Introduction

Wild relatives of crop plants constitute a part of crop genepool, which possess genes that have great potential for their utilization in crop improvement programmes. Wild genepools especially those occurring in biotically disturbed habitats are under threat of genetic erosion and require immediate collection to make use of their wider adaptability, tolerance/resistance to disease, insect-pests, yield, quality attributes and other biotic and abiotic traits.

The Indian gene centre harbours about 166 species of native cultivated plants (Vavilov 1949–1950; Zeven and de Wet 1982) and over 320 wild relatives (Arora and Nayar 1984; Arora 1991, 2000). The wild relatives of crop plants by and large, occur as components of disturbed habitats within the major vegetation types with distribution in the warm humid tropical, sub-tropical regions and in the Western Himalaya with low representation in the drier parts of north-western region (Arora and Nayar 1984; Arora and Pandey 1996; Arora 2000). Over 100 wild relatives and related taxa and endemic/rare/endangered species occur predominantly in the hot-spots/microcentres of India (Nayar 1996; Pandey and Arora 2004; Pandey et al. 2005).

Wild relatives identified for their potential value include some important taxa: Oryza nivara Sharma et Shastry, wild annual rice and a wild relative of cultivated Oryza (paddy), having resistance to grassy stunt virus and the only source of resistance to rice tungro virus from eastern Uttar Pradesh; Porteresia coarctata (Roxb.) Tateoka, a weedy relative with hardiness traits for saline/marshy habitats from Sunderban delta region in West Bengal; Eleusine compressa (Forssk.) Aschers. et Schweinf. ex C. Christenson, a wild relative of E. coracana (L.) Gaertn. (finger millet) from north-western arid tracts, having traits for hardiness and drought tolerance; Vigna mungo var. silvestris Lukoki, Marechal et Otoul and Vigna radiata var. sublobata (Roxb.) Verdc., wild relatives of cultivated V. mungo (L.) Hepper (black gram, urd) and V. radiata (L.) Wilczek (green gram, mung), respectively from Ghats and adjacent areas, exhibiting tolerance to yellow mosaic virus; Cicer microphyllum Royle (wild chickpea), a wild relative of Cicer arietinum L. (chickpea) having cold hardiness and more seeds/ pod from high altitude regions of Himalaya; Sesamum laciniatum Klein ex Willd. from coastal Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, a wild relative of cultivated Sesamum indicum L. (sesame) having resistance to leaf phyllody disease; Linum perenne ssp. perenne L., a wild relative of cultivated Linum usitatissimum L. (linseed) with cold hardiness traits from Lahul and Spiti region and other parts of Western Himalaya; Citrus latipes (Swingle) Tanaka, a wild relative of cultivated Citrus species (lemon and limes) with cold resistance from the Shillong plateau and Khasi hills in north-eastern India; Abelmoschus tuberculatus Pal et Singh, a wild relative of Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench (lady’s finger) having tolerance/resistance to yellow vein mosaic virus and fruit borer from drier regions of north-western India.

The wild relatives of crop plants occur in all the major phytogeographical regions of India as component of different vegetation types, and exhibit variable life forms and habitat specificity. High priority demand is towards collection of those that are at the risk of erosion due to habitat disturbance by man made/natural causes and over-exploitation of species for commercial use.

Phytogeographical regions of India having concentration of rich diversity are of special significance for undertaking programmes for their collection and for in situ conservation. These have been the least explored areas with respect to collection of wild relatives of crops. Some efforts have been made in the past for collection, analysis and documentation of the diversity in wild relatives of crop plants of India. Important diversity in wild relatives of crop plants has been collected from Himalaya (Negi et al. 1991), parts of Rajasthan desert and Gujarat (Singh and Pandey 1996; Bisht et al. 1997; Pandey and Padhye 2000), Orissa and West Bengal (Subudhi et al. 2000; Patra et al. 2002) and other regions of India (Malik et al. 2001; Singh and Singh 2003).

Identification of wild relatives of many crop plants and establishing their close genetic affinities have made possible to utilize them as potential source of genetic variation by the breeders (Jambhale 1986; Kalloo and Chowdhary 1992; Kalloo and Bergh 1993; Sharma et al. 2003). The wild progenitors of crop plants, their wild and weedy forms (primary genepool) (Harlan and de Wet 1971) and the distantly but cross compatible wild related species, leading to partially fertile cross-progenies (secondary genepool) have been used in major plant improvement programmes (Stalker 1980; Chang 1985; Goodman et al. 1987; Khush and Brar 1988).

The wild relatives of crop plants for all their proven value and obvious potential have not been fully utilized. Lack of awareness about the potential, pattern of variability, reproductive biology, the knowledge and aptitude for identification, etc. are the major difficulties associated with different breeding programmes while using germplasm of wild relatives. Collection of germplasm from natural population is difficult due to asynchronized seed maturity, shattering habit, availability of insufficient material due to poor density of plant population and dormancy in the bud woods, particularly in trees and vegetatively propagated species.

The present paper deals with the significant diversity collected in wild relatives of crop plants from different phytogeographical regions of India under a mission mode programme of Indian Council of Agricultural Research under National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) sub-project on Sustainable Management of Plant Biodiversity, implemented at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi during 1999–2005. This information would help setting priority for collection, conservation and utilization of important species of this region.

Materials and methods

The material was collected in the form of seed or vegetative propagules using modified standard procedures for collection of wild relatives (Pandey et al. 2005). Based on germplasm collected from different phytogeographical regions and distribution of species in explored areas, initial checklist was prepared. The species identity were verified with the help of regional and national floras, published literature (Arora and Nayar 1984; Hajra et al. 1993; Sharma et al. 1993; Greuter et al. 1994; Pullaiah et al. 2000; Singh et al. 2000) and herbarium records available with Botanical Survey of India, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and different State and Central Universities located in different parts of the country.

The compiled data included information on wild relatives of major crop-group(s) pertaining to plant attributes, phytogeographical distribution, life form (habit), economic types, assessment of threat and thrust areas for future target collections and conservation. Evaluation of status for priority for conservation was based on species distribution (endemic, rare/threatened/endangered, etc.), utilization in crop improvement programmes and potential traits. Validation was based on literature, records, database and field work (Wealth of India 1948–1976; Tanaka 1976; Jain and Rao 1983; Arora and Nayar 1984; Ahmedullah and Nayar 1986; Ambasta et al. 1986; Terrell et al. 1986; Nayar and Sastry 1987–1990; Trehane et al. 1995; Wiersema and Leon 1999; Gopalan and Henry 2000; IUCN 2000, 2001; Rao et al. 2003; http://www.sp2000.org/; http://www.ipni.org/).

Wild relatives

In the present study authors have considered wild relatives of crop plant species occurring in India including the crop progenitors and wild/weedy relatives (as component of genepool I; primary genepool) and distantly related taxa, having potential for crop improvement (genepools II and III; secondary and tertiary genepools) that are important but scarcely exploited component of the genepool of domesticated species available to plant breeders.

Results and discussion

The survey and collection of wild relatives of crop plant species resulted in augmentation of 373 species (belonging to 120 genera and 48 families), including 207 wild relatives of 82 native cultivated species and 179 species reported by Arora and Nayar (1984). A considerable number in the holdings represented those belonging to primary genepool.

Significant diversity in wild relatives of crop plants was collected in different crop groups from eight phytogeographical regions of the country during the period 1999–2005 (Table 1, Fig. 1). Species belonging to crop groups namely fruits and vegetables dominated the collection. The species strength in the phytogeographical regions pointed out the largest representation from temperate and subtemperate parts of Western Himalaya and warm humid and subtropical regions in Western and Eastern Ghats while low collections were made from islands, Eastern Himalaya and drier regions of North-west plains (Table 2).

Table 1 Number of genera and species in different crop groups collected in wild relatives of crop plants
Full size table
Table 2 Number of wild relatives collected from different phytogeographical regions of India
Full size table
Fig. 1
figure 1

Collection of wild relatives of crop plants from different phytogeographical regions of India (1999-2005)

Full size image

Species richness was predominant in genera (species represented in parenthesis) Piper (16 species), Vigna (13 species), Solanum (12 species), Citrus, Cinnamomum, Dioscorea and Syzygium (each represented by 9–10 species), Abelmoschus, Allium, Curcuma, Oryza and related genera (each represented by 8 species) and Corchorus, Cucumis, Momordica, Trichosanthes and Sesamum (each represented by 7 species). Major families included Fabaceae (32), Rosaceae (23), Cucurbitaceae (23), Poaceae (19), Zingiberaceae (17), Malvaceae (14), Solanaceae (12) and Piperaceae (10).

The flora of India shows great affinity to the flora of Indo-Malaya and Indo-Chinese region. Analysis of collected diversity in wild relatives revealed the dominance of species from Indian subcontinent (Hindustani center; 37%), Indo-Malayan (16%), followed by Indo-African (9.3%) and Europe-Afghanistan (8.6%) regions. Large number of holdings represented indigenous flora claiming endemic species (Nayar 1977, 2004) (Table 7).

Analysis of life form

The wild relatives collected from Indian region represented a diverse assemblage of herbs, scapigerous annuals, shrubs, undershrubs, climbers and trees adapted to fallow land, field margin and forest undergrowth and fringes of forest. Perennial herbs as wild Oryza and related genera, Panicum, Amaranthus, Vigna, Saccharum, etc. were found confined to specific habit as water logged areas, saline and/river side and field margins. Shrubs predominated forming a part of temperate to subtropical vegetation in species under genera Rosa, Rubus, Ribes, Rauvolfia, Indigofera, etc. Perennial shrubby/woody climbers were represented in Vitis, Piper, Rosa, Rubus and occurred as part of forest floor. Trees predominated in genera Cordia, Madhuca, Artocarpus, Diospyros, Docynia, Ficus, Garcinia, Malus, Mangifera, Morus, Mimusops, Prunus, Pyrus, Syzygium, Ziziphus, Cinnamomum, etc. forming the top storey of forest types in different climatic zones. In general, majority of the taxa represented herbaceous life form with annual to perennial habit and annual climbers, followed by perennials as shrubs/woody climbers and trees (Table 3).

Table 3 Life form of wild relatives of crop plants
Full size table

Habitat

The predominant areas of collection were evergreen broadleaved forests, subalpine or alpine meadows, alpine deserts, conifer broad-leaved mix forests and alpine scrubs. Diversity in fruit trees (Artocarpus, Citrus, Garcinia, Diospyros, Syzygium, Spondias, Mimusops, Mangifera), tall herbs (Musa and Ensete at lower altitudes) and spices/condiment yielding trees (Cinnamomum and Myristica) was collected from tropical moist evergreen/semi-evergreen climax forest in western and eastern peninsular tract and in north-eastern region. Different species of Piper and Dioscorea clothed the trunk of large and small trees and shrubs like Zingiber, Amomum and Solanum prevalently occurred as forest undergrowth. In the forest openings, legumes and cucurbits—Vigna, Atylosia, Moghania, Luffa, Momordica, Cucumis and others like Solanum, Abelmoschus, Corchorus and Vitis occurred along with species in genera Saccharum, Carissa and Grewia. Specific habitats as low lying waterlogged areas for Coix lacryma-jobi L. marshy and brackish water for wild rice (Oryza nivara, O. rufipogon Griff., Porteresia coarctata (Roxb.) Tateoka, moist habitat for Hygroryza aristata (Retz.) Nees ex Wight et Arn. and grassy swords for Crotalaria alata Buch.-Ham. were explored for gathering diversity.

Dry tropical vegetation in deciduous forests in southern peninsular tract and northern plains were explored to capture diversity in trees–Cordia myxa L., Emblica officinalis Gaertn., Diospyros, Morus, Grewia alongwith thorny shrubs in Carissa, Ziziphus and viny types as Vitis, Momordica, Coccinia cordifolia (L.) Cogn. (C. indica Wight et Arn.) and Cucumis prophetarum L. widely occurring in forest openings/edges. Rich diversity was gathered from semi-arid desert in the north-western drier plains in Carissa congesta Wight, C. spinarum L., Ziziphus nummularia (Burm. f.) Wight et Arn. and sandy/rocky habitat in Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Aschers. et Schweinf.

The montane sub-tropical climax vegetation in the peninsular tract, hills of Western Ghats and north-eastern regions were explored and diversity in fruit trees such as in Prunus, Pyrus, Docynia and herbaceous forms/shrubby types in Rubus, Solanum, Vigna, Atylosia, Cajanus, Trichosanthes, Abelmoschus and Fragaria (as undergrowth) was collected.

Rich diversity collected from the montane temperate vegetation in the Himalaya was predominated by fruit trees (Pyrus, Prunus, Malus, Myrica, Juglans); shrubs and undershrubs (Rubus, Fragaria, Linum, Allium, Hordeum) as undergrowth of the above forest types and viny types (Cucumis callosus (Rottl.) Cogn., Cucumis sativus L. var. hardwickii (Royle) Gabaev, Trichosanthes spp.) and rhizomatous herbs (Hedychium, Zingiber) in forest openings/outskirts.

From higher elevation zone of Himalaya, alpine species in genus Sorbus, Prunus, Ribes, Fragaria, Rosa and Rubus were collected. Alpine meadows and alpine scrub vegetation were intensively explored for collection of diversity in species of Fragaria, Allium, Avena, Cicer and Linum for cold hardiness and drought tolerance traits.

Occurrence of wild relatives on specific habitats

Specific habitats were explored to collect germplasm of the following species—Allium rubellum M. Bieb., A. tuberosum Rottler ex Spreng. on alpine/snow laden areas/exposed hillocks; Aegilops tauschii Cosson and Cicer microphyllum Royle on alpine stony desert; Porteresia coarctata (Roxb.) Tateoka growing on tidal back water, estuarine delta, river/saline water/tidal swamps; Oryza nivara on water logged habitas in field borders of cultivated rice; Oryza meyeriana (Zollin et Mor. ex Steud.) ssp. granulata Tateoka in shady places near forest edges, Oryza officinalis Wall. ex G. Watt (rare species) along stream side of foot hills and forested areas, Hygroryza aristata on hygrophytic habitat and Momordica balsamina L., Saccharum arundinaceum Retz. (Erianthus arundinaceus (Retz.) Jesw. ex Heyne) on dry sandy soils and Saccharum spontaneum L. on sandy riverbanks, and Carthamus lanatus L. on dry elevated areas in hills.

Mode of propagation

The collected germplasm predominated with seed as propagating unit. However, in some taxa vegetative as well as seed propagules were collected - Ensete and Musa (seed and rhizome); Oryza, Saccharum (seed and rootstock) and Allium (seed and bulb) and only root suckers/rootstocks in Pyrus, Malus, Prunus, Juglans, etc. In seed producing taxa, asynchronised and seed shattering was predominant in family Poaceae (wild Oryza, Saccharum); Leguminosae (Vicia, Vigna), Malvaceae (Abelmoschus), Tiliaceae (Corchorus), Brassicaceae (wild Brassicae), Solanaceae (Nicotiana, Solanum, Withania).

Economically important germplasm

Among the genetic resources of wild relatives of crop plants there was large representation of wild useful and potential material. Species having edible and medicinal value and having abiotic/biotic traits were predominantly represented in the collection (Table 4). Besides, some species were also reported as protected or semi-domesticated and less-known cultivated types (Table 5). These species are domesticated in restricted pockets of the country.

Table 4 Wild related species of economic value
Full size table
Table 5 Wild/weedy relatives of crop plants in India
Full size table

Wild/weedy types of cultivated species

Over 50 species were assembled in this group. These species have been widely used for different purposes (Tables 4 and 5). The wild and weedy relatives of cultivated species hold characters for hardiness and disease resistance that have been lost during the process of domestication and deserve to be conserved as component of crop genepool (Gadgil et al. 1996). Thus, this type of material is of immense value in improvement of cultivated species.

Significant diversity collected

The significant diversity in wild relatives of crop plant taxa gathered in different groups has been discussed below:

New species or new records

This group exhibited new species collected or recorded from the area. For example, Corchorus pseudo-olitorius Islam et Zaid from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, Piper hapnium Buch.-Ham. from Kerala (new record), Musa acuminata ×  M. balbisiana (a natural tetraploid of banana) and Piper nigrum L. (with bisexual flowers) in wild, occurred as undergrowth in forests of Nelliambrathy, Kerala. Corchorus pseudo-olitorius, a new species (the eighth species recorded from India) (Mahapatra et al. 2003) was collected from black soil bunds of rice and sugarcane fields occurring as a weed.

Rare and endangered species

In this group, the collected diversity represented endangered species namely Syzygium bourdillonii (Gamble) Rathakr. et N. C. Nair (species presumably lost due to habitat destruction and was rediscovered after 94 years) from tropical evergreen/semi-evergreen forest of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (Mohanan 1996); Piper schmidtii Hk. f. occurring at high altitude (over 1500 m) region; Dioscorea wightii Hk. f., D. deltoidea Wall. ex Kunth, Garcinia imbertii Bourd. and P. barberi Gamble (critically endangered species) from Western Ghats (Mohanan et al. 1997; Rao et al. 2001; Mohanan and Sivadasan 2002). Besides, Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz and Chlorophytum borivilianum Sant. et Fernadez were reported to be endangered mainly due to large-scale collection of the economic product. Solanum giganteum Jacq., Luffa hermaphrodita Singh et Bhandari and Cucumis prophetarum L. were among the rare species collected from dry arid regions in outer skirts of forested land in Aravali ranges (Rajasthan). Other rare species included Musa sikkimensis Kurz from eastern Himalaya and Myristica malabarica Lam. and Vanilla wightii Lindl. ex Wight from Western Ghats (Table 7).

Endemic species

The endemic diversity was collected in diverse crop-groups, viz. legumes, vegetables, fruits, oilseeds and fibres. This included Cajanus cajanifolia Haines from Orissa and Vigna khandalensis (Santapau) Raghavan et Wadhwa from Western Ghats; Abelmoschus tuberculatus from drier habitats in North-western plains; Citrus assamensis Dutta et Bhattacharya, C. ichangensis Swingle, C. indica Tanaka from North-eastern region; Ensete glaucum (Roxb.) Cheesman from Mizoram and E. superbum (Roxb.) Cheesman from Uttar Kannada in Western Ghats (Karnataka); Sesamum laciniatum Klein ex Willd. from Ghats, Cinnamomum spp. from the peninsular region. Mangifera andamanica King from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and M. sylvatica Roxb. from North-eastern hills; and Malus sikkimensis (Wenz.) Koehne ex C.K. Schneid. from Himalaya, Crotalaria tetragona Roxb. ex Ander. from Western Himalaya (Tables 6 and 7).

Table 6 Significant collections of wild relatives of crop plants (1999–2005)
Full size table

Trait specific germplasm

The wild/weedy relatives of crop plants have donated many useful genes for crop improvement/breeding programmes. Germplasm with known desirable traits for resistance to diseases and pest and biotic/abiotic stress were collected from wider habitat range to make best use in selection for desirable types. These species have either been utilized earlier in crop improvement programmes or have known potential for desirable traits, viz. Aegilops tauschii Cosson in cultivated species of Triticum, Cajanus/Atylosia spp. in Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp., Cucumis sativus var. hardwickii in cucumber (Table 7).

Table 7 Assessment of status/threat level for selected species of wild relatives and suggested conservation priority
Full size table

Species collected from wider habitats

Some of the species collected from diverse habitats, viz. Vigna radiata var. sublobata (Roxb.) Verdc. and V. trilobata (L.) Verdc. var. trilobata from saline areas of Western Ghats (southern part), Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh; V. vexillata (L.) A. Rich. from hill tracts of Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra; V. umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi et Ohashi from diverse pockets of Uttarakhand and south Kerala and Tamil Nadu; V. khandalensis and V. mungo var. silvestris from Western Ghats (Maharashtra), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and Cucumis sativus var. hardwickii from forest openings and out skirts of hilly and submontane areas of North and South India; Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. from Rajasthan, peninsular region and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These taxa were earlier reported from restricted habitats (Arora and Nayar 1984).

Collection and conservation priorities

The centres of endemism are also centres of genetic diversity and consequently centres of speciation. Unless suitable conservation methods are applied, important wild relatives of crop plants and rare endemic species in particular have poor chances of survival (Ahmedullah and Nayar 1986). Based on the efforts made in the past for collection of diversity in wild relatives of crop plants priorities have been recommended for their conservation on the basis of species status (endemic, rare/threatened/endangered, etc.) (Table 7) and those that have high demand in crop improvement programmes (Arora and Nayar 1984; Nayar 1996, 1997; Wiersema and Leon 1999; Hanelt and Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research 2001). Rehabilitation of such wealth by adopting ex situ measures or through protection of habitats using in situ measures is desirable for wild related species in genera Saccharum, Citrus and Musa spp. and others in the north-eastern region; Lathyrus, Crotalaria, Linum, Prunus, Pyrus and Allium in the western Himalaya and Cajanus/Atylosia, Vigna, Crotalaria, Garcinia, Artocarpus, Zingiber and Piper species in Ghats in peninsular region and Mangifera, Zingiber and Piper spp. in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Taxa occurring widely on diverse habitats such as Corchorus, Trichosanthes, Cucumis, Solanum, Abelmoschus, etc. are at low risk owing to high adaptability. On the contrary, endemic species of Cajanus/Atylosia, Citrus, Allium, Abelmoschus, Linum, Cicer, etc. occurring on narrow range but in abundance are only at risk if habitats are disturbed. Conservation priority (high, medium and low) based on occurrence/ distribution status and biotic pressure of some taxa of wild relatives is enumerated in Table 7.

High priority needs to be assigned to rare/threatened/endangered and endemic taxa at major threat due to lose of habitat (Syzygium bourdillonii), species having extremely narrow range of distribution (Musa sikkimensis and Sesamum laciniatum) or those that are widely distributed but over-exploited from natural habitats (Chlorophytum borivilianum and Rauvolfia serpentina).

High priority may also be assigned to species that are endemic or having narrow/restricted distribution and cannot be propagated under experimental conditions or outside their habitats. For example Citrus indica could not survive outside its natural habitat in Citrus gene sanctuary. Such species need highest priority using ex situ conservation. Some species such as Allium stracheyi and A. rubellum do not flower or set seeds beyond their range of occurrence and need to be conserved in backyard/experimental gardens located in the same phytogeographical regions by the local farmers. Species reported to have problems associated with seed germination (Rauvolfia) or low seed viability (wild Allium) need to be investigated thoroughly. Reproductive biology of uninvestigated wild relatives needs to be studied.

Medium priority may be given to species occurring widely within the distributional range and used in crop improvement programme. Viz. Cucumis sativus var. hardwickii, Aegilops tauschii, Oryza nivara, O. rufipogon, O. officinalis; species used as rootstock/graft for cultivated types in Prunus (wild type in P. armeniaca, P. cerasoides, P. jacquemontii), Malus baccata, Cajanus scarabaeoides, etc. Low priority has been assigned to wild relatives having known potential traits but not been utilized (taxa belonging to tertiary and secondary genepools) (Table 7).

In order to utilize wild relatives, it is imperative to collect material from wider distributional range, particularly from the diversity rich areas of the species. This will facilitate to study the nature and range of genetic variation of each species as well as to select for adaptability traits/economic potential.

Due to advancement in gene transfer techniques using biotechnological means, the diversity in wild species has become more accessible through the application of modern methodology. Utilization of secondary and tertiary genepools has now become possible. However, our basic knowledge on the wild/weedy relatives and distantly related taxa of most crops is fragmentary on species delimitation, distribution range and diversity of desirable traits, genetic variation, crossability aspects, etc. and it needs to be broadened.

Conclusion

This was a preliminary effort towards collection of diversity representing 373 species of wild relatives (120 genera, of 48 families) from different phytogeographical regions of India. Dominance of species from Indian subcontinent followed by Indo-Malayan region and Indo-African region was evident in the holdings. Large number of rare/endemic taxa and those possessing high economic value/potential trait (s) deserve special attention for strengthening collection, evaluation and conservation activities.

All economically important species at the risk of genetic erosion require attention for collection and conservation. Highest priority may be assigned to those having highly specialized habitat requirement and those that are endemic/rare/endangered to Indian region. Species producing seeds in large quantity and having easy method of multiplication or conservation are at lower risk than those producing less seed and of the recalcitrant or orthodox types where the storage protocols have been least worked out. Species having short seed viability or low germinability need special investigation. We hope that the information given in this paper would provide base line for the researchers and scientists engaged in the genetic resource management.