Plant genetic resources of the Indian Himalayan region – an overview

The Indian Himalayan region houses wide array of plant genetic resources due to its diverse climatic conditions. India's recognition as a ‘mega-biodiversity’ country derives partly from the Himalayas wherein out of 6000 endemic plant species, 2532 species occur. Major genera for which rich diversity exists are - Oryza, Avena, Amaranthus, Chenopodium, Fagopyrum, Allium, Hordeum, Linum, Saccarum, Citrus, Musa, Pyrus, Prunus, Rubus, Fragaria, Sorbus, Rosa,Lilium,Vicia, Lepidium, Lathyrus, Dioscorea, Orchids, Cucumis, Solanum, and Trichosanthes, Bamboos and Canes. These plant species and varieties have contributed significantly to food and environment security of the hill people. It also provides stability to the food production systems by minimising crop losses due to diseases, insect pests and weather odds. Besides, there are several wild relatives possess genes for various purposes and has lot of breeding value. Despite that, the most distressing situation is that many of these valuable genetic resources are eroding at very high rate.The crops, folk varieties and landraces of local importance adapted to specific micro-climatic niches are being replaced by a few high yielding varieties and cash crops. Nonetheless, appreciable amount of diversity has been collected and being conserved ex situ by different institutions particularly the NBPGR and NAGS. Nearly, 300 cropspecific and multi-crops exploration trips have been undertaken and more than 30,000 germplasm accessions of various agri-horticultural crops including some of their wild relative have been assembled from Himalayan region while around 6000 have been introduced from exotic sources.