PRIORITIZATION, COLLECTION, CONSERVATION AND USES OF CROP WILD RELATIVES IN INDIA

Importance of Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) as source of novel genes specifically for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in context of climate change has increasingly been recognized at global level. However, a substantial number of wild species are facing threat, before their diversity is adequately explored and conserved. In-situ assessment of CWR resources to identify, rare, endangered or threatened species, is crucial for their protection, adaptation and evolution. Information on distribution, ecogeography, genetic worth, methodologies of identification, collection, conservation and utilization of CWR of Indian Gene Centre are scanty. Total 861 Indian CWR taxa (769 species) have been identified based on their closeness with crop as well as their potential use in 171 ICAR-mandated crops. Shortlisted taxa were further prioritized based on their economic importance, closeness to crop (GP-GP3), possession of traits of breeders’ interest, extent of distribution and level of threat. Accordingly, 292 taxa (257 species) belonging to 85 crops are narrowed down. These high-priority taxa were analysed for gaps in collection and conservation. Of 292 taxa, only 167 were conserved in the National Genebank. While 28 taxa were represented with <5 accessions and 81 with <10 accessions, only 40 were with a fair number of accessions (≥50); however, they too lack representative samples from across geographical and ecological range. Fragile ecosystems - coastal and cold-arid ecosystem, and protected areas are priority targets for collection. The collection of CWR has significantly increased in past decade (7-8%). However, locating their habitat and species, asynchronous maturity, less seeds, problems in multiplication and evaluation for traits of interest are major constraints.