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Background:Livestock-keeping is one of very important means of the livelihoods of smallholder farmers worldwide,and deforestation for pastures has accelerated.Mithun (Bos frontalis) is a rare semi-domesticated meat animal species,distributed only in India,China,Myanmar,Bhutan and Bangladesh.This study documented and evaluated local knowledge of the wild forage plants of Dulongjiang village,Gongshan county,Yunnan Province,Southwest China,to provide information for fodder nutritional investigations and to promote tree fodder.Methods:Free listing and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 58 households.They were determined by the snowball technique to be key informants who held more specific knowledge about the topic.Ethnobotanical information collected was properly documented and organized.Results:Overall,142 wild forage plants from 58 families and 117 genera were cited.Species of the family Poaceae,Rosaceae and Urticaceae ranked the top three,with 16,14 and 11 species respectively.Unlike other ruminants,tree/shrub fodder played an importam role in miliums’ diet.Mithun prefers to browse and move aiound the forest in search of selective forages,particularly rough leaves,even barbed leaves Tree fodders were highlighted,especially for species like Debregeasia orientalis,Saurauia polyneura and forage plants in genus Rubus.Farmers traditionally rely on common property resources to feed their livestock,such as forest and grasslands(community land),serving as the largest base for mithun in the study area.Farmers have strong incentive to keep mithuns with cultural preferences and to cultivate more trees on their private farmland in order to develop on-farm tree fodder resources.Conclusions:The great diversity of plants cited by the informants demonstrates the potential of local vegetation and the importance of traditional knowledge in the characterization of forage resources.This diversity also favors the selection of promising species for future fodder promotion,especially tree fodder promotion.However,present scientific knowledge of these species is too sparse to support tree fodder promotion at farm level.