researchnote International Journal of Sciences, (July to December, 2009) Vol. 4 Issue 2 : 654-655 Cultivars and their wild relatives of Navasari and Valsad district T.G. GOHIL AND A.B. THAKOR

Accepted : April, 2009 Key words : Cultivar, Wild relative

here are about 2,00,000 plant taxa distributed in wide Cultivated and their possible wild relatives Trange of habitats of these only few are cultivated. Crop plants Wild relatives / cultivars The cultivated plant fulfills most of the basic requirements Cereals and millets of the living beings. Very few cultivated plants are Oryza sativa Oryza nivara consumed as food. It seems that all these plants must Pennisetum americanum Pennisetum purpureum have been wild once upon a time before the initiation of Sorghum bicolor Sorghum halepense the human civilization that originated on the banks of the Saccharum officinarum Saccharum spontaneum rivers and gradually adapted, flourished and acquainted Zea mays Coix lachryma-jobi into the steady settlement. The requirement of food was Eleusine coracana Eleusine indica achieved by domestication of pets and cultivation by Pulses and leguminous crops sowing of food giving plants. Further developments must Vigna dalzelliana Vigna aconitifolia, V. umbellate probably have followed the under mentioned course. and V. khandalensis. – Human selection pressure Vigna radiate Vigna trilobata and V. radiata var. – Selection of different plant parts as a source of sublobata food, Clitorea ternetea Clitorea biflora – The requirements other than food viz., fibers, Cicer arietinum Vigna mungo var. silvestris medicines, shelter, fodder, etc., Cajanus cajan Atylosia sericea – The conservation of genome of selected taxa. Bauhinia purpurea Bauhinia variegata The earlier relatives of the then cultivars were wild Medicago sativa Medicago polymorpha and were left to natural selection pressures, both natural Pisum sativum Lathyrus sativus and anthropogenic. Wild relatives in the course of evolution Trigonella foenum-graecum Trigonella corniculata and all the present day wild plants can be designated, as Fruit crops successful products of the process of evolution .The wild Musa paradisiacal Ensete superbum equivalents of the cultivars have to face the different Morus alba Morus indica environmental factors as compared to those faced by the Murraya paniculata Murraya koeningii cultivars throughout the ages. The wild plants were and Syzygium cumini S. heyneanum are still susceptible to floods, heavy sedimentation, drought, Zizyphus mauritiana Z. oenoplia, Z. rugosa and Z. changing in climate, etc. The cultivars on the other hand xylocarpus are well protected by the techniques developed by the Carrisa conjesta C. spinarum human being. The human intelligence moderates the Manilkara hexandra Mimusops elengi natural effects of the natural environmental factors. Citrullus lanatus Citrullus colocynthis During the entire process of agricultural revolution Vegetables – natural hybridization, segregation of characters, esculentus Abelmoschus manihot thoughtful human selection like early maturing, late Allium cepa Dipcadi serotinum maturing, differential productivity, drought resistance, Amaranthus caudatus Amaranthus hybridus, Amaranthus disease resistance etc. have played the important role. spinosus, Amaranthus tricolor, Present day cultivars are the result of sum total of the Amaranthus viridis, Amaranthus aforesaid phenomena. lividus Capsicum annuum Capsicum frutescens Curcuma longa Curcuma amada, C. inodora, C. Correspondence to: pseudomontana T.G. GOHIL, Department of Biology, B.K.M. Science Cucumis melo Cucumis setosus College VALSAD (GUJARAT) INDIA Authors’ affiliations: Luffa acutangula var. Luffa acutangula var. amara A.B. THAKOR, Department of Biology, B.K.M. Science acutangula College VALSAD (GUJARAT) INDIA Contd….. Table

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Table contd……… Spices and Condiments : 27 Momordica charantia Momordica dioica Miscellaneous ones : 26 Moringa oleifera Moringa concanensis This diversity is represented over 48 families and Portulaca pilosa var. Portulaca oleracea 116 genera (Arora and Pandey, 1996). grandiflora The state of Gujarat falling into the Western Solanum melongena Solanum incanum Peninsular and Semi arid botanical province is poorly Trachyspermum ammi Trachyspermum roxburghianum represented by the wild relatives of cultivated plants Dioscorea alata Dioscorea bulbifera accounting to only 5.57 %. Therefore, it is of much concern Oil yielding seed plants to conserve this very important wild germplasms both Ex- Sesamum indicum Sesamum prostratum situ and In-situ. Very scanty information is available on Fiber plants this line within the state of Gujarat and hence, the present Corchorus capsularis , C. trilocularis work is a humble effort to survey, compile and document Crotalaria juncea Crotalaria retusa the major cultivars and their wild relatives including their cannabinus H. sabdariffa importance to local inhabitants of Navsari and Valsad Miscellaneous District in Southern Gujarat. During the present survey, a Nicotiana tabacum N. plumbaginifolia total of 66 cultivars and its relatives were collected and Catharanthus roseus C. pusillus documented which contributes to the 7.59 % of the total Physalis peruviana Physalis minima flora of the region. The further analysis is as follows:

% of total Plant groups Genera Species The wild relatives can be utilized for the improvement cultivars of cultivated plants that are of economical importance to Cereals and millets 06 08 12.12 the mankind. Arora and Nayar (1985) reported about 323 Legumes 07 09 13.63 wild relative species of crop plants distributed in the major Fruits 09 14 21.21 botanical provinces of India. These 323 agro- Vegetables 15 23 34.84 horticulturally important plants can be further classified Oil seed plants 01 02 3.03 in to the following categories. Fiber crops 03 07 10.60 Cereals and Millets : 53 Miscellaneous 03 03 4.54 Legumes : 32 Total 44 66 99.97 % Fruits : 108 Vegetables : 54 The genera to species ratio for the cultivars are 1: Oilseeds : 12 1.5. The maximum cultivars and wild relatives obtained Tuber plants : 24 are represented by the vegetable group.

REFERENCES

Arora and Nayar (1983). Distribution of wild relatives and Arora and Pandey (1996). Wild edible plants of India, NBPGR, related rare species of economics plants in India. In : New Delhi. S.K. Jain and R.R. Rao (Eds.). An assessment plants ******* of India, pp. 287-291 *****

[Internat. J. Plant Sci., July - Dec. 2009, 4 (2)] HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE