BIODIVERSITY UTILIZATION AND CONSERVATION IN UNDERUTILIZED PLANTS: INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

With ever increasing population pressure andfast depletion
of natural resources, it has become extremely important to
diversify the present day agriculture in order to meet various
human needs. The underutilized plants which have tremendous
potential for commercial exploitation but remained ignored, offer
a good scope in this context. The Hindustani gene centre houses
160 cultivated species, out of which 56 species are less known
food plants. In the present paper, qn' attempt has been made to
enlist underutilized plants of economic value which could, in
future, serve as new crops and supplement agricultural production
in India. The results of recent efforts on this group of plants
made by the All India Coordinated research Project· on
Undertuilized Crops, the National Bureau of Plant Genetic
Resources, New Delhi and other institutions towards germplasm
collection, evaluation, documentation and utilization have been
enumerated. The status of germplasm conservation and the future
strategies have also been discussed.