Indigofera glandulosa Wendl. (Barbada) a potential source of nutritious food: underutilized and neglected legume in India
2010
Ghane, Savaliram Goga | Lokhande, Vinayak Haribhau | Ahire, Mahendra Laxman | Nikam, Tukaram Dayaram
Indigofera glandulosa Wendl., (Barbada) belongs to the family Leguminosae, subfamily—Papilionoidae and tribe Indigoferae is widely distributed as weed in India, Indonesia and North Australia. It is an annual herb or sub-shrub growing along roadside and open grassland areas. The plant produce seeds rich in valuable food ingredients such as proteins, carbohydrates, essential amino acids and vitamins. The plant is described as nourishing food for human beings and is believed to possess the qualities of a tonic in Indian medicine. It is highly palatable forage legume; green plants are generally appreciated by domestic animals. Environmentally, it is utilized for the nitrogen enrichment in degraded soil, as the roots produce nodules fixing atmospheric nitrogen. It can be grown in dry regions, therefore appears to drought resistant and at low cost. The plant species remains unexploited although it has high forage and nutritious value. The meagre information on I. glandulosa lead us to explore this neglected and underutilized species to utilize it as food for human beings, forage for animals and for nitrogen enrichment of the soil. The seed viability and seed germination data revealed seed dormancy associated with the hard and impermeable seed coat and it could be overcome by treating the seeds with concentrated sulphuric acid for 10-15 min thus improving the seed germination percentage up to 75%. The result of the present investigation provides preliminary information on agronomical and morphological traits related to yield and biomass production of I. glandulosa from its natural habitat. In addition the detailed survey about taxonomic characters, distribution, cultivation and utilization of I. glandulosa has been documented.
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