The project noted that if efforts are made to conserve these spices, it would not only enable providing nutritious food to the teeming millions in the country, but also help rapid growth in the food-processing industry. This will lead to an appreciable increase in export turnover.

Besides, these conservation efforts will help to preserve the mega bio-diversity status of the country and the region. This is required as the country has not adopted any sui generis law for bio-diversity conservation and plant variety protection for protecting these species and varieties from any apparent claim of their origin by foreign countries and subsequent patenting of their seeds by the multinational companies.

The project study statedthat the Indian sub-continent is one of the centres of origin and diversity in vegetable crops. Around 80 species of major and minor vegetables apart from several wild relatives occur in the country. India has served as the origin for many vegetable crops. Vegetables like eggplant (solanum melongena), lablab bean (lablab purpureus), cucumber (cucunis sativus), ridge gourd (luffa acutangula), sponge gourd (luffa cylindrica), wax gourd (banincasa hispida) and pointed gourd (trichosanthes dioca) are primarily of Indian origin.

This region is also the secondary centre of diversity of crops like cowpea, okra, chillies, pumkin and several brassicae, the report stated.

The genus amaranthus includes 60 species of annual herbs, distributed in tropics, of which some 25 occur in India. Similarly out of the amorphophallus genus of 90 species of perennial or annual herbs, indigenous to tropical Asia and Africa, 14 species occur in India. The Indian sub-continent is also considered to be the centre of origin for anumber of wild and cultivated cucurbitaceous vegetable crops. Out of the known 110 genera and 640 cucurbits in the world, 36 genera and 100 species are found in India. The dioscorea species found in the Himalayas are promising sources of diosgenin, which is a raw material for industrial production of corticosteroids.

The project report stated that India is a secondary centre of diversity for abelmoschus (okra) which is concentrated in the Indo-Gangetic plains, north-east region, north-west Himalayas, south India and sporadically found in the tribal regions of central India and the Eastern Ghats. In Okra there exists a big threat of gene erosion as most of the land races have been wiped out by improved types mainly Pusa Sawani and Parbhani Kranti.

In India solanum is represented by 45 species including 22 indigenous types. Solanum melongena has the widest diversity and is considered to be of Indian origin. Potato is among the first crops to have benefited from genes of a wild relative, Solanum demissum, aMexican species. Cultivars with solanum demissum are resistant to late and blight and potao leaf roll virus.

Several wild relatives of fruits species of at least 20 genera such as artocarpus, citrus, diospyros, emblica, ficus, grewia, juglans, mangifera, musa, malus, morus, prunus, punica, pyrus, ribbes, rubus, syzygium, vitis and zizphus offer great availability in India.

The Assam-Myanmar-Siam-Indochina region is the centre of origin for musa species. Sorbus is represented by 100 species of which 13 are available in India with maximum concentration of diversity in north-western and eastern regions. India is also considered to be the home of several citrus species. They are found in north-eastern, north-western and southern regions of the country. Citrus indica is the most primitive and progenitor type.