Evaluating Germplasm Introductions of Underutilized Plants

Abstract

Germplasm introduction is the key to diversifying the crop composition and broadening the genetic base of existing crops in any area. Germplasm introduction and evaluation has led to introduction of several new crops and improvement of the existing crops in India. 3361 accessions of different underutilized plants have been introduced during the last fifty years (RC Agrawal, Personal Communication). Maximum introductions were made in faba bean (1016), followed by those in amaranth (645), su-babool (488), chenopods (216) and jojoba, in the descending order. Most of the accessions came from USA (1205), Syria (360), Australia (252), UK (180), Bulgaria (188) and Germany (154).