Herbal medicine used to treat primary infertility in women by traditional practioners of Vijayapur (Bijapur) district of Karnataka, India

. An ethno-botanical survey of Vijayapur district comprising five tehsils was conducted during February 2014 to December 2015. The main purpose of this survey was to document the traditional use of medicinal plants for primary infertility in women in vijayapur district. 13 species belonging to 13 genera and 12 families were found to be used to treat primary infertility. The scientific name, family, local name, habit along with part used and mode of their administration are provided.


INTRODUCTION
India is a major centre of origin and diversity of medicinal plants. Traditional knowledge of herbal remedy to treat human diseases is fast declining in many parts of the world, including India. In India, about 2500 species belonging to more than 1000 genera and about 158 families are used in indigenous system of medicine (Tewari,1999).Traditional practitioners have their own traditional knowledge to treat primary infertility. "Primary infertility refers to who have not become pregnant after at least 1 year having sex without using birth control methods". Due to restless work, stress, strain and late marriage and chemical constituent food a lot of women facing problem of primary infertility. Most of the women do not approach doctors due to costly medicine, and different instrumental treatments like Laparoscopy test, Enzyme test, X-ray test, etc. Herbal medicines are cheap and easily available. The present study was initiated with an aim to identify medicinal plants resources from traditional practitioners of Vijayapur district to treat primary infertility
Vijyapur district is plain Deccan plateau, which is from 365-610 met height above sea level. This region is slope towards west to east. The river Doni , Krishna, Bheema, and their tributaries are flows according to the slope.
The total area of Vijayapur district is 10,541 sq kms. There are five talukas of Vijayapur district i,e., Vijayapur, Muddebihaal, Sindagi, Basavanbagevaadi and Indi. Bordered by the Bheema River in the north and the River Krishna in the south.
The district consists of the dry and arid tract of the Deccan Plateau. The temperature varies between 42°c during summer and 15°c during winter season respectively. In May mean maximum temperature is 40°c. The climate of this region is arid, tropical and steppe type.
The soil of Vijayapur district area is rich in content of basalt rock, magnetite, magnesium, aluminium and iron oxide.
The Vijayapur district receives normal rainfall 578.0 mm and the vegetation of this region is mainly dry and deciduous and broadly as vegetation on plains. The natural vegetation near Alamatti Dam area is like dry and hot having rich flora. Many local traditional practitioners collect the plants from this area to cure the diseases

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Ethno botanical survey during February 2014 to December 2015 carried out in Vijayapur district. For this, frequent field trips were made to 15 selected villages belonging to all 5 tehsils of the districts. 17 herbal healers (16 male and 1 women) of age group 48 to 84 years, herbal healers were interviewed, data and information recorded in the standard questionnaire. Collected data and information include, Vernacular name of traditionally used medicinal plants, part used, method of preparation and dosage. Medicinal plant species were photographed in the field. Plant specimens were identified consulting with experts, by referring Flora of Gulbarga District (Seetharam et.al., 2000), Three volumes of the Flora of presidency of Madras (Gamble, 1957). The voucher specimens were stored at the herbarium centre, Department of Post graduate studies and Research in Botany, Gulbarga University, Kalaburagi.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
In the present account, 13 species of angiosperms belonging to 13 genera and 12 families are reported ( Table 1). The predominant family is solanaceae with 2 species. Herbal preparation for primary infertility was in the form of decoction, juices, pastes etc. Other substances like honey, cow milk, safflower oil and cow ghee are also used in various preparation. All plant species are arranged in alphabetic order, for each species scientific name, Family, vernacular name, habit, part used and mode administrated are provided. Different plant parts were used to treat primary infertility among these leaves (28.5%), root (28.5%), fruit (7.14%), flower bud (7.14%), bark (7.14%), and whole plant   Review of related literature also reveals that medicinal plants used by the traditional practitioners of this area are also recommended on other areas for same purpose (Vasundhara and Bhupati 2007

CONCLUSIONS
India is a major centre of origin and diversity of medicinal plants. Traditional knowledge of herbal remedy to treat human diseases is fast declining in many parts of the world, including India. In India, about 2500 species belonging to more than 1000 genera and about 158 families are used in indigenous system of medicine.
An ethno-botanical survey of Vijayapur district comprising five tehsils was conducted during February 2014 to December 2015. The main purpose of this survey was to document the traditional use of medicinal plants for primary infertility in women in vijayapur district. 13 species belonging to 13 genera and 12 families were found to be used to treat primary infertility. The scientific name, family, local name, habit along with part used and mode of their administration are provided.