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Central National Herbarium, Botanical survey of India, Howrah-711103.
Agroforestry practices are traditional method for providing livelihood and sustainable management of resources. It is a management of trees and crops for light, water and nutrients in favour of farmer. Cultivation of indigenous trees with high- value products enhances profitability and provides economic security. Wild relatives of crops are genetic resources of desirable characters which may be utilized in the plant breeding for increase in productivity, disease resistance, management insect and pest, etc. In present study, 98 crops with their wild relatives of agroforestry species are enumerated. This may be utilized for plant breeding programmes.
KEYWORDS: Agroforestry, Wild relatives, Genetic resources, Plant breeding.
Agroforestry involves cultivation of trees with agricultural crop and/or animal husbandry. Usually, woody perennials (tree, shrubs etc.) are grown in association with herbaceous plants (crops, pastures) or livestock in spatial arrangement. Basically, it keeps both ecological and economic benefits together. The land and time management options increase livelihood security and reduce vulnerability to climate and environmental change. It is a traditional method of resource management, pollen records suggested existence for at least 1300 years, the agroforestry systems may potentially provide options for improvement in livelihoods through simultaneous production of food, fodder and firewood as well as mitigation of the impact of climate change (Brookfield and Padoch, 1994; Lundgren, 1982). In agroforestry, productivity of cultivation increased due to the capture of more light and water. It will increase more if cash crop will be introduced in intercropping (Tokey, 1997). It also conserve soil on arable land because trees are soil binders especially when planted on terrace risers, terrace edges , field bunds as intercrops and as alley cropping in the shape of hedge row plantation (Singh, 1988). Agroforestry enhance water use efficiency through a combination of mulching and water conservation, trees in agro-ecosystems may directly enhance crop yields of coarse grains (Kumar et al. 1998). In the areas experience high wind or sand movement, the trees (i.e. Acacia nilotica and Dalbergia sissoo) are act as shelterbelts (Venkateshwaralu, 1993; Fanish and Priya, 2012).
Germplam is the basic material for crop improvement programme, it includes both cultivated and wild species and their relatives. The future of agriculture is dependent on agricultural biodiversity, however, bio-diversity are depleting at the global, regional and local levels. The plant genetic resources are the raw materials to improve the capacity of crops to respond to new pathogens, climate change and change in physiological conditions. Further, threat of climate change is severe on farming and creating unique and difficult challenges for agriculture. Therefore, it is necessary to secure wild relatives of crops and intensive plant breeding programme must be initiated to tackle food insecurity and environment protection. (Halewood et al., 2018).
The enlisting of agro-forestry species and their wild relatives will offer new genes and allelic variability, as well as several other economic and environmental benefits that may be harnessed with their conservation and cultivation.
The list of species used in agroforestry and their wild relatives has been compiled from the relevant literatures like, Inventory of cultivated plants species and their wild relatives in India (Singh et al., 2013), Wild relatives of Crop plants in India: collection and conservation (Pandey et al., 2005), Wild relatives of crop plants in India (Arora and Nayar, 1984). Scientific names of the species have been updated with help of online databases such as https://plants.usda.gov/, https://powo.science.
kew.org/ and http://www.tropicos.org/. The families of respective species are according to the APG IV system of classification.
A total 98 taxon has been documented in the present study, it includes 90 species, 2 subsp. and 6 varieties (table 1). The family Fabaceae is represented by 45 taxon, followed by Combretaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Oleaceae, Sapindaceae (4 taxon each), Pinaceae, Salicaceae (3 taxon each), Bignoniaceae, Clusiaceae, Lamiaceae, Lecythidaceae, Malvaceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Phyllanthaceae, Salvadoraceae (2 taxon each), Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Araucariaceae, Betulaceae,
Boraginaceae, Calophyllaceae, Casuarinaceae, Lauraceae, Poaceae, Putranjivaceae, Sapotaceae, Simaroubaceae and Ulmaceae (1 taxon each) (Fig. 1).
The agroforestry trees valuable resources for timber, fuel, nitrogen fixation (legumes), fruits, etc. however, some of species like Ailanthus excels, Alstonia venenata, Azadirachta indica, Betua utilis, Callicarpa macrophylla and Erythrina variegata are medicinally important whereas, Acacia nilotica subsp. Indica, Albizia chinensis, Albizia procera, Sesbania bispinosa, Sesbania cannabina and Sesbania sesban have very high fodder value.
Arora, R.K and Nayar, E.R. 1984. Wild relatives of crop plants in India. Wild relatives of crop plants in India.
Brookfield, H and Padoch, C. 1994. Agrodiversity. Environment. 36(5): 7-11, 37-45
Fanish, S.A and Priya, R.S. 2012. Review on benefits of agro forestry system. International Journal of Education and Research. 1: 80-91.
Halewood, M., Chiurugwi, T., Sackville Hamilton, R., Kurtz, B., Marden, E., Welch, E., Michiels, F., Mozafari, J., Sabran, M., Patron, N and Kersey,
Lundgren, B .1982. Introduction (editorial). Agroforestry Systems. 1: 1-12.
Pandey, A., D. Bhandari, K. Bhatt, S. Pareek, A. Tomer and B. Dhillon. 2005. Wild relatives of Crop plants in India: collection and conservation. National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources: New Delhi, India.
Singh, A. 1988. Hydrological behaviour of experimental watersheds. Annual Report, ICARRC for NEH Region, Barapani, Meghalaya, 169-171.
Singh, A.K., R.S. Rana, B. Mal, B. Singh and R.C. Agrawal. 2013. Inventory of cultivated plants species and their wild relatives in India. Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Right Authority (PPV & FRA), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi.
Toky, O.P. 1997. Poplar an economy booster and eco- friendly agroforestry tree. Agroforestry News Letter, NRC for Agroforestry 9: 2-3.
Venkateswarlu, J. 1993. Problems and prospects in desertification control: Role of Central Arid Zone Research Institute. In: Desertification and its Control in the Thar, Sahara and Sahel Regions (Sen, A.K. and Kar, A. Eds.). pp. 249-267. Jodhpur, India: Scientific Publishers.