Import, export and national supply of plant genetic resources in horticultural crops

India is one of the oldest civilization in the world and is endowed with rich agro climatic diversity associated with equally rich cultural heritage. Germplasm contains reservoir of genes essential for increasing production as well as for incorporating resistance against biotic and abiotic stresses. Which indicates that the germplasm is the basic raw material in vegetable crop improvement programmes for generating new plant types with desired specific traits. In India National Bureau of Pant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) plays an important role in Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) exchange for research purposes. It has been designated as the National Repository for PGR in the country and is the nodal organization for import/export/national supply of the germplasm among breeders/researchers/users. The Germplasm Exchange Unit at NBPGR has strong linkages with the International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs) and the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) of over 100 countries for facilitating PGR exchange between different countries for research purposes. NBPGR, realizing the importance of the wide spread problem of population increase and its effect on food, shelter and space have made efforts in the past for introduction of genetic resources through its strong linkages with other countries and finally to help the plant breeders and researchers in meeting targets of crop improvement programmes (1 and 2)