Assessing Biodiversity Indices of Horticultural Crops in Sistan and Baluchestan Province during 2006-2016

The diverse climatic conditions of Sistan and Baluchestan province have a great potential for cultivation of horticultural crops. This study was conducted to assesst biodiversity indices of horticultural products in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Horticultural crops were classified into eight groups. First, the type of horticultural products and the area under cultivation in each city were extracted from the statistics of the Jihad Agricultural Organization of Sistan and Baluchestan province. Then, biodiversity indices such as Shannon-Wiener, Margalf, Sorenson horticultural products were calculated. The results showed that Iranshahr and Zabol cities had the highest and the lowest cultivated area, respectively. In addition, more than 37 horticultural species were cultivated throughout the province, which indicated the variety of horticultural products in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Khash and Zabol towns had the highest and lowest species richness of horticultural crops, respectively. Shannon-Weiners diversity index of Iranshahr and Zabol horticultural products showed a decreasing trend during this 11-year period and in other towns of the province showed an increasing trend. The highest 11-year average of Shannon-Wiener diversity index was related to Zahedan horticultural products (2.02) and the lowest one was related to Chabahar (0.50). The highest and the lowest Shannon-Wiener biodiversity indices were respectively in subtropical plants (1.21) and seed fruits (1.11). The highest and the lowest index of uniformity of horticultural products were belonged to Khash (0.51) and Iranshahr (0.45), respectively. In general, the main horticultural system in the province is based on subtropical crops, especially dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.). According to the results of this study, Sistan and Baluchestan province had relatively favorable diversity of horticultural species; however, the similarity of cultivated horticultural plants was relatively high between cities.