Wild Edible Fruits of Arunachal Pradesh, India: Ethno-Medicinal Uses, Socio Economic Importance and Role in Rural Economy and Livelihood Security


 Background Forests inhibits a large number of trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, wealth of non-timber forest products and a good number of wild edible fruits plants. These wild edible fruits are an indispensable constituent of human and rich in vitamin, minerals, fibre, antioxidants and compounds of nutritional importance such as alkaloids, essential oils and phenolic etc. Many of them are also very good source of ethno-medicines. But, the knowledge of valuable heritage of these fruits is orally handed over from one generation to other generation years after year. Nevertheless, the folk and ethno-medicinal values of these fruits are still playing a great role in treatment of diseases but now the traditional knowledge are disappearing and losing their intrinsic values. The present study was undertaken to document wild edible fruits of Arunachal Pradesh, India, and to study the socio-economic importance of these fruits among the people of the district.Methods Extensive field surveys, plant collection, herbarium preparations and personal interviews with the traditional healers as well as local people from rural villages were conducted for this study. Altogether 50 wild edible fruits belonging to 31 families having medicinal and socio economic significance were reported in this study. Results Among the different families, Moraceae and Rutaceae were the dominant with 5 species, followed by Phyllanthaceae, Anacardiaceae and Rosaceae, Arecaceae, Fabaceae, Lauraceae, Primulaceae and Fagaceae. In terms of parts used, the highest used was leaves (35.58 %), followed by fruits and bark (21.51%), root (10.73 %), seed (7.53 %), latex (2.15%) and shoot (1.07%). Therapeutically, the reported wild edible fruits are used against 14 classes of diseases viz. gastrointestinal, dermatological, cardiovascular, respiratory, urogenital, ENT, Anti-venom/ insect bite, snakebite, mental and nervous disorders, minor ailments, bone disease, food poison, jaundice, cancers and allergy. They have a number of uses in the rural economy like constructional timbers, firewood, charcoal, fodder, fish poisoning, dyes, oils etc.Conclusions Although, these fruits plays an important role in the social and cultural life of the tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh, India, but this valuable species has been vanishing at a very faster rate without proper documentation. Therefore, the claimed therapeutic values of these species are to be critically studied and conserve these valuable species before their extinction.


Background
Forests are the integral part of global sustainable development and provides renewable raw material, maintain biological diversity, mitigate climate change, protect land and water resources, improve air quality and help to alleviate poverty. From ancient times, forests have played a very important role in improving the food security and livelihood of the tribal society as well social, economic and religious activities. Rural people depends on these forests to ful l their sustainable livelihood as well as source of income for economic prosperity. These forests inhibits a large number of trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, as well as non-timber forest products including medicinal and aromatic plants and a good number of wild fruit plants. These wild fruits are an indispensable constituent of rural people since very ancient time.
These wild fruits are rich in vitamin, minerals, bre, antioxidants and compounds of nutritional importance such as alkaloids, essential oils and phenolic etc. Some of these fruits reported to have comparable or even higher in nutritive values than the so called commercial fruits [1][2]. These wild fruits play a signi cant role in the rural life as a source of food and fodder as well have important role in socioeconomic life of traditional indigenous people through their uses in ethno-medicine, shelter, bres, dyes, and religious and traditional rituals [3]. Due to the presence of su ciently high amount of minerals and vitamins, inclusion of these fruits in daily diet can reduce the risk of a number of diseases like diabetes, cancer and coronary heart disease [4]. In addition, incorporation of these fruits in agricultural system can also protect biological diversity as well provide adequate food security and boost the rural economy. For this purpose, proper identi cation, documentation as well enumeration of the valuable species is very much necessary [5].
North-east India is one of the agro biodiversity hot-spots in the India gene centre, and full of ethnic and traditional diversity. Arunachal Pradesh, geographically the largest state of North-east India is commonly known as Orchid state of India or paradise of botanist which translates to "land of the dawn-lit mountains". The state is having more than 26 major tribes and over 100 sub-tribes, with differences in their tradition and customs. The tradition, socio-culture life and custom of each tribe mostly depend on bio-diversity, forest and wildlife of the state. The state falls within the 12 mega diversity "Hot Spots" in the world having 20% species of country's fauna, 4500 species of owering plants, 400 species of pteridophytes, 23 species of conifers, 35 species of bamboos, 20 species of canes, 52 Rhododendron species & more than 500 species of orchids. Most of the people of the state depend mainly on forests to earn their livelihood. The tribal people of the state depend on forests for food, bre, fodder, in addition to ethno-medicines in traditional healthcare system. In addition to other edible and non-edible plants in the forests, a number of wild fruits are also there which the tribal people have been using since ancient times against a number of diseases in traditional healthcare system. But, the knowledge of this valuable heritage of these fruits has been transmitted from generation to generation orally without proper documentation [6]. In many villages, these fruits also serve as source of staple food as well serve as complementary food and offers as an source of sustainable income and livelihood security [7]. But of now, with ever increasing population pressure and shrinkage of land as well as use of forests areas for development and constructional projects, these wild fruits are in verge of extinction. Although, these fruits have been using in folk medicines of traditional healthcare system but the traditional knowledge about the ethno-medicinal uses of these fruits have been losing their intrinsic value because of lack of proper documentation [8]. Therefore it is the high time for the scienti c communities to safeguard these valuable natural resources of the forests by domestication measures as well as conservation efforts [9].
Keeping in view all these information, the present research work was carried out to innumerate the ethnomedicinal uses of wild fruits of Arunachal Pradesh as well as of these fruits in the socio-economic life of rural people.

Study Area
The present research work was carried out during 2017-2019 to document the ethno-medicinal uses of wild fruits of East Siang, Upper Siang, West Siang, and Lower Dibang valley districts of Arunachal Pradesh in the traditional healthcare system of rural people as well as the uses of these species in the socio-economic life of rural people. The study consisting of collection, identi cation and proper enumeration of the species. Field visits were done to collect the information about the available wild fruits. The methods for the eld work was followed as suggested by [10][11][12]. Questionnaires were prepared and personal interviews were taken with the traditional healers of rural villages to collect the information about the ethno-medicinal uses of the fruits among the rural people by following standard guidelines. The uses of these fruits among the rural people like local name, parts used, name of the diseases, methods of preparation, dosage etc. were collected. Literature survey was done as well as various oras and monographs were consulted to identify the collected specimen. After identi cation of the species, they were processed, dried and herbarium specimen were prepared according to the conventional herbarium techniques [13]. The voucher specimens were deposited at department of Horticulture, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, Mizoram University, India.
Regarding the use of these fruits in the socio-economic life of rural people, questionnaire was prepared and people of different age groups were interviewed including rural practitioner, old men and women, young youths. To know the uses of these fruits in socio-economic life of the rural people like constructional timber, rewood, charcoal, fodder, etc. aged men and women were interviewed. Similarly, to know the uses of these fruits for making dyes, rural people involved in handicraft industry were interviewed. Similarly, market surveys were done at rural markets and sellers were asked about market price, demand, season of availability etc.

Results And Discussion
Ethno-medicinal evaluation  Table 1 represents the details about the uses of wild edible fruits of Arunachal Pradesh in the traditional healthcare system of rural people. The details information about the uses of wild fruits in the traditional healthcare system was collected from the traditional healthcare practitioner in the villages. ii) Decoction of roots is also good for treatment for fever.
The data regarding the uses of different parts of the wild fruits plants in the traditional healthcare system have been represented in Fig. 3. The Fig. reveals that among the different plant parts, the highest part used was leaf with 33 uses (35.48%), followed by fruits and bark 20(21.51%), root 10(10.75%), seed 7 (7.53%), latex 2(2.15%) and shoot with 1 use (1.08%).

Page 15/30
The therapeutic classi cation of wild fruits of Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India are presented in Table   2. The data presented in the   Table 3 reveals the data regarding the socio-economic uses of wild fruits of Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India for constructional timber, rewood, charcoal and fodder. In Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India most of the houses are in the villages are made of with woods and each household depends on trees available in the forests or home gardens to construct their houses. Some of the wild fruits trees produce very good timbers for construction of houses. in the villages. Among the different species of fruits, Phoebe cooperiana produce best quality timber. In addition, timbers of Castanopsis hystrix, Syzygium cumini, Spondias pinnata and Terminalia citrina timbers were extensively use by the tribal people of the state. In addition, timbers made from Saurauia roxburghii,Castanopsis indica and Canarium strictum were moderately used by the rural people for constructional works.
In addition to use as constructional timbers as well as making furniture, in the rural villages which are far from the city, people still cook their daily foods as well as pig feed in the rewood. Since each and every family have a good number of pigs so they need a su cient quantity of rewood every day to prepare pig feed. In the villages, they consume signi cant quantity of rewood (4,000 -6,000 kg/family/year). During the day time, the men and women goes to nearby forests and their home gardens to collect the rewood.
In addition to the other forest trees, wild fruits are also very good source of rewood. Fruits like Castanopsis hystrix, Castanopsis indica and Saurauia roxburghii produced best quality rewood. In addition, Bischo a javanica and Syzygium cumini also produce very good quality rewoods extensively used by the rural people of Arunachal Pradesh.
In Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India, the livelihood of rural rural people still depends on domestic animals. Each and every households have different types of domestic animals including cow and goat. All these animals need fodder every day. Average fodder need per family varies from 5,000-8,000 kg per year and these fodders come from agricultural elds, agroforestry trees and agricultural by-products. The leaves of wild fruits serves the purpose of fodder need needs of each family. Artocarpus heterophyllus, Ficus auriculata and Ficus semicordata were very good fodder for these domestic animals.
In the rural areas of Arunachal Pradesh, people still use charcoals for different purposes like for cooking and other needs. Some families even earn their livelihood by selling the charcoals prepared from different trees. Some of the wild fruits produce very good source of charcoals. Fruit trees like Tamarindus indica, Syzygium cuminii, Castanopsis hystrix, Castanopsis indica produce best quality charcoals used by the rural people for various purposes.

Plants for sh-poisoning
Arunachal Pradesh is a state which is criss-crossed by numerous rivers, riverine and streams. Most of the villagers in the rural areas generate their income by selling the shes collected from the rivers. A good number of wild fruits have been used by the rural people to catch shes ( Table 4). The freshly crushed or powered plant component is put into the running streams and the toxic chemicals present in the plant kills the shes present in the rivers. The quantity of plant material applied vary from species to species. Fruit species like Gynocardia odorata, Myrica esculenta and Zanthoxylum rhetsa were extensively used as sh poison. These species are mainly used to catch the small sized shes in the rivers as well as small streams and ponds. It is reported that the chemicals present in the fruits affect the respiratory system of shes [14], however, there is no report available on the effect of such poisoning on esh quality of sh. Wild fruits for making dyes The handicraft industry of Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India is very rich. The rural people mostly prepared these handicrafts by using the locally available materials. Some wild fruits of Arunachal Pradesh are also used for making dyes used in the local handicraft industries to colour the traditional dresses of men and women ( Table 5). Colour of such dyes has no bad effects on health and is long lasting. Wild fruits like Baccurea rami ora Bischo a javanica, Garcinia cowa, Myrica esculenta and Ziziphus mauritiana produce very good quality dyes used by the rural people to make dyes in handicraft industry.

Wild fruits and their value added products
The wild fruits bear extensively large number of fruits in the trees and most of the household have 2-3 trees of wild fruits. Because of this reason, during the peak season of fruiting, the wild fruits available in glut in the villages. Additionally, due to less market demand as raw fruits, most of them spoiled during their fruiting season. To get rid of this problem, a number of value added products can be prepared from these fruits and thus can save these fruits from spoilage and additionally the farmer can earn extra income. Table 6 represents the various value added products prepared from the wild fruits of Arunachal Pradesh. Miscellaneous uses of wild edible fruits  and Upper Siang district to know the availability, market price and consumption pattern of wild edible species (Table 8). Weekly survey revealed the simultaneous availability of an individual species in the two markets, however, market prices varied at both the markets. In general, the wild fruits are collected by the rural men and women one day before the market day from the forests as well as from home gardens and bring them to market by themselves or sold through some middlemen. Most of the fruits have good demand in the rural hats which people buy either to consume them as raw or to produce value added products. The availability of these fruits vary from fruits to fruits and their market price also vary from Rs.
20/-to 40/-per Kg depending upon the type of the fruits. Interview with the shop owners revealed that the availability of the wild fruits decreased as compared to previous years.
fruits and bark (21.51%), root (10.73 %), seed (7.53 %), latex (2.15%) and shoot (1.07%). Therapeutically, the reported wild edible fruits are used against 14 classes of diseases. Our present study is in close conformity with the previous studies in Arunachal Pradesh where the researchers proved that a number of plants of the state have been used as ethno-medicine by the tribal people of the state [19].
In Arunachal Pradesh, India, the tribal people use the wild fruits to sustain rural livelihood in the socioeconomic life of rural people. They use these fruits for constructional timbers, rewood, charcoal, fodder, sh poisoning, dyes, etc. A number of previous studies also in the same line of our study where they reported that a number of wild edible fruits of north-east India have been used for constructional timber, rewood, charcoal, fodder and many other miscellaneous purposes [20][21]. In addition, most of the wild edible fruits have been used in the socio-economic life of rural people of north-east India like sh poisoning, dyes, oils, fermented products like pickles, and other miscellaneous uses [22].
The local inhabitants of Arunachal Pradesh, India, consume a large number of wild edible fruits as important parts of their diets. Most of the species were used for their fruits, seeds, leaves, shoots, owers, and roots or rhizomes. Similar ratios and trends of usage for different plant parts are reported for the country of India [23,1]. The tribal people of the state collect these wild edible fruits from primary and secondary forests and most of these fruits are sold in the local markets or hats. These wild fruits, therefore, are helpful in alleviating a subsistence economy [17]. In addition to use as a source of medicine, a number of these species are also processed into value added products, which reduce the spoilage of these fruits during the on season and can be stored for use in a lean period also helps the farmers to maximise their income [24]. Consumption of wild plants provides substantial nutritional dietary bene ts to tribal populations of remote areas. Some wild edible plants are rich in nutrient content, and may even be superior to cultivated ones in this respect [25]. A varied diet of wild edible plants may also increase one's sense of food palatability, which in turn may lead to an increase in food intake [26][27]. Due to the inaccessibility of many regions, wild plants can serve as an important supplement to conventional, domesticated crops.
The population density of these wild species is progressively decreasing and their natural regeneration is often poor in natural habitats due to intense biotic and abiotic pressure. The pressure is further aggravated, as they are collected freely in large quantity from the backyard/forest for selling in the markets and used as fuel wood. Such uncontrolled exploitation of these naturally occurring wild genetic resources has led them to become rare to very rare and many may become extinct in near future.
Furthermore, this may lead to narrowing the genetic diversity and variability of these wild species. With the ever increasing population, there is a great need to popularize and conserve these genetic resources in order to meet the future demand for human food, nutrition, medicine, and gene(s) sources for adapting to climate change.
Utilization of wild edible plants will be an effective tool for restoration of traditional knowledge system inherent in tribal people. This can easily be achieved in the government launces programme involving local community on care and share basis for conservation of genetic resources of wild edible fruits. The necessary steps should also be taken for cultivation of important wild edibles in agro forestry system.
Undoubtedly, the traditional wisdom of controlled exploitation will constitute the traditional heritage of the people of Arunachal Pradesh, India. There is an ample scope for studies on regeneration behaviour, population structure and status of such biological resources. The studies on phonological characterics of different species must be given due importance. The outcome of such studies will be useful in determining appropriate conservation strategy.

Conclusion
North-east region of India is a treasure trove for wild edible fruit crops in India. Wild fruit species of in Northeast India have diverse social, economic and scienti c importance. To safeguard the existing genetic diversity of these valuable species sincere in situ conservation efforts are urgently required. Dynamic conservation and preservation of associated indigenous knowledge among local tribal and farmer communities can be carried out through policy interventions, implementation of farmers rights and generating awareness among the local people. Proper strategies must be frame out for their conservation and utilization. Researchers, scientists' farmers, and the entrepreneurs should work together to make these valuable species as commercial crops for future. Then only food, nutritional and livelihood security among the rural people may be achieved. Bio prospecting of these valuable genotypes would further enhance the possibilities of utilizing rare genes to mitigate the challenges of climate change and biological stresses. Value addition and product development will help to conserve these species and thus conserve them along with associated traditional knowledge.

Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate Family wise representation of wild edible fruits of Arunachal Pradesh, India