1aInstitute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, University of Hohenheim, 70593, Stuttgart, Germany;
1b Former Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi and
1c Former Director of Research, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
2Directorate of Research, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab, India.
The outstanding contributions made by the farmers in the domestication and improvement of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) in the past are well understood and appreciated. But there is a debate on the role of farmers in PGR development in the present era of predominance of professional plant breeding. We present recent examples of PGR development in rice (Sharbati) and American cotton (Bikaneri Narma and Jhurar) and domestication of a weed bathu by the farmers of the Punjab state. The farmers developed these valuable genetic resources in spite of sweeping genetic erosion of PGR in the Punjab state during last about 40 years.
Oryza sativa, Gossypium hirsutum, Chenopodium album, Farmers’ rights, Benefit sharing
