1 Biodiversity of Vegetable Crops
Plant biodiversity is the single greatest resource that man garnered from nature during the long cultural development phase. More than 2.5 lakh species of mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants and more than 50,000 plant species are yet to be documented, primarily in the remote and less studied reaches of tropical forests.
Vegetable crops in which rich diversity occurs in India are Cowpea, Common bean, Cole crops, Okra, Brinjal, Sweet potato, Taros, Yams, Sword bean, Velvet bean and Elephant foot yam. Wide diversity was observed in chives, leeks and other Allium spp in Kumaoun and Garhwal Himalayas; cluster bean in Western arid zone; lab lab bean in Deccan plateau; cucurbits in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and leaf vegetables like Amaranth and Fagopyrum in Western Himalayan region. Tropical vegetables consist of solanaceus fruits (tomato, hot pepper, brinjal), cucurbits (water melon, muskmelon, cucumber, pumpkins and squashes, bottle gourd, chow-chow, ivy gourd, bitter gourd, ash gourd, round gourd, snake gourd, pointed gourd, sponge gourd, ridge gourd), malvaceous vegetables (Okra),legumes (common bean, lima bean, dolichos bean, cowpea, sword bean, winged bean), allium (onion, shallot, garlic, leek) and leaf vegetables (amaranth, spinach beet, Ceylon spinach). The indigenous vegetables both cultivated and wild have important role in household nutrition, economy and food security. There are 25 hot spots of biodiversity of which Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayan region are the most important ones. Indo-Myanmar region is one of the largest hot spots of the world and is the centre of origin of tuber crops like yams, taro, Amorphophallus and Alocasia. Tropical tuber crops form an important group of subsistence crops especially to those living in tropics and sub tropical zones. Tuber crops are the third important food crops after cereals and grain legumes. Major tuber crops are cassava, sweet potato, Asiatic yam, African yam, lesser yam, elephant foot yam, taro, tannia and country potato. Minor tuber crops are arrowroot, winged bean, yam bean, canna, safed musli and Jerusalem artichoke. Sweet potato is one of the world’s highest yielding crops.
Biodiversity is the origin of all species of crops and domesticated and the variety within them. It is also the foundation of ecosystem services essential to sustain agriculture and human well-being. Today’s crop and livestock biodiversity are the result of many thousands years of human intervention. The biodiversity in vegetable crops is composed by the genetic diversity, as species diversity (inter specific diversity) and as diversity of genes within a species (intra specific diversity) referring to the vegetable grown varieties, and by the diversity of agro-ecosystems (agro-biodiversity).
Crop diversity is the variance in genetic and phenotypic characteristics of plants used in agriculture. Over the past 50 years, there has been a major decline in two components of crop diversity; genetic diversity within each crop and the number of species commonly grown.
Plant biodiversity is the single greatest resource that man garnered from nature during the long cultural development phase. More than 2.5 lakh species of mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants and more than 50,000 plant species are yet to be documented, primarily in the remote and less studied reaches of tropical forests.
Vegetable crops in which rich diversity occurs in India are Cowpea, Common bean, Cole crops, Okra, Brinjal, Sweet potato, Taros, Yams, Sword bean, Velvet bean and Elephant foot yam. Wide diversity was observed in chives, leeks and other Allium spp in Kumaoun and Garhwal Himalayas; cluster bean in Western arid zone; lab lab bean in Deccan plateau; cucurbits in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and leaf vegetables like Amaranth and Fagopyrum in Western Himalayan region. Tropical vegetables consist of solanaceus fruits (tomato, hot pepper, brinjal), cucurbits (water melon, muskmelon, cucumber, pumpkins and squashes, bottle gourd, chow-chow, ivy gourd, bitter gourd, ash gourd, round gourd, snake gourd, pointed gourd, sponge gourd, ridge gourd), malvaceous vegetables (Okra),legumes (common bean, lima bean, dolichos bean, cowpea, sword bean, winged bean), allium (onion, shallot, garlic, leek) and leaf vegetables (amaranth, spinach beet, Ceylon spinach). The indigenous vegetables both cultivated and wild have important role in household nutrition, economy and food security. There are 25 hot spots of biodiversity of which Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayan region are the most important ones. Indo-Myanmar region is one of the largest hot spots of the world and is the centre of origin of tuber crops like yams, taro, Amorphophallus and Alocasia. Tropical tuber crops form an important group of subsistence crops especially to those living in tropics and sub tropical zones. Tuber crops are the third important food crops after cereals and grain legumes. Major tuber crops are cassava, sweet potato, Asiatic yam, African yam, lesser yam, elephant foot yam, taro, tannia and country potato. Minor tuber crops are arrowroot, winged bean, yam bean, canna, safed musli and Jerusalem artichoke. Sweet potato is one of the world’s highest yielding crops.
Biodiversity is the origin of all species of crops and domesticated and the variety within them. It is also the foundation of ecosystem services essential to sustain agriculture and human well-being. Today’s crop and livestock biodiversity are the result of many thousands years of human intervention. The biodiversity in vegetable crops is composed by the genetic diversity, as species diversity (inter specific diversity) and as diversity of genes within a species (intra specific diversity) referring to the vegetable grown varieties, and by the diversity of agro-ecosystems (agro-biodiversity).
Crop diversity is the variance in genetic and phenotypic characteristics of plants used in agriculture. Over the past 50 years, there has been a major decline in two components of crop diversity; genetic diversity within each crop and the number of species commonly grown.