Plant germplasm collecting in India: Present status, gaps in collection and future strategies

There is a long tradition of plant germplasm collecting in India. Initially sporadic collection of indigenous germplasm of various crops viz., wheat, jute, tea, sugarcane, several legumes, rice, tropical forages, ornamental orchids and Musa were made. Later on cucumber and mdons, minor millets and sesame, wild crucifers, wild rices, Triticum compactum and wild barley were collected in collaboration with USA, Japan, Canada and International Institutes such as IPGRI, IRRI, ICRISAT etc. In India, plant exploration and collection activities have been more systematized after the creation of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) in 1976. Prior to this, between 1946 to July 1976, a total of 31,235 germplasm collections comprising cereals, millets, legumes, oilseeds, vegetables, fiber yielding and other economic plants including wild relatives, were made. Prior to 1976, major exploration missions included multi-crop/region specific whereas after 1976 till 1984, both multi-crop! region specific and crop-specific surveys were made. This activity received greater impetus since 1985 and in the next 12–13 years i.e., upto 1998, emphasis was mainly laid on crop-specific collaborative explorations. Significant diversity in rice, wheat, maize, barley among cereals, buckwheat and amaranths in pseudocereals; sorghum, pearl millet, proso millet, kodo millet and finger millet in millets/minor millets; pigeonpea, peas, chickpea, mungbean, uridbean, moth bean and rice bean among grain legumes; Brassica-oil yielding types, sesame, groundnut, castor among oilseeds; cotton and jute in fiber crops and medicinal plants etc. were sampled. In 634 explorations undertaken from August 1976 to May 1999, a total of 1,13,360 germplasm collections of economically important agri-horticultural crops and their wild relatives were made from different agro-ecological zones! habitats. In this paper, the status of germplasm collection in India has been reviewed, gaps identified and future strategies have been discussed.