Biodiversity of agronomical crops in Sistan and Balouchestan Province, Iran

This research was conducted to assess the biodiversity of crops, cropping area, species richness, and biodiversity indices in Sistan & Balouchestan province, Iran. Agronomic crops are classified into eight groups including cereals, legumes, forage plants, oilseeds, patch products, vegetables, industrial plants, medicinal herbs and spices. A great biodiversity of agronomic crops were found in different cities of the province. In the studied areas, enrichment of species in Iranshahr, Khash and Chabahar was 30, 25, and 17 respectively; also the value of Shannon-Wiener index and species uniformity were 1.22 and 0.32, respectively for the whole province. The Shannon-Wiener biodiversity index for medicinal herbs and forage plants were 1.90 and 0.39, respectively. The uniformity index of crops of Iranshahr was 0.11 and Chabahar was 0.1. Therefore, Sistan & Balouchestan Province was relatively well-positioned in terms of the diversity of crop species. However, relatively small planting in the cities was relatively low. Due to the climate characteristics of this province, it is possible to cultivate various forage and industrial species.