Assessing Indigofera tinctoria L. as a forgotten medicinal-industrial plant and the importance of its revitalization for the sustainability of Iran's agricultural ecosystems

Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria L.) belongs to the legume family and its original habitat is India. The extracted dye from its leaves has been known in ancient civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, England, Central America, Peru, Iran and Africa. In ۱۹۸۶, the area under cultivation of this plant was about ۱۶۹۴ hectares. In ۲۰۱۶, the cultivation of this plant has been reduced to ۲۶۵ hectares. This study is a type of developmental research and review, its method is library survey, and data were collected by note taking tools. The results indicated that indigo can be considered as one of the forgotten plants in the country due to declining trend in the area of cultivation. This plant is currently cultivated only in some areas of Kerman province such as Fahraj, Jiroft and Regan, and in most of these areas, it grows wild in pastures and mountains at an altitude of ۷۰۰ meters above sea level. Therefore, in order to preserve and protect this useful and important species, it should be used in crop rotations and stable ecosystems. Also it is necessary to identify and generalize all the issues of this medicinal-industrial crop and proper planning should be done to prevent the process of forgetfulness.

Keywords:

Agriculture , Forgotten , Crop , medicinal , Industrial , Indigo