EFFECT OF CONTROLLED FERMENTATION USING ASPERGILLUS NIGER AND TRICHODERMA HARZANIUM ON NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF PRE-TREATED BENGAL INDIGO (INDIGOFERA ARRECTA) SEEDS

EFFECT OF CONTROLLED FERMENTATION USING ASPERGILLUS NIGER AND TRICHODERMA HARZANIUM ON NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF PRE-TREATED BENGAL INDIGO (INDIGOFERA ARRECTA) SEEDS

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

Indigofera Linn. is a vast genus of flowering plants that belong to the subfamily Papilionoideae of the Fabaceae/Leguminosae family.

They can be found all throughout the world’s tropical and subtropical regions. Burkill (1995) identified 60 species, whereas Soladoye and Lewis (2003) identified 60 species in Nigeria, with more than 60% abundance in the northern region and 27 species scattered throughout the country’s south-west.

Indigofera, which means indigo dye in Greek, is well-known for its natural blue colours derived from the herb’s leaflets and branches. The most important species are Indigofera arrecta and Indigofera tinctoria.

Indigofera spp. adapt well to a variety of settings and have different morphological and agronomic characteristics, making them useful as forage and cover crops (Hassen et al., 2006).

Some of these species, such as Indigofera tinctoria and Indigofera suffruticosa, are used to produce indigo dyes, while others have medicinal properties, such as Indigofera articulate, which is used to treat toothache, Indigofera oblongifolia, Indigofera suffruticosa, and Indigofera aspalthoides

which are used as anti-inflammatories to treat insect stings, snake bites, and swellings (Shahjahan et al., 2005), and Indigofera arrecta extract, which is used to relieve ulcer pain.

Indigofera tinctoria stems are chewed to treat coughs, and leaf decoctions are used to treat chest pains, epilepsy, neurological disorders, asthma, bronchitis, fever, and stomach, liver, kidney, and spleen ailments, particularly in Cameroon (Takawira-Nyenya and Cardon, 2005).

The twine paste heals dislocations. Warm leaves can also help to heal wounds (Ibe and Nwufo 2005). Phytochemical analysis of Indigofera species reveals that they contain a high concentration of organic and fatty acids, as well as flavonoids such as carotenoids and coumarins.