Department of Medical Botany, Plant Breeding and Agronomy

The department of Medical Botany, Plant Breeding and Agronomy is one of the three departments of the Institute of Traditional Medicine. It was established in 2006.it is charged with handling major activities including taxonomic identification and documentation of plants which are used by Traditional Healers and Traditional Birth Attendants, conduction of economic mapping of the spontaneous flora of Tanzania to identify the qualitative and quantitative genetic resources in medicinal and aromatic plants, promotion on conservation of medicinal and aromatic plant biodiversity in the country based on realistic in-situ and ex-situ sustainable programmes, agrobiological studies on medicinal and aromatic plants growing in the spontaneous flora in order to establish the ecophysiological and agrotechnological requirements needed for commercial exploitation, enhancement of the cultivation of important medicinal and aromatic plants to facilitate a sustainable economic harvesting of the natural resources without jeopardising the genetic germplasm, genetic, pathological, entomological and biochemical studies on      prospective medicinal and aromatic plants in order to realise a sustainable utilization of medicinal/aromatic plants. Other activities include development and maintainnance of a rich herbarium of medicinal and aromatic plants for research, teaching and retrieval purposes, and to disseminate ethnobotanical and agronomical research information to scientists, students, traditional healers and general public through publications, seminars, pamphlets and workshops.

The research carried out at the department has helped to generate rich data on different disciplines. For example, currently over 5000 records and about 1500 species of medicinal plants are recorded. The study on distribution of some potential medicinal plants such as Prunus africana was done whereas their distribution was established. There is ex-situ conservation program of some exotic medicinal plants in the institute farms in Tanga, Coast and Arusha regions. The agronomic studies of some native plants of Tanzania such as Hypoxis, Orchids and Aloes is being done as such, some exotic species such as Artemisia, Hybiscus, Cynara, Pimpinella, Saponaria and Glycirrhiza  are grown at the institute medicinal farms in Lushoto, Arusha and Kongowe. About 4500 records of the herbarium are already digitalized and shared with the TanBIF. Some framers in Kongowe ward ware trained on good agricultural practices. The Molecular lab laboratory has been established for plant DNA barcoding and there is living collection of Aloe and Hypoxis species at the background of ITM building.

Future plans of the department includes establishment of medicinal plants Botanical garden, establishment of department of medical anthropology and recruitment of more staff with specialties in the areas of plant systematic, agronomy, medical anthropology, plant breeding, agriculture and botany.

1.Research currently carried out by the department

1. Growth appraisal and performance of Hypoxis species in Lushoto Medicinal farm
2. Propagation tests of Glycirrhiza glabra and Pimpinella anisum in Lushoto and Meru/USA in Arusha
3. Trial cultivation of wild collected Artemisia affra in Lushoto medicinal farm
4. Comparison of the yield per stem for Hypoxis spp in Lushoto farm

2.Training programme

The department is involved in training Post Graduate students where the courses offered are:

1.  TM 601: Traditional and Alternative Health Care Systems
2. TM 602: Medical Botany, Biosystematics, and Plant Breeding.

 3.Community outreach

1. There is collaborative farming where local communities in Lushoto and Arusha Olmotonyi are involved in contractual cultivation of some medicinal plants such as Hibiscus subdariffa, Plantago lanceolata, Cynara Scolymus, Artemisia affra, Artemisia annua, Pimpinella anisum, Glycirhiza glabra etc for production of herbal medicines at the institute.