelity level analysis of the sh-grilling plants used
The analysis of sh-grilling plants listed in Table 2 showed that both Miao and Dong people had a high delity level of these plants in the study area. A total of 62% (n = 32) sh-grilling plants had high Fidelity Level (≥ 50%). Particularly, 5 edible plants, Mentha spicata, Clinopodium chinense, Agastache rugose, Oenanthe javanica and Apium graveolen had the highest Fidelity Level (≥ 90%). Species with low delity level were mostly used broader.

Cultural important plants matrix analysis
The majority of sh-grilling plants had an intermediate (quadrants II, III, VI, and VII) cultural important plant index score (Fig. 5). No species emerged in quadrant I and VIII, indicating that neither ethnic group has strict exclusivity species for the traditional sh-grilling.
Lagenaria siceraria emerged in quadrant V, was speci cally cultural important to Dong people, but not to Miao people. Allium macrostemon and Allium stulosum received higher cultural important plants index in Miao group scores emerged in quadrant II. Likewise, two species received higher cultural important plants index scores emerged in quadrant VII in Dong group: Allium hookeri and Coriandrum sativum.
Out of the 52 taxa documented in this study, only Capsicum annuuum emerged in quadrant IV, indicating high value to both Miao and Dong people for sh-grilling. Both two ethnic groups like to bake or grill peppers (Capsicum annuuum) as dressing, tearing off the burnt skin, then use some leaves of other spice plants mixed with water, named Zhanshui, similar to sauce with sliced chilli peppers. As the locals claimed, the grilled sh will become insipid without such special traditional condiment.

Knowledge and use of edible plants for sh-grilling in Congjiang
Using wild food plants (WFPs) is an important part of livelihood strategies in many primitive human communities throughout the world. Wild plants may be the main livelihood food source for people or maybe just a supplement (nutrition source, medicine, special event). In Congjiang County, Miao and Dong also use a variety of wild plants in their sh-grilling activities during the harvest season. Among the 52 species of local's traditional baking-sh plants recorded in this study, the vast majority were WFPs. Miao and Dong appear to be the most populous ethnic groups, and they had the traditional customs of shgrilling when harvesting rice. These sh-grilling plants were important supplement foods, not just favoring local food security, but mainly important in their harvesting activities.
Our survey found that the plant species used for sh baking by local people are mainly herbs, with fewer woody plants, vines and shrubs. The area is mainly forest land, but the trees do not occupy the quantitative advantage of the raw materials of the grilled sh. The forest tree species in and around the area is mainly Chinese r (Cunninghamia lanceolata). In the case of sh-grilling, the bark can only be used as a fuelwood. The edible plants are mainly herbaceous plants under the forest and rice elds, which is in line with some similar cases of the optimal foraging principle [21][22][23]. Those plants available nearby or plentiful locally are most possibly used, when sh-grilling activities occurred, which is in line with the resource availability hypothesis [24,25]. Usually leaves (including young shoots) are used more, and the roots and stems are used lease. Using leaves make the least damage to plants when collecting, see Figs. 3 and 6.
In addition, a small number of these wild plant species are purposefully domestically planted for domestication and cultivation (Fig. 4), and that are really showed that the arti cial cultivation with economic value, such as Coriandrum sativum, Luffa aegyptiaca and Lagenaria siceraria. The local people's traditional practice with these sh-grilling related plant species is conducive to the maintenance of local biodiversity, re ecting the concept of harmony between the local people and the nature.
Both Miao and Dong people had a high-delity level towards sh-grilling plants in the study area. Most of these plants had an intermediate cultural important plant index score by Dong and Miao people. Capsicum annuum was of high value to locals for sh-grilling. There were some given species received higher cultural important plants index in two groups: Allium macrostemon and Allium stulosum to Miao people, and Allium hookeri and Coriandrum sativum to Dong people, respectively.
Allium macrostemon, Allium stulosum, Allium hookeri and Coriandrum sativum are four spices commonly used locally to enhance the avor of sh in the roasting process. Allium macrostemon grew mainly on the slopes, Allium stulosum was drought-tolerant and water logging tolerant, and the Miao who lived on the slopes at slightly higher altitudes were more likely to use the plants and to have a higher survival score on plant selection preferences. Allium hookeri grows in moist forests and around rice elds. Coriandrum sativum is a widely cultivated spice crop, which requires fertile soil and good water conservation. These two species are used more by Dong people, who lives at the foot of lower mountains, compared to Miao people. Therefore, the preference of Miao and Dong to sh-grilling plants may be related to their living environment.

Relationship between formal education and traditional culture
In this ethnic area where traditional rice-sh farming is used for agricultural livelihoods, most people do not have access to the high-quality education in the past, but they maintain lots of traditional knowledge.
Some residents believe traditional ecological knowledge was highly eroded by formal education, so the local experts (teachers and traditional knowledge experts) call for the formal education must to be integrated with local cultural backgrounds and traditional practices [26]. If the local knowledge and cultural diversity does not fully take into account, the traditional ecological knowledge and linguistic diversity of local communities was resulting in rapid losing.
In fact, the traditional knowledge like sh-grilling plant uses, as a localized education entity (book preparation and teaching) was unlikely to be widely applicable in China with 55 ethnic groups. However, sh-grilling is a typical symbol of traditional culture of Congjiang. There is no doubt that its traditional knowledge deserves protection and inheritance. Therefore, we advocate the ethnobiologists, education reformists and practitioners of cultural conservation can actively called for the inclusion of traditional culture in the formal education system.

Cultural importance and biodiversity of sh-grilling plants
The Food rituals of rice-sh production Many ethnic rituals are presented through language of creating, giving and eating food [27]. While grilling sh from the Dong area in Congjiang County, it will also grills other foods such as chicken, pork, and shrimp, and eat steamed glutinous rice which is usually packed in a container made of Lagenaria siceraria (Fig. 6c). The food ritual participants are generally community elders or prestigious people who create and maintain each other's variant identities and relationships through rituals. The information reporter re ected that the traditional barbecue ceremony was related to the ancestor worship of Dong people. In this way, they told their ancestors to "the warehouse is full of rice, and the jar is lled with kipper" to celebrate the harvest of rice and sh. To a certain extent, rituals can re ect the positive consciousness of human beings for the protection of biodiversity, contain the ecological culture concept of respecting nature, and can be regarded as a cultural example to reconstruct the harmonious and mutually bene cial relationship between human and nature.
The sustainable consumption and production patterns As we all know, land is a xed resource, and with the acceleration of China's urbanization process and the extensive development of the rural revitalization strategy in rural areas, the land use change in Qiandongnan Prefecture will affect the services provided by the rice-sh-duck agro-ecosystem. This study shows that the two major ethnic groups in the region maintain a sustainable consumption and production patterns by using rice sh and wild edible plant resources within the system with limited external production input, this reliance on the ecosystem services provided by indigenous biological resources for the basic necessities of life can facilitate the transfer of rich ethnobotanical knowledge to the local population and maintain a high level of local biodiversity.
Due to the needs of traditional sh-grilling ingredients, locals are free to use local wild plant resources without any restrictions, so this may increase the chance of extinction of certain plants. Worldwide, because of over-acquisition and over-harvest of resources, there are 15,000 plant species may be facing extinction [28]. Fortunately, the wild species collected for sh-grilling in Congjiang are commonly distributed in local ecosystems, as shown in Table 2.

Conclusions
This study investigates and documents the traditional knowledge of sh-grilling plants in Congjiang County. Peoples in two ethnic groups, Dong and Miao, have a high degree of overlap when choosing shgrilling plants, and there is also a small amount of dietary culture preference. The traditional barbecue ceremony was related to the ancestor worship of local people, which maintains a sustainable consumption and production patterns by using rice sh and wild edible plant resources. Obviously, this information con rms the harmonious relationship between the local people's traditional knowledge and natural resources. Results can serve as baseline data for preservation of the agricultural cultural heritage in a form of traditional sh-grilling plant knowledge in Southeast Guizhou of China.

Declarations
Geographic location of the study area: Caption: Xiaohuang, Basha in Congjiang, Southeast Guizhou, China. Note: The designations employed and the presentation of the material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Research Square concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area o bbnhjr of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. This map has been provided by the authors.