EVALUATION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION OF AMARANTH (Amaranthus hypochondriacus)

The present work aims to describe a historical briefing on the production, use and conduction of research with the amaranth as alternative food source, in the whole world, since the golden Aztec times of the civilization until the current days. It has for purpose, also, to tell the demanded agronomic characteristics during the plantation, development and harvest of this culture and evaluate its importance and adaptability of culture in half-barren of Brazilian northeast, during the period of rain absence. The intention is, still, to show and display, qualitative and quantitatively, the great nutritional and medicinal potentiality that the grains and leaves of the amaranth, when used as human being and animal food, represent a powerful plant and medicine, respectively. The informative data had been gotten through a bibliographical revision.