Preface Genetic resources are often considered as the most important among natural resources on the planet, the others being land, air and water. Plant genetic resources are uniquely placed with in the overall ambit of biodiversity and it plays an important role in providing food, fuel, clothing, medicine and shelter for the whole mankind. Diverse genetic materials are always required to meet the ever changing demands of plant improvement. Plant genetic resources comprising of reservoir of gene and gene complex are basic raw materials for genetic improvement of any crop including vegetables. The book entitled “Vegetable Crops: Genetic Resources and Improvement” is a compilation of information generated through research work of many scientists in india and abroad. The book contains introductory chapter on various aspects of collection, characterization, conservation and utilization of germplasm in genetic improvement of different vegetable crops highlighiting the importance of genetic resource management and their achievement in india. Application of different biotechnological tools and techniques like, tissue culture, molecular markers and bioinformatics in conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources have been included. The issues related to biosafety regulations and IPR have also been discussed. Genetic improvement of different vegetable crops through utilization of genetic resources have been dealt in 18 chapters covering all important vegetables including underutilized vegetables, seed spices and edible mushrooms.

Introduction The term ‘biodiversity’ comes from the words biological diversity and quite simply means the variety of all living things, including microbes, plants and animals– from single-celled organisms to the largest mammals and trees. Biodiversity also refers to genetic diversity within a species (essential for evolution) and also the diversity of the woodlands, wetlands and other habitats which provide the food, water and shelter for these species. Human life itself depends upon healthy ecosystems (e.g. wetlands, forests and grasslands) and the biodiversity that they contain. Biodiversity gives us many of the essentials of life – water, oxygen, food, clothing, and medicines, without which we could not survive, and therefore contributes greatly to our economy. Access to nature is also a popular form of relaxation that greatly enriches our lives and helps to keep us healthy. Species are linked in an infinite number of ways via food-webs and the habitats they share. If one species becomes extinct, it may affect many more. If too many species become extinct then whole ecosystems can collapse, with severe consequences for the way we live. Across the world, biodiversity is under threat from human activity such as over-intensive or inappropriate farming, large-scale commercial forestry, forest clearance, mineral extraction, pollution and urban development. Conservation of plant diversity assumes greater importance when the world is facing unprecedented loss of biological diversity. As per an estimate about 60,000 out of 2, 87, 655 species of plants known in the world are facing the threat of extinction. Agro-ecosystems are defined as ecological and socio-economic system comprising domesticated plants and/or animals and the people who husband them, intended for the purpose of producing food, fiber, or other agricultural products. Agro-ecosystems are ecological systems transformed and simplified for the purpose of agriculture. In the case of agro-ecosystems productivity, these systems have Holling resilience if, in some state, they are able to maintain productivity and withstand stress or external shocks (e.g., due to lower rainfall and droughts). In many situations, biodiversity provides the link between stress and loss of resilience is a system (Perrings et al., 1995). Genetic variation within species and within population increases the ability to respond to the challenges of environmental stress (Mainwaring, 2001).

Introduction Vegetable crops are a big group of crop plants, consisting of diverse kinds with differing breeding systems and varying consumer preferences. In India there are native vegetables like eggplant (Solanum melongena), beans (Lablab purpureus), cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and a few gourds, namely smooth gourd (Luffa cylindrica), ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula), snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina) and pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica), while there are several introduced crops and which have long history of domestication and adaptation like garden pea (Pisum sativum), onion (Allium cepa), bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) etc. and also some others like tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var.botrytis), cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), chillies, (including Capsicum), frenchbean (Phaseolus vulgaris) etc, which have been introduced during the last 4 or 5 centuries. With such a diversity of crops, characterization and evaluation of genetic resources in each of them become a stupendous responsibility requiring extensive infrastructure facilities and varying methods of evaluation. The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi with its Regional Stations at Shimla, Bhowali, Akola, Thrissur, Jodhpur, Hyderabad, Umiam-Barapani, Base Stations at Ranchi, Cuttack and Satellite centre at Amravati and Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi-designated as National Active Germplasm Site (NAGS) for vegetable crops and Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore, are holding over 40,000 germplasm collections in different vegetable crops. A large number of lines have been collected from various parts of the country. A number of varieties have developed either through selection from local landraces or through hybridization resulting in development of a large number of open pollinated varieties with resistance to some important diseases, such as wilt. Also, a number of hybrid varieties have been developed both by public and private institutions, however there is a scope to increase further yield and nutritional quality using some of the modern techniques, such as molecular marker aided selection. The promising genetic resources utilized in vegetable improvement work have been described under following three heads

Introduction National Gene Banks are now entering into an era of increased activity and responsibility, particularly for managing their own indigenous germplasm activities extending from collection to actual use of the genetic variation in crop improvement programmes. However, these tasks must be achieved with limited resources in best possible time frame. The core collection offers a potential opportunity to meet these challenges. Recognising that the sheer size of a germplasm collection could deter its use, Frankel (1984) proposed that it could be pruned to a ‘core collection’, which would represent, “with minimum repetitiveness, the genetic diversity of a crop species and its relatives”. The core collection consist of a limited set of accessions derived from a germplasm collection, chosen to represent the genetic spectrum in the whole collection, and including as much as possible of its genetic diversity (Brown, 1995). The remaining accessions would not necessarily be discarded but would be managed as a ‘reserve collection’. The proposal, the rationale, purposes and general principles of core collections have been critically examined (Brown, 1989 a and b). As to the size of a core collection, sampling theory of selective neutral alleles in finite populations indicate that about 10 % drawn randomly from the whole collection was relatively efficient in retaining its allelic variation (about 70 % retained). The core collection concept has attracted considerable discussion and debate in the past and has met criticism in many areas. Most of these concerns appear to arise from misuse or misunderstanding of the core approach and a number of core collections have been established during the past decade.

Introduction Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) are uniquely placed within the overall ambit of biodiversity and play an important role in providing food, fuel, clothing, medicine and shelter for the whole mankind. The value of plant genetic resources or the plant germplasm can be visualized from the fact that Sir Joseph Banks, the Director of Kew Botanical Gardens accompanied Captain Cook on a plant collecting voyage. Plant genetic resources are going to occupy the centre stage in plant breeding and seed industry development in India as will be the case with other countries. However, despite the great importance of plant genetic resources in crop improvement programmes, there is ever increasing threat to the PGR due to degradation of their habitats, changes in ecology, cropping systems, modernization of agriculture, rapid replacement of locally adapted indigenous cultivars by modern high yielding varieties and the effect of massive urbanization. This calls for a sustained and scientific management of plant genetic resources. The issue of PGR management remains basically the same whether we are dealing with field crops, vegetable crops or perennials with slight changes in specific cases. For an effective management of PGR, all the CGIAR funded international agricultural research centres have independent units/divisions on PGR management. IPGRI is coordinating and strengthening the PGR management programmes at the international level. In India, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi is the nodal organization on PGR management. This article shall deal with the core components of PGR management in vegetable crops.

Introduction Plant genetic resources represent a huge reservoir of genes of economic importance, which acts as buffer against environment fluctuations. These genes are largely spread in the land races and traditional cultivars, which have been conserved by virtue of their specific merits. The human and natural selection interventions have resulted in establishment, improvement and differentiation of numerous types, which represent genetic wealth of the crop species and are commonly referred as plant genetic resources (PGR). Genetic Erosion and Need for Conservation In view of the availability of high yielding varieties/hybrids, the traditional cultivars/ land races have been disregarded by the farmers due to their low economic potential. Sustaining the green revolution, changing cultivation practices and intensification of land use pattern have been the potential threats for rapid erosion of plant genetic diversity. The erosion of these resources has resulted into the extinction of several valuable genetic materials. Realizing the consequences of genetic erosion and importance of plant genetic resources, more diversity needs to be conserved for future. Prior to conservation the collection and characterization of germplasm through morphological and molecular markers for establishing the identity of genotype is essentially required. For effective utilization of PGR in vegetable improvement programme, the proper characterization and evaluation of genotypes for breeder driven traits including biotic and abiotic stresses in target environments is urgently needed. In addition, value addition is an important area of concern especially in vegetable crops. After implementation of recommendations of Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), the major thrust has been given on conservation of bio-resources. In view of the globalization and emerging IPR regimes (UPOV, TRIPS, ITPGFRA etc.), there is a need for having suitable mechanisms for the protection of bio-resources.

Introduction Vegetable crops include a large number of species, mainly used as an essential complement to the daily diet, providing vitamins, minerals, fiber, specific amino-acids and other active metabolites. Largely emphasizing the need to accumulate and conserve in gene banks the genetic diversity that is most useful to breeders. One of the primary reasons to sustain conservation of plant genetic resources in gene banks is to prevent the loss of genetic diversity. The great diversity of types in cultivation is also considered a genetic resource itself, to be maintained or increased, since it adds to the diversity of vegetables being grown and consumed and could serve to replace more established but similar crops in case of need (Crisp and Astley, 1985). The risk of genetic erosion due to the introduction of single new cultivars was considered especially high by Crisp and Astley (1985) for those vegetables that are built on a narrow genetic base, such as garlic, broccoli, tomato, cucumber, etc. Genetic erosion is difficult to document with solid data available in vegetable crops. On a global level, efforts of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR, now IPGRI) to conserve vegetable crop germplasm began in 1980, with the definition of a number of priority crops for conservation, according to their importance for rural development and to their economic value for farmers in the tropics (Abelmoschus esculentus and related species, Allium spp., Amaranthus spp., Brassica spp., Capsicum spp., Cucurbita spp., Lycopersicon esculentum, Momordica charantia and related species, and Solanum melongena). During last six–seven decades, germplasm of promising and profitable varieties have been built up and developed by different agencies, initially assembling local types and selecting from them and by introducing promising types from other parts of the world. The introduction and acclimatization of vegetable germplasm from within the country and all over the world is important for exploitation and incorporation of useful characters such as early maturity, high yielding capacity, resistance to diseases and pests and tolerance to different climatic hazards, viz., drought, heat, cold and flood situations.

Introduction Plant genetic resources management essentially consists of two phases; its conservation and utilization. Germplasm conservation includes acquisition, in which germplasm is safeguarded in situ (by establishing reserves) or ex situ (by assembling collections through exchange or exploration). It also involves maintenance, protecting germplasm in situ in reserves or storing it ex situ under controlled conditions, propagating it while preserving its original genetic profile with maximum fidelity, monitoring its viability and health in storage or in situ and maintaining associated passport information and other data. Germplasm conservation also involves characterization, assessing highly heritable morphological and molecular traits for taxonomic, genetic, quality assurance and other management purposes. The second phase of germplasm management, encouraging utilization, includes evaluation, assessing agronomically or horticulturally important traits with relatively low heritability and high components of environmental variance e.g. yield adaptation and host-plant resistance to certain abiotic/biotic stress. It also includes genetic enhancement, making particular genes more accessible and usable to breeders by adopting exotic germplasm to local environments without losing its essential exotic genetic profile and/or introgressing high value traits from exotic germplasm into adapted varieties. Genetic enhancement can be subdivided into introgression i.e. backcrossing a few genes controlling desired characters into adapted stocks and incorporation i.e. the large scale development of locally adapted populations good enough to enter the adapted genetic bases of the crops concerned.

Introduction The WTO was established on 1st January 1995 and is responsible for making and enforcing rules for trade between nations. WTO marks a major change in global trade rules. As an organization, it replaces the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades (GATT), which had been in existence since 1947. The Eighth Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations under GATT, which started in Uruguay in 1986, was concluded in 1994, leading to the creation of WTO as the new permanent international trade organization. The role of WTO is much more extensive than that of GATT, which dealt with trade in goods. Apart from goods, the two other broad areas that WTO covers are services and intellectual property, which previously belonged to the domestic domain. Accordingly, WTO administers not only the Multilateral Trade Agreements (MTAs) in goods but also the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which came into existence with WTO. All the agreements annexed to the Agreement establishing the WTO were signed as part of a package deal. Member countries did not have the option of choosing some and rejecting others. Another important difference with the erstwhile GATT is that WTO has a stronger compliance mechanism (Chawla, 2007a). As one of the WTO agreements, TRIPS is binding on all member countries of WTO. TRIPS aims at establishing strong minimum standards for intellectual property rights (IPRs). Apart from patents, intellectual property includes copyrights, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, integrated circuits and trade secrets. The protection of IPRs is binding and legally enforceable. Intellectual property (IP) is a product of the mind. Intellectual property is intangible in contrast to real property (land) or physical property, which one can see, feel and use. With any type of property there are property rights. When IPs are expressed in a tangible form, they can also be protected. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been created to protect the right of individuals to enjoy their creations and discoveries. In fact, IPRs can be traced back to the fourteenth century, when European monarchs granted proprietary rights to writers for their literary works.

Introduction Indian subcontinent has a rich and varied heritage of bioresources, encompassing a wide spectrum of habitats from tropical rain forests to alpine vegetation and from temperate forests to coastal wetlands. It is one of the eight centres of origin and one of the 12 mega centres of the world. It possess 11.9 % of world flora and about 33% of the country’s recorded flora are endemic to the region and are concentrated mainly in the North-East, Western Ghats, North-West Himalayas and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Of the 49,219 higher plant species, 5,725 are endemic and belong to 141 genera under 47 families. Of theses 3,500 are found in the Himalayas and adjoining regions and 1,600 in the Western Ghats alone. India has 26 recognized endemic centres that are homeland

Introduction Nature provides a wealth of genetic variation in both wild and cultivated plants. In the advanced selections conducted in developing superior crop varieties cultivated today agriculture represent only a small portion of the available gene pool. However wild species remain a reservoir of valuable genetic variation and represents a valuable source for exploitation of unexplored genetic variation for improvement of various agronomic traits. Most success has come from introgression of specific single gene controlled traits largely for disease resistance (Tomleyson, 2000 and Sergio et al., 2000). The identification of genes and co-adapted gene complexes that control complex agronomic traits such as adaptation to specific environmental stresses, crop quality, yield, plant architecture, flowering time (especially important for vegetable crops) has been less effectively addressed so far and remains a major and immediate challenge. Also, existence of low genetic diversity in breeding lines of many species used in various plant breeding programs is often resulting in development of insignificant improvement of the trait under investigation (Christopher, 2000). Understanding the spectrum, frequency and distribution of allelic variation in genes controlling such multiple genes controlled complex traits will improve our knowledge of exploitation of natural variation and promotes effective management and exploitation of functional biodiversity. In India efforts have been initiated in the exploitation, conservation of crop germplasm and technologies that are needed to fully exploit this natural diversity available in our major crop plants and their wild relatives. For example, centers that maintain diverse germplasm collections (both by ICAR and State Agricultural Universities nation wild are well established.

Introduction Cell and tissue culture techniques are becoming increasingly popular as alternative means of plant vegetative propagation. Plant tissue culture involves asexual methods of propagation and its primary goal is crop improvement. The success of many in vitro selection and genetic manipulation techniques in higher plants depends on the success of in vitro plant regeneration. Crop breeding and rDNA technology require the widespread use of reliable true to type propagation and better regeneration methods. Plant regeneration can be grouped in to different categories of enhanced release of axillary bud proliferation, organogenesis and embryogenesis. The oldest practical application of tissue culture techniques is the propagation of disease free plants from meristem tip culture. Meristem tip consisting of dome and one or two subjacent leaf primordial with a size up to 0.25 mm are aseptically cultured in appropriate nutrition media. The resulting plants are disease free because the pathogen is not generally present in the meristematic cells. The aim of germplasm conservation is to ensure the availability of useful germplasm at any time. Breeding programs rely heavily on locally adapted ancient plant varieties and their wild relatives as sources of germplasm. Further, the continuing search for high yielding varieties of crop plants with resistance to pathogens and pests warrants the availability and maintenance of large collections of germplasm. In species which are propagated through seeds, it is economical to preserve the seeds. These seeds are dried to water content of 5 - 8% and then stored at a temperature of -18° C or lower and low humidity. In case of vegetatively propagated species, preservation of germplasm heavily taxes manpower and land resources. As in vitro techniques are becoming more important in crop improvement through the use of somatic cell genetics, the material produced in vitro will have to be conserved in vitro. The in vitro system is extremely suitable for storage of plant material, since in principle it can be stored on a small scale, disease free and under conditions that limit growth. Germplasm storage in vitro is crucial for the future development and safety of agriculture.

Introduction Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench, is annual herb grown in tropical and subtropical parts of world for green tender immature fruits and consumed as cooked mostly fresh but sometimes sun dried or frozen also used as vegetable. Some parts of plant and roots are used for medicinal as well as purification of sugarcane juice. Green fruit contains vitamins, calcium whereas seeds possess 13-22 per cent edible oil and 20-24 per cent edible protein. India is leading producer of okra and exporting fresh as well as processed fruits to other countries and also ranked first in area (0.48 million ha.), production (3.5m tones) and productivity (9.8 t/ha) during 2005 against the world area (0.78 million ha.), production (4.99 m tones) and productivity (6.4t/ha).

Introduction Genetic resources are the building blocks for new varieties. The Indian gene centre is floristically extremely rich. Most of the tropical and sub-tropical fruits believed to have originated from Hindustan and Indo Malaya-Region. Hindustani gene centre possess a rich diversity of 152 crop plants distributed in different agro-ecological regions of India (Arora, 1985). The Indian sub-continent is one of the centers of origin and diversity of vegetables crops. Around 80 species of major and minor vegetables occur in wild forms (Choudhury, 1967, Seshadri 1987). Among the 118 genera belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family Cucurbita, Cucumis, Citrullus and Lagenaria genera are of great importance. There is tremendous genetic diversity within the family, genera and even within species level. The adaptation range varies from tropical and subtropical regions to extreme arid desert and in temperate regions from Tarai belts to higher altitudes. Extreme germplasm collections are maintained at different centers of the world which represents valuable resources for breeding even in wild form, primitive cultivars, landraces/ folk varieties/ farmer’s selection in a much localized pockets. Now we have very good strains for highly nutritive value, multiple disease resistant and extended shelf lives from our local material through intensive breeding. Indigenous plant germplasm are adapted component of plant biodiversity. Such adapted components are more valuable resources either as a cultivar or as a parental line in hybridization programme. It might be also a putative material for biotechnological treatment for tolerance to biotic, abiotic factors or nutritional and quality components. Indigenous germplasm can be basically of two types, one which has been domesticated and subjected to human intervention, the other one may be called wild plants or wild relatives and still in the process of evolution without the human intervention. Biochemically the cucurbits are characterized by bitter principles, called cucurbitacins. Great variety of cucurbits contains bitter principle in portion of the plant at some stage of development. Cucurbitacins are tetracyclic triterpenes having extensive oxidation level. Bitter principals found in roots differ from those in fruits. Seedlings specially radicals contains cucurbitacins which are considered primary. The pollen also carries bitter principles and hence when bitter pollen fertilized non-bitter ovule the resulting fruit will be bitter known as metaxenia effect. Cucurbits are consumed in various forms i.e. salad (cucumber, gherkins, longmelon), sweet (ash gourd, pointed gourd), pickles (gherkins), deserts (melons) and culinary purpose. Some of them (e.g. bitter gourd) are well known for their unique medicinal properties. In recent years, abortifacient proteins with ribosome-inhibiting properties have been isolated from several cucurbit species, which include momorcharin (from Momordica charantia), luffaculin (from Luffa operculata), trichosanthin (from Trichosanthes kirilowif) and beta-trichosanthin (from Trichosanthes cucumeroides). Among these, Trichosanthin is of particular interest because its ribosome-inhibiting properties have been found to be effective in inhibiting the replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), indicating its potential as a therapeutic agent for AIDS. In cucurbits three conditions are found (i) fruit and vegetative parts bitter (ii) fruit not bitter but vegetative parts bitter (iii) bitterness absent in both vegetative parts and fruits. Hence some kind of co-evolutionary relationship between cucurbits found and they are very helpful during evaluation of germplasm.

Introduction The North-eastern region comprises of eight states viz. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim lying between 21.5o N - 29.5o N latitudes and 85.5 o E - 97.3 o E longitudes. It has a total geographical area of 262180 Km2 which is nearly 8 % of the total geographical area of the country. In the whole of NE region, about 35 % area is plain and the remaining 65 % area is under hills. Whereas in Assam plains account for 84.44 % of its total geographical area and the remaining 15.56 % area is under hills. Net sown area is highest in Assam (34.12 %) followed by Tripura (23.48 %), however, Arunachal Pradesh has lowest net sown area in the region. Cropping intensity is highest in Tripura (173 %) followed by Manipur (152.1 %), Mizoram (136.36 %) and Assam (123.59 %). About 0.5 million hectare area is under shifting cultivation in the NE region. Out of 4.4 million hectare net sown area, roughly 1.4 million hectare lies in hilly sub region and at least 1.3 million hectare suffer from serious soil erosion problem. The diverse agro climatic conditions, varied soil type and abundance of rainfall offers immense scope for cultivation of different types of horticultural crops, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops, tuber and rhizomatous crops and crops of medicinal and aromatic importance. The region has rich diversity of different vegetable crops and both indigenous tropical vegetables and temperate vegetables are grown to a considerable extent. The major vegetables grown in the region are brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, onion, pea, potato, tomato, knol-khol, radish, carrot, French bean and different cucurbitaceous crops. Tuber and rhizomatous crops like tapioca (cassava), sweet potato, Dioscorea, colocasia, ginger and turmeric grow abundantly in the region.

Introduction Leafy vegetables belong to an important group of vegetables and are highly nutritious due to their richness in Vitamin A (Carotene), Vitamin C, Folic acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine and minerals like Iron, Calcium and Phosphorus etc. Appreciable quantity of proteins is also found in these crops. They also provide a variety of phyto-nutrients including beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect cells from damage, age-related problems, among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fat. They are available at cheaper rate in the market as compared to other vegetables. They provide roughage and have an important place in the balanced diet. It is recommended that a daily intake of 100 g and 40 g of leafy vegetables in the diet of woman and man respectively. India is the 2nd largest producer of leafy vegetables in the world after China, accounted for about 10% of the world production (Singh et al., 2006) but, the production levels of these leafy vegetables are very low because of lack of availability of high yielding varieties. Leafy vegetables are those crops from which leaves and associated parts are harvested for use as vegetable. The leaves of about 700 different kinds of plants belonging to125 families are consumed in the form of vegetables. The major leafy vegetables grown in the country are amaranth, spinach beet (desi palak), spinach and fenugreek. In addition to this a number of under-utilized annual crops are also grown as leafy vegetables in specific regions. Leafy vegetables are usually grown in kitchen and market gardens. Tender stems and leaves of a number of perennial crops are rich sources of vitamins and minerals and are used for cooking. Though leafy vegetables have high nitrate and oxalate levels, but adverse nutritional effects are not to be feared with a consumption level of 100-200 g per day. The commonly grown major leafy vegetables and their wild relatives are listed below

Introduction Cowpea, {Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.} is an important food legume in the semi-arid tropics covering Asia, Africa, Southern Europe and Central and South America (Henriet et al., 1997; Mortimer et al., 1997; Van Ek et al., 1997). It is a drought tolerant and warm weather crop. Therefore, well adapted to the drier regions of the tropics where other food legumes do not perform as well. It fixes atmospheric nitrogen and grows well even in the poor soils with more than 85% sand and with less than 0.2% organic matter and low levels of phosphorus (Kolawale et al., 2000 and Sanginga et al., 2000). Also, it is shade tolerant and therefore, compatible as an intercrop with maize, millet, sorghum, sugarcane and cotton as well as with several plantation crops (Singh and Emechebe, 1998). Coupled with these attributes, its quick growth and rapid ground cover checks soils erosion and in situ decay of its roots and nitrogen rich residues improves soil fertility and structure which together have made cowpea an important component of cropping system in the dry savannas of the sub-Saharan Africa (Carsky et al., 2001 and Mortimer et al., 1997). Cowpea is cultivated in about 14 million ha world wide with about 5 million tons annual production. However, a substantial part of the cowpea production comes only from few countries. Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of cowpea with about 5 million ha area and about 3 million tons production annually. Niger Republic is the next largest producer with 3 million ha and over 1 million ton production. Northeast Brazil grows about 1.5 million ha of cowpea with about 500.000 tons production. In the southern USA about 40,000 ha of cowpea is grown with an estimated 45,000 tons annual production of dry cowpea seed and a large amount of frozen green cowpeas. Even though exact statistics are not available, India is the largest cowpea producer in Asia and together with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and other far eastern countries, there may be over 1.5 million hectares under cowpea in Asia.

Introduction ‘Cole crops’ is a general term used to describe several vegetables in the Brassicaceae family. It is an important and highly diversified group of vegetable crops grown worldwide that belongs to Brassica oleracea (Monteiro and Lunn, 1998) and includes particularly six Brassica crops (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale and knol kohl). All of these crops can trace their history to a common ancestry of wild cabbage originating in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor regions. Cole crops are one of the oldest cultivated plant groups in the world. They are cultivated in Europe since very ancient time from where they have spread to other parts of the world (Nieuwhof, 1969). All the cole crops (except few cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage types) require chilling temperatures for about two months to transform from vegetative phase into reproductive phase. However, the period of chilling requirement differs according to the kind of crop and varieties. Cole crops are also commonly called as European or biennial vegetables due to their cool temperatures requirements and two season requirement to complete their life cycle. Major Resources of Cole Crop Germplasm Germplasm is any form of the hereditary material from an organism. Genetic resources encompass all the various forms of germplasm that are available for collection, storage and use. The genetic diversity of crops, represented by traditional local cultivars and wild relatives has been disappearing rapidly during recent decades. Initial concern was noted by H.V. Harlan in the 1930s (Harlan and Martini, 1936) but by the 1960s, modern plant breeding and land-use changes accelerated loss and stimulated the realization that genetic resources in regions of diversity were being lost at an alarming rate. To conserve the genetic variation within the cole group, a comprehensive base collection of the cultivated forms of Brassica oleracea has been established at the vegetable gene bank of Horticulture Research International (HRI), Wellesbourne, (U.K.). Gene banks have also been established at Instiuut de veredeling van Tuinbouwgewssen, Wageningen, the Netherlands and the Instituto del Germoplasm, Bari, Italy (Van der Meer et al., 1984) for conservation of genetic resources. The International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) has recognized HRI as an international centre for conservation of Brassica oleracea (Innes, 1975). Large number of collections of cole crops is also available with the United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Introduction Service. In India, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi has been assigned the duty of conserving the germplasm of all crops, including vegetables. Germplasm of all the cole crops is being maintained at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (tropical types) and its regional station at Katrain (temperate types). Other major institutes maintaining germplasm of cole crops include Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan and SKUAS&T, Srinagar.

Introduction Cucumber is one of the most popular vegetable of cucurbitacae family and grown worldwide for its freshly harvested fruits. Fruit yield in cucumber is suppressed due to its fruiting habit. Fruits developing from the first pollinated flower inhibit the development of subsequent fruits. This phenomenon is broadly known as crown fruit dominance or first fruit inhibition. Therefore, in mechanical once over harvest of seeded cucumber, only one to two fruits per plant are developed. Fruit set inhibition is less in seedless cucumber when compared to its seeded counter part. Parthenocarpy is the development of fruit without fertilization. This phenomenon was first studied in cucumber byNoll (1902) who introduced the term parthenocarpy. In parthenocarpic lines, a larger proportion of photosynthates could be diverted to fruit tissue instead of producing seeds. Partheonocarpic habit has become indispensable to greenhouse cucumber production because it alleviates the need for bees. Individual plants in the greenhouse produce many fruits simultaneously, with many fold higher yield in comparison to field grown crop. Greenhouse or parthenocarpic cucumber production is very popular in many areas of the world. The fruits of parthenocarpic cucumber are mild in flavour, seedless and have thin edible skin that requires no peeling. Fruits are generally 10-14 inches in length and 200 g in weight. The parthenocarpic varieties require no pollination for fruit setting. If pollination occurs, the fruit will form seeds, shape of fruit will be destroyed and develop bitter taste. It is therefore essential to prevent bees and other pollinators entering the green houses. Cucumber cultivars are selected for commercial use based on quality and yield characteristics. An important quality factor is the shape of the cucumber referred to as the length to diameter (L/D) ratio. This becomes important to meet specifications of the number of whole cucumber units per container. The cool marine environment causes the L/D ratio of many cultivars to be undesirably long and therefore many of the useful cultivars for other production regions have been eliminate. The presently available parthenocarpic cucumber cultivars have been bred and developed in Europe under similar climatic conditions and produce fruit with desirable L/D ratios. The parthenocarpic cultivars have potential for improvement of both the L/D ratios and fruit interior quality.

Introduction Cucurbits, belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae are among the most ancient cultivated plants. The term cucurbit was coined by Liberty Hyde Bailey for cultivated species of Cucurbitaceae. Other vernaculars applied to the family and several of its members are ‘gourd’, ‘melon’, ‘cucumber’, ‘squash’ and ‘pumpkin’. The Cucurbitaceae consists of two well defined sub families, eight tribes representing varying degrees of circumscriptive cohesiveness and about 118 genera and 825 species (Jeffrey, 1990). It is mostly tropical and sub tropical in distribution and only a few species occur in temperate regions. Some are semi desert or saprophytic in nature. The Indian sub continent is considered to be the centre of origin for a number of wild and cultivated crops. Chakravorty (1982) reported that 36 genera and 100 species of cucurbits are found in India. Cucurbits are cultivated in 8.5 m ha area in world giving a production of 17.9 mt. While in India a total of 4.5 mt cucurbits are produced from an area of 0.42 m ha area (FAO, 2004). Cucurbitaceae is one of the most genetically diverse groups of plants in the plant kingdom. As a family and as individual crop, cucurbits epitomize adaptive differentiation and evolutionary divergence. Not only may cultivars within a crop vary significantly in their characteristics, but the same cultivar grown in distinct areas can have different needs in response to disparate local growing conditions. Cultures and ethnic groups may have different cultivar preference and horticultural practices, which also increase morphological diversity within a crop. Cucurbits are of tremendous economic importance as food plants. They are extensively grown in mixed cropping of more than one kind in long and meandering river beds. Of various improvements approaches possible, breeding of superior pure lines and hybrid cultivars of cucurbits utilizing locally adopted land races are the most important methods which will have far reaching impact on increasing the production and productivity of cucurbits.

Introduction Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops which is grown throughout the world. It is a rich source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants and considered as a protective food. It is used in several forms ranging from raw to processed one and is widely used as one of the food ingredient. Its popularity is due to its versatility and the variety it lends to the human diet. Tomato leads all other vegetables in terms of total global production except potato which is often classified as starchy staple. India stands fourth in terms of global tomato production after China, USA and Turkey. The total production of tomato in India during 2007-08 was 10.26 million tones which accounted for 8.9 % of total vegetable production. Though concrete historical records of its first introduction into the country from its primary centre of diversity in South America do not exist, tomato is presumed to have been brought here during the second half of the 18th century through Far Eastern countries. It is believed that tomato was introduced in India during British period in the year 1828 by Royal Agri -Horticultural Society, Calcutta. The story of tomato transformation from an exotic fruit to a popular dietary item and a major item of commerce all over the world is one of the most fascinating events in the saga of crop domestication. As recently as 1900, tomato was avoided in the belief that it was poisonous because of its known relation to the nightshades and other toxic members of the nightshade family. The tomatine is a predominant alkaloid mainly present in foliage and green fruits. However, at the stage of ripening, tomatine is degraded into an inert compound which is not toxic.

Introduction Global food productivity will have to rise significantly to satisfy an expanding world population. Increased vegetable production is one option towards the efficient conversion of natural resources into food stuffs. As a group, vegetables are a diverse range of herbaceous plants that do not belong to any particular botanical species, genus or family. Individual members may be at various stages of domestication. Vegetables are typically annual herbaceous species, whose plant parts (leaves, stems, flowers, fruits, roots or tubers) are consumed as fresh or as cooked product, and as an additional source of vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytochemicals, protein and/or calories. Health benefits are also claimed for some vegetable species, mainly due to antioxidant activity and capacity to scavenge free radicals. Domesticated plants have been fundamentally altered from their wild relatives; these species have been moved into and adapted to new environments. They have become dependent on the farmer’s hand and they have been reshaped to meet human needs and wants. Modern crops are the results of thousands of years of these evolutionary processes. Like all biological evolution, crop evolution involves two fundamental process; the creation of diversity and selection (Harris and Hillman, 1989). Crop evolution is distinguished by two types of selection; one natural and another artificial or conscious. These evolutionary processes must continue in order for agriculture, a living and evolving system to remain viable. In the hands of plant breeder’s sexual hybridization is a powerful tool for producing superior plants by combining characters distributed in different members of a species or different species of a genus. Genetic variability within the species has been efficiently utilized by breeders in their efforts to improve crops. However, the existing variability in a breeding population may not be sufficient for modern plant breeding purposes, and thus great efforts have been made to broaden the existing gene pool of crops through utilization of wild germplasm.

Introduction Germplasm identification as a part of a philosophy of consumer protection extends through the entire seed trade and allied industries, from plant breeders to food consumers. Increasingly, countries are introducing schemes for Plant Breeders (or germplasm) Rights. These reward breeders financially for their efforts and offer protection for their germplasm, but in turn require that new germplasm are distinct from others and also uniform and stable in the expression of their characteristics. Since, the genetic variations in plants and plant populations are of considerable interest to have desirable traits to develop a commercial variety. Biochemical and molecular biology based data and its analysis for information regarding selection have been realized of utmost importance.

Introduction The Indian gene centre has rich diversity in vegetable crops. This diversity includes crops native to India like eggplant, parval, ridge gourd, sponge gourd, Colocasia sp., elephant yam and for centre of diversity for other vegetable crops i.e., Okra, Cucumber, Chayote, Chilli, Cucurbita etc. Rich diversity also occurs in introduced crops such as tomato, french bean, cowpea, leafy brassica, amaranth, yam and in cucurbits, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, coccinea, ash gourd, snake gourd and in bulbous crop like onion and garlic. Genetic Resources of Vegetable Crops in India Their diversity and conservation about 400 species constitute the global diversity in vegetable crops. This diversity is mainly distributed in seven-eight geographical regions, which represent the centres of origin and diversity as well. Among these, the regions possessing maximum diversity are the tropical American, Tropical Asian and the Mediterranean (q.v.) regions. In the tropical Asian region, both India and China hold maximum diversity.

Phenotypic Diversity Phenotypic diversity measures the portion of genetic diversity which is expressed phenotypically. So it varies with the character under study and the genetic background and the environment in which it is measured. The measures of genetic diversity based on variance of quantitative traits may be unreliable indicators of diversity in a population at the level of individual gene. But diversity at the molecular level (isozymes, RFLPs) may be a reasonable estimate of phenotypic diversity. The degree of differentiation is related to several biological attributes such as breeding system, mode of pollination and seed dispersal, life history, geographical range, successional stages, etc. The outbreeding populations are much less differentiated whereas the selfers or apomictic are strongly differentiated. Populations of outbreeders contain different alleles especially the rare alleles which contribute little to the diversity. Inbreeders should have greater interpopulations diversity and less intrapopulation diversity than the comparable outbreeders. Further, inbreeders are more prone to show an even distribution of their genetic diversity among populations and this makes their optimum sampling more difficult and any evidence of the geographic pattern of this diversity levels would greatly improve sampling efficiency but geographical and environmental factors rarely explain more than 50% variation.

Plant genetic resources are the most valuable and essential basic raw material to meet the current and future need of crop improvement programme. A wider genetic base assume the priority in plant breeding research aimed as developing new varieties for increased crop production. PGR for food and agriculture are a reservoir of genetic adoptability, which act as buffer against environmental changes and economical challenges. The erosion of these resources results in a severe threat to the world long term food securities. The fundamental objective of the genetic resource conservation is the maintenance of genetic diversity within each of the species. In general PGR include all species which contribute to people by providing food, medicine, feed, fiber etc. PGR is our heritage which needs conservation for prosperity. Genetic resources management is a complex process starting from the identification of a target gene pool for conservation to the use of genetic resources. Many of these activities not only generate but also require geo-referenced data (Spatial data). Analysis of these data can lead to a greater understanding of the eco-geographic representation of existing collections, increasing the efficiency of conserving and managing genetic resources and broadening our understanding of the distribution of genetic diversity. Genetic resource databases could potentially serve as an information resource to a broader scientific community, providing relatively independent global data sets to meet the unique needs of researcher. GIS can merge genetic diversity information with other georeferenced data such as population density, climate, topography and soils, adding value to genetic resources. GIS analysis can help develop conservation strategies, monitor genetic diversity, select potential collecting sites, design in situ reserves and enhance genetic resources use. Currently, GIS use is constrained by limited georeferenced information.

Introduction Eggplant or aubergine {Solanum melongena L. Solanaceae), is indigenous to a vast area stretching from northeast India and Burma, to Northern Thailand, Laos, Viet nam and Southwest China and wild plants can still be found in these locations. There is a wealth of eggplant common names. Eggplant is a major fruit vegetable with world production exceeding 31 million tonnes (Mt). Leading producers are China (17 Mt) and India (8 Mt), Egypt (1 Mt), Turkey (0.9 Mt), Japan and Italy (0.4 Mt). Eggplant is particularly favoured in Asia where it has been cultivated for millennia, and in India it is considered King of Vegetables. Brinjal, native to India, shares 31 % area (5.1 × 105 ha) and 28% production (82 × 105 t) of the world (Anon., 2003). It contributes 9% of the total vegetable production in the country. Three states/provinces viz. Orissa (1.41 × 105 ha), West Bengal (1.29 × 105 ha) and Bihar (0.72 × 105 ha) cover 67% of total brinjal area in India (Anon., 2006). It is widely adaptive and highly productive (17.78 t/ha) crop of tropical and sub-tropical regions. It is comparable with tomato for nutritional values like vitamin C, iron and fiber, thereby, can play an important role in combating malnutrition in under-nourished regions (Singh et al., 2001). However, genetic improvement, production technology, post harvest handling and plant protection measures are important for increasing the production, productivity and consumption of brinjal.

Introduction Indian subcontinent is one of the twelve mega diversity centres for cultivated plants and their wild relatives. More than 15000 species of flowering plants are indigenous to this region, which include 160 species of economic importance, 320 species of wild ancestral forms and approximately 800 species of ethnobotanical origin. Global diversity in vegetable crops is estimated around 400, of which 80 originated in India. These indigenous vegetables have immense potential in meeting the vegetable requirement of the country. They are rich in nutritional value especially in proteins, minerals and vitamins. Many of these vegetables have medicinal uses. Most of them are not used to their potential and their popularisation is needed in meeting the vegetable requirement of the country in coming days. Ash gourd (Benincasa hispida Cong.) Ash gourd also known as Wax gourd (Benincasa hispida Cong.) belonging to family Cucurbitaceae, is cultivated for its immature and mature fruits used as vegetable and in confectionery and ayurvedic medicines. A small fruited medicinal ash gourd is also grown in Kerala which is good for people suffering from nervousness. In areas where winter is mild, the crop can be grown throughout the year. The released varieties are KAU Local, Indu, Co.1, Co.2, APAU Shakthi, Karikumbala, Boodikumbala and IVAG -502. In addition, MAH-1 and MAH-2 are F1 hybrids released from private sector. The crop is raised by sowing seeds in pits at a spacing of 2.5 × 2.0 m in Tamil Nadu, 3.4 × 1.8-2.5 m in West Bengal and 4.5 × 2.0 m in Kerala. The seeds can also be sown in channels at a spacing of 2 × 0.5m. The crop is trailed on branches and twigs spread on the ground. The fruits are harvested at immature or fully ripe stage depending on demand. Immature fruits can be harvested 21 days after anthesis. Mature fruits for storage, long distance transport and seed extraction are harvested after full development of waxy coating on fruit surface. The average yield are 30-35 t/ha.

Introduction Peas (Pisum sativum L., 2n = 2x =14) are consumed as fresh vegetables or dry seeds throughout the world. In India, peas are grown as winter vegetable in plains and as summer vegetable in the hills. As field pea, it occupies about 0.45 m ha area in India, accounting for only about 2% of the total pulse area. About 90% of its area and production is limited to Uttar Pradesh alone. The area under vegetable peas is on increase. The acreage of vegetable pea in India is 2.72 lakhs ha with a productivity of 9.9 tons/ha. Pea is a rich source of protein (7.2% in green pea & 20 % in dry pea) and minerals (0.8%). The geographical region comprising of Central Asia, the Near East, Abyssinia and the Mediterranean is considered as centre of origin based on genetic diversity. According to Blixt (1970), the Mediterranean is the primary center of diversity with secondary centers in Ethiopia and the Near East. Garden pea, seeds have been observed in archeological excavations of Mohan Jodaro and Harappa, there are distinct hot weather tolerant and round-seeded varieties which carry high resistance to fusarium wilt and powdery mildew (Erysiphe polygoni). These varieties have a different use as a pulse crop for meeting protein requirements of common people. These are considered as intermediate stages of domestication of the present day vegetable (garden) pea, which is sweet and wrinkled-seeded. In fact, the quick spread of Arkel variety, an introduction from England in seventies, has displaced some of the native round-seeded varieties like Asauji, Hara Bonia, Hoshiarpuri, Kaparkheda, Kalanagni, Lucknow Bonia etc. there is need to conserve these valuable germplasm, before they are swept away by genetic erosion.

Introduction Radish (Raphanus sativus L., 2n=2x=18) is a root cum leafy vegetable suitable for sub tropical and temperate climate. Radish probably originated in Europe and Asia. It has been under extensive cultivation in Egypt since long. It was introduced to England and France in the beginning of 16th century. In 1806, it was introduced to America. Radish does not exist in wild stack. It is believed to have originated from R. raphanistrum which is widely distributed as weed in Europe. Radish is primarily a winter crop but with the development and release of new varieties, it can be grown all the year round. The new varieties can withstand heat and does not bolt in spring. Radish is a favourite crop because of its quick growth and availability in 4-7 weeks. Its fleshy roots are modified roots, developed from both the primary root and hypocotyl. The leaves and roots are consumed both as salad and cooked. The radish root is a good appetizer; its different preparations are useful in curing liver and gall bladder problems. Roots are also used in treating urinary complaints and piles. The juice of fresh leaves is useful as diuretic and laxative. Pungency in radish is due to volatile isothiocyanates while pink colour is due to pigment anthocyanin. Radish is a good source of vitamin C containing 15-40 mg per 100g of edible portion. Roots also contain proteins, fat, minerals, fibre and carbohydrates, besides trace elements like aluminium, barium, lithium, manganese, silicon, titanium, fluorine and iodine. Pink skinned radish is generally richer in vitamin C than the white skinned type. Radish contains glucose as the major sugar and also contains fructose and sucrose in smaller quantities. Pectin and pentosans are also reported to be present. The leaves are good source of extraction of protein on a commercial scale and seeds are potential source for non-drying fatty oil suitable for soap making, illuminating and for the edible purposes.

Introduction Turnip is an important root crop which is very popular particularly in northern India. It is a cool season crop mainly grown as a fall or winter crop in the hills and winter crop in the plains. Turnip (Brassica rapa L. syn. Brassica compestris var. rapa) belong to family Brassicaceae. It has a chromosome number of 2n=2x=20. Two main centers of origin have been indicated. The Mediterranean area is considered to be the primary centre of origin of European type/temperate types. While Eastern Afghanistan with adjoining areas of Pakistan is considered to be another primary centre with Asia Minor, Transcaucasus and Iran as secondary centre. The parents of cultivated turnip are found in the wild form in Russia, Siberia and Scandnavia. It was cultivated by the ancients and ranked next to grapes and cereals in Italy. It was introduced in England probably in 1590 and United States in 1606 (Yawalkar, 1980). Turnips are now cultivated throughout the world. Turnips are botanically biennial herbs, but are cultivated as annual root crops for both animal and human consumption. The turnip root contains 41.6% moisture, 6.2 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g protein, 0.2 g fat, 0.04 mg thiamin, 0.04 mg riboflavin, 43 mg ascorbic acid, 30 mg Ca, 40 mg P and 0.4 mg Fe per 100 g of edible portion. The turnip green contains 15,669 IU vitamin A per 100 g (Aykroyd, 1963). Turnip is grown for its enlarged root as well as for its foliage. Extra seedlings from thinning are often used as greens. The fresh roots are consumed in salads or cooked as vegetable or used in pickles. The young leaves contain high amount of ascorbic acid and iron, rank second in vitamin A content and are cooked as greens. The fleshy thickened underground portion of turnip is actually the hypocotyl. The colour and shape of this underground portion vary with the cultivars and the roots are flat globular to top-shaped and long. The colour of under ground portion may be white or yellow, while that of above ground portion may be red, purple, white, yellow or green. A distinct tap root and secondary roots arise from the lower part of the swollen hypocotyl. Thickening begins in the central part of the hypocotyle, followed by the upper and lower parts. Normally, the roots attain edible maturity in 40-80 days depending on cultivar and climatic conditions.

Introduction Carrot (Daucus carota L., 2n=2x=18) is a cool-season root vegetable grown all over the world in temperate as well as sub-tropical climates. In India, it is cultivated over an area of 24,000 hectares with an annual production of 3,50,000 metric tones with a productivity much lower (14.58 t/ha) than the world average (22.17 t/ha) as per FAO, 2004. Carrots are used for human consumption as well as for animal feed. Carrot can thus be used for augmenting fresh fodder supply to milch animals during the lean winter in Kashmir (Hussan and Ahmed, 1999). Carrot has a significant place as an ingredient in soups and sauces and in dietary composition and also as a salad. A sweet preparation called Gajar Halwa is very famous dish in North India. Besides canning, it is also used in preparation of pickles. It is also exported in the form of fresh roots to the countries like Kuwait and Sharjah. Carrot is a rich source of á and â- carotene. The total carotenoid content in the edible portion of carrot roots ranges from 6.00 to 54.80 mg/100g. The yellow and orange coloured roots contain relatively more carotenoid. Carrot roots contain protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals (especially Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cu, S etc.) besides vitamin A, B1, B2, nicotinic acid and vitamin C. In carrot roots, sucrose is the most abundant with endogenous sugar contents 10 times than those of glucose and fructose. Asia minor, Afghanistan, North West India, Iran and Turkey are the centers of origin of carrot. As per Encyclopedia Britannica, carrots have originated from Afghanistan, Punjab and Kashmir with secondary centers in Ethiopia and North America. The European carotene carrot (syn. Western carotene carrot, temperate carrot) has been derived from the Asiatic anthocyanin containing forms of carrot (syn. Eastern anthocyanin carrot, tropical carrot). Afghanistan is the centre of diversity of the purple coloured carrot (anthocyanin carrot) and as such this country is suggested as the primary centre for origin. Integration between the Asiatic and European carrots has given the present day forms which are fleshy, smoother, less forked and better coloured. Punjab and Kashmir are also considered as primary centre of origin with secondary centers in Ethopia and North America. It is still found in its wild form in Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir valley where wild animals especially brown bear feed on its roots. People still eat the wild carrots in some parts of Kashmir (Yawalkar, 1980). In north India highly coloured types of carrots are found which are not available in Europe. The colour of carrot ranges from absolute colourless to light lemon, light orange, orange and deep orange, light purple, deep purple and almost black. It is also an indication of this region being a primary centre of origin of carrot.

Introduction The traditional approach to transferring genes from wild to cultivated species is based on interspecific hybridization followed by selection of hybrids that combine the trait with the cultivated genetic background. This breeding strategy is achieved by various backcross generations in which the selected hybrids at each generation are crossed back to the cultivated genotype with the aim of reducing the wild genome and its undesirable traits. The use of molecular markers has allowed this breeding approach to be greatly improved, since these markers directly reveal genetic variability through DNA analysis (Staub et al. 1996), and therefore their detection is not influenced by environmental effects. Since the development of numerous molecular markers for plant genometatic analysis, the possibility to select the genotype instead of the phenotype has been closely examined, leading to the concept of molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS; Paterson et al. 1991). The basic concept of MAS for crop improvement has been well discussed by Collard et al. (2005) which is most appropriate for this chapter. The most widely used markers suitable for MAS are RFLP, RAPD, AFLP, and SSR. Their common origin is point mutation or chromosome rearrangements that were accumulated during the evolution of the species without negatively influencing their survival and reproduction. The choice of the most suitable markers for MAS can differ and depends on the labor required for their detection, possibility of revealing single or multiple loci, dominant or co dominant nature and costs.

Introduction Chilli is one of the most important spice and condiment of daily use in all most all the Indian houses. The fresh and dry fruits are the rich source of Vitamin A (292 IU) and Vitamin C (111 mg/100g). Its pungency not only improves the taste of the different preparations but also improve their storability. The colour of the fruits is due to the presence of the pigment capsanthin and pungency and acridity is due to the presence of alkaloid oleoresins knows as capsaicin (C18 H27 O3 N). The capsaicin has a very good medicinal importance and also having importance for the pharmaceuticals industries for preparation of the different types of the drugs, because of the presence of the antioxidants like Vitamin A, C and P (Rutin). The green and red sweet pepper, bell pepper, Pimiento (heart shape) and cherry pepper are used in the fresh market processing industries for stuffing pickling and dehydrated processed meat. It is used as green as well as dry powder, pickles, salad and for industry to prepare the medicines for external and internal uses.

Introduction Potato is a wonder crop that can be grown under diverse range of agro-climatic conditions. Short duration; high yield per unit area and time and wide flexibility in planting and harvesting time are important virtues of potato that enable its inclusion in intensive cropping systems. Potato is not an Indian crop but is a native of high Andean region of South America. It was introduced in India perhaps in 16th or early 17th century by either the Portuguese traders or the British missionaries. The present day cultivated potatoes (tetraploid, 2n=4x=48) in most of the world represent Solanum tuberosum spp. tuberosum and S. tuberosum spp. andigena, although it’s numerous diploid (2n=2x=24) relatives are still under cultivation in and around its primary and secondary centers of origin in South America (Pandey and Sarkar, 2005). The great Irish famine in the 19th century, caused by late blight disease, nearly wiped out all the earliest potato introductions in the Europe and dramatically changed the potato cultivation and production scenario in rest of the world. Unlike in European Countries 80% of the potato is grown in India under short day conditions as a short duration crop i.e. 70-90 days. The tubers are exposed to high temperatures during planting (September-October) and harvesting (February-May). The crop is irrigated and suffers mid day water stress. The potato varieties introduced from Europe were unsuitable for growing under the above conditions. Systematic potato research in India spanned over the last half-a-century of the 20th century in the past millennium. The Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), which was established in 1949, has bean mainly responsible for tremendous growth of potato production in the country. The indigenous technological advances made it possible to extend potato cultivation in almost all part of the country. Now in India, compared to the production, area and yield of potato in 1949-50, the increase over the same period was 1513%, 559% and 270% respectively (Naik and Thakur, 2007). According to the FAO, potato production worldwide stands at 329 million tones and covers more then 19 million ha.

Introduction Spices have played a very important role in shaping the history of human culture and civilization. Spices condiments and aromatic plants were the first articles traded by ancient people. These prompted the foreigners to the land of spices. Among spices, seed spices is a group well distributed over different agro-climatic regions in India covering major part in semi-arid to arid region largely in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The other states where one or more of seed spices grown are Haryana, Punjab, M.P., Bihar, U.P., West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The seed spices are grown in different parts of the world covering mainly Mediterranean region, South Europe and Asia. These crops were introduced to India from Mediterranean and Central Asian region, perhaps a long time ago. Today India enjoys the position of largest producer and exporter in the world for these crops. The country is bestowed with immensely rich land races diversity in seed spices crops. Much of the country’s agro-biodiversity is in the custody of farming community who followed age old farming systems. However the land races are being lost due to expansion of agriculture production in the frontier areas or replacement with the improved cultivars. Hence, scientific management of these valuable resources on different dimensions of activities in India viz. survey and collection, characterization, evaluation, documentation and conservation has assumed prime importance today. Out of the total 20 seed spices grown in India the ten are prominent. These important seed spices are divided into major and minor group of seed spices. The crops covered as major seed spices are coriander, cumin, fennel and fenugreek, whereas, ajowan, dill, nigella, celery and anise constitute minor group. The semi-arid to arid region is considerably rich in plant biodiversity of seed spices and it is required to conserve the natural wealth of these crops. The increasing loss of plant diversity owing to numerous natural and manmade causes calls for immediate efforts for its collection and safeguard.

Introduction In 1990, the magnitude of fungal diversity, that is, the actual number of species worldwide, was estimated conservatively to be at least 1.5 million. Of the 1.5 million estimated fungi, it has been estimated that 14,000 species produce fruiting bodies of sufficient size and suitable structure to be considered macro-fungi which can be called mushrooms. Of these, about 50 % or 7,000 species are considered to possess varying degrees of edibility and more than 3,000 species from 31 genera are regarded as prime edible mushrooms. To date, only 200 of them are experimentally grown, 100 economically cultivated, approximately 60 commercially cultivated and about 10 have reached an industrial scale of production in many countries (Hawksworth, 2001). Of the 14,000 species of mushrooms in the world, around 700 have known for medicinal properties. Thus, mushrooms have vast prospects as sources of medicines. The early herbalists were more interested in the medicinal properties of mushrooms than in their basic value as a source of food. Humankind has constantly searched for new substances that can improve biological functions and thereby make people fitter and healthier. About 3.5 billion people worldwide, all over half of the world populations rely on plant-based medicines and dietary supplements for their primary health care. Of the plant materials involved in medicines or health tonics, quite a few are fungi. The practice of using fungi as herbal medicines can be traced in different early records of the ‘materia medica’. The earliest book on medicinal materials the “Shen Nongs Herbal” recorded the medicinal effects of several fungi such as Ganoderma lucidum, Poria cocos, Tremella fuciformis, Polyporus umbillatus and other unidentified fungi. The most famous of all work on the traditional medicines “Pen Ts’ao Kang Mu” which was compiled by Li Shi-Zhen of the Ming Dynasty recorded the medicinal fungi totaling more than twenty species, including Ganoderma lucidum, Poria cocos, Polyporus umbellatus, Lentinula edodes, Termitomyces albuminosus, Auricularia auricula, Pleurotus ostreatus, Armillaria mellea etc. A very unique insect-infecting fungus, Cordyceps sinensis, was for the first time taken as a medicinal fungus in the book “Essentials of Materia Medica”. There have been new discoveries and developments in the field of medicinal fungi, which have greatly enriched the treasure house of our traditional medical and medicinal sciences. As a result of large number of scientific studies on medicinal mushrooms in the past three decades, the traditional uses of many mushrooms have been confirmed and new wider uses found. Some traditionally important and leading medicinal fungi in the Oriental medicines are presented below