Cactaceae: uses and knowledge of rural communities in the semi-arid zones of Cucaita, Ráquira and Villa de Leyva (Boyacá, Colombia)

Taxa of the family Cactaceae presents morphological and reproductive characteristics, which are used by rural communities in arid and semi-arid areas, for food, medicinal and ornamental purposes. The objectives were to identify the most used species and to relate the socioeconomic factors of the informants with their knowledge of the species. To this end, 262 semi-structured interviews were applied, with questions such as name, age, gender, educational level, source of employment, among others; eight categories of use were established: agro-ecological, agricultural, commercial, environmental service, food, medicinal, ornamental and technological; three indexes were calculated, relative importance, the value of use for each of the species and wealth of knowledge of the interviewees. Nine species are reported, from which eight are used as food and ornamental, standing out Opuntia ficus-indica for its diversity of uses, while Cylindropuntia tunicata does not report any utility. Variables such as age and residence time showed a significant relationship with the number of plants used by the interviewees. It is expected to contribute to the preservation of cacti, local knowledge and encourage large-scale cultivation since species such as Mammillaria columbiana, Melocactus andinus, and Melocactus curvispinus are being used in an unsustainable way, which could cause their local extinction.


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Relationship of ethnobotanical data and socioeconomic factors 160 The study carried out is of a descriptive correlational type, after standardization, depuration, and 161 codification of the information. Exploratory analyses were carried out in order to identify potentially knowledge wealth index, variables that were crossed to determine the relationship or association with 165 respect to a municipality, gender, occupation, and age of the interviewee.

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The association between categorical qualitative variables, municipality, gender, and occupation 167 with quantitative variables was determined through the Chi-square test of independence. Being the test 168 statistic:

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Four crops of O. ficus-indica were found in the study area for the commercialization of the cladodes 254 and fruits (Fig 3b). Besides, the discarded stems are used as organic fertilizer (composting) (Fig 3d)

Knowledge wealth index (RQZi)
286 The knowledge of the species in the three municipalities is low, in Cucaita and Ráquira 16% and

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10% respectively know all the species. Between 10% and 40% of the people reached an RQZi index of 0.3 288 to 0.6 (Fig 4).

Relative importance index (RI)
292 O. ficus-indica had the highest value, 2, in the three municipalities ( increased the understanding of factors that affect the knowledge and use of native plants, which helps to 320 identify better strategies to favor regional sustainability [67].

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Correlations were made between the number of use categories mentioned, the number of plants 322 used, and the parts used, age, gender, level of studies, occupation, and residence time living in the area 323 (Table 4). has decreased their interest in outdoor activities, therefore their relationship with local biodiversity is weak.

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In the 31-39 age group, outliers were reported (Fig 5), ranging from zero, not recognizing the species 337 present in their territory (147 and 216), and other values equal to or close to one (19, 36, 118, and 204), that 338 is, they recognized all or a large number of species, demonstrating a high level of heterogeneity in terms of 339 the RQZi.

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Our results show no significant differences between the female and male knowledge indexes.

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Women obtained an average of 0.56 (±0.257), which implies a variation coefficient of 45.5%, and men 349 obtained an average of 0.54 (±0.246), with a variation coefficient of 46.1%. However, it can be seen each 350 municipality has its tendency, in Cucaita, men are the most knowledgeable, while in Ráquira and Villa de

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[36] found that men and women present the same knowledge, but differ in the type of categories 353 reported, as men are more dedicated to cultivation and forage, and women are related to food preparation 354 and personal hygiene.

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Level of studies: There is no statistically significant relationship between the level of study 356 with the wealth index knowledge index, number of plants and parts used, or categories of use. However, it 357 should be pointed out that while in some municipalities such as Cucaita there is a tendency that the higher the level of study, the higher the level of knowledge, in Ráquira this behavior is inverse, which indicates the 359 higher level of study, the lower level of knowledge of plants.

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In Cucaita, informants with some degree of technical or university level were those who obtained a 361 higher index of knowledge, RQZi between 0.7 to 0.8, concerning people who had a lower degree of 362 schooling, RQZi between 0.4 to 0.6; people with high levels of training, have been able to move to the city 363 of Tunja (the capital of Boyacá) to complete their studies, without the need to migrate completely, due to 364 its proximity (18 km, approximately 30 minutes by car), which makes them not lose their relationship with 365 their local rural environment.

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In Villa de Leyva, regardless of the study level, the RQZi remains constant, 0.4 and 0.5. In Ráquira, 367 the RQZi is higher in informants who have some degree of secondary study, RQZi between 0.5 and 0.6, 368 than in interviewees who have reached a technical or university level, RQZi=0.2 (Fig 6d).

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In Argentina, people with higher education who know more about medicinal plants, since they 370 periodically carry out training in traditional medicine; also, the knowers, who do not have a level of study,

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Villa de Leyva they were mostly traders (5/13 and 6/13 respectively) and artisans (7/13 and 6/13) 382 respectively). These tasks coincide with the type of economy which is managed in each of these 383 municipalities, Cucaita being mainly agricultural, and Ráquira and Villa de Leyva touristic ones, and similar