Pak. J. Bot., 44(5): 1609-1616, 2012. SCREENING OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE OF HERBAL REMEDIES FOR SKIN DISEASES AMONG LOCAL COMMUNITIES OF NORTH WEST PUNJAB, PAKISTAN FARAH GUL, ZABTA KHAN SHINWARI * AND IMRAN AFZAL Department of Biotechnology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad * Corresponding author’s e-mail: shinwari2008@gmail.com Abstract The aim of this study was to conduct an ethnobotanical survey of North Western Punjab to identify medicinal plants traditionally used to treat skin infections and to determine their antimicrobial potential against skin-infecting pathogens. Methanolic extracts of selected plants were screened against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans using the well diffusion method. Some plants are traditionally used in combination with other plants and chemicals like vinegar and olive oil. Therefore, antimicrobial screening was also done for these combinations in different proportions. Results showed that out of 12 studied plants, six showed inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. Azadirachta indica and Mentha arvensis showed high antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus with similar minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of 2.5 and 5mg/ml, respectively. Azadirachta indica, Cassia angustifolia, Phoenix dactylifera and Lawsonia inermis were found to be effective against the fungus Candida albicans, with MIC values of 0.625, 1.25, 0.625, 0.625 mg/ml and MBC values of 1.25, 2.5, 1.25 and 1.25 mg/ml, respectively. None of the plants showed antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The results of the combination experiment demonstrated that antimicrobial activity exhibited by combinations of plant extracts and chemicals was imparted by chemicals like vinegar. Introduction Plant-based medicines have a respectable position today, especially in developing countries where modern health services are not sufficient. Indigenous remedies are gaining popularity in both rural and urban areas because they are effective, safe and inexpensive. Information collected from ethnic groups or indigenous traditional medicine has played an important role in the discovery of new products from plants as chemotherapeutic agents (Katewa et al., 2004). Through ethnobotanical surveys, indigenous knowledge from local people and practitioners is collected and documented in order to identify plants that can be a source of drugs against infectious diseases (Sarwat et al., 2012). People inhabiting the tribal localities and villages have used indigenous plants as medicines for generations because this knowledge is based on experience. The tribes and villages also have no health facilities as they are far away from cities. Most inhabitants are poor or middle class and they cannot afford expensive synthetic drugs (Shinwari & Khan, 1998). About 80% of the world’s population depends on traditional systems of health care (Ahmad, 2005). In Pakistan, about 84% people depend upon traditional medicine for almost all their medicinal needs (Hocking, 1958). All traditional medicine systems have their roots in home remedies and this information is transmitted from one generation to another with the passage of time (Shinwari, 1996). Pakistan has an area of about 80,943 km 2 and it lies between 60° 55’ to 75° 30’ E longitude and 23° 45’ to 36° 50’ N latitude. As Pakistan has an altitude ranging from 0 to 8611m, it has a variety of climatic zones and is unique in biodiversity. In Pakistan there are about 6,000 species of higher plants. It has been reported that 600 to 700 species are used for medicinal purposes (Shinwari, 2010). It has also been anticipated that 70% of the total species are uni- regional and about 30% are bi-or pluri-regional. The country is divided into four phytogeographical regions: (i) Irano-Turanian (45% of species); (ii) Sino-Himalayan (10%); (iii) Saharo-Sindian (9.5%); (iv) Indian element (6%). Even though the Saharo-Sindian Region has the biggest area, the diversity of species restricted to this area is the lowest for any phytogeographical region (Ali & Qaiser, 1986). Pakistan is quite rich in medicinal herbs that are spread over a large area due to its salubrious climate. Pakistan has a rich flora, but a large portion of this indigenous plant knowledge still remains unexplored. The present investigation contributes to further comprehensive biological studies on these medicinal plants along with their biological standardization. The area of study for the ethnobotanical survey is the North-Western part of the Punjab province. It represents the plains of the western part of the salt-ranges near the Sakesar hill (Iftikhar, 1964). Its boundaries are within Bhakkar, Khushab, D.I. Khan and Bannu districts. It is part of Sargodha Division and has a population of more than one million. It has been estimated that 79.22% of people live in the rural areas while 20.78% of people live in the urban areas (Anonymous, 1998). Literacy rate of study area is 25%. Average maximum temperature per annum of this area is 47°C and minimum temperature is 19°C. Mean annual rainfall is 3.3 mm and the maximum rainfall of about 6.6 cm occurs in the month of July. The three types of soil in this district are sandy, clay and loamy. Wheat, barley, oat, mustard, Eruca, fennel, peanut, are important crops of the area (Anonymous, 2000; Iftikhar, 1964). Due to cutting of forests for fuel and timber purposes, the area covered by forest is low. The study area is primarily semi- arid, with a very small area irrigated by canals of the river Indus (Iftikhar, 1964).