Cultivated Grasses and their Wild Relatives in Andhra Pradesh and Their Conservation Concerns

The study was carried out during 2007-2009. The information on the crops was collected from primary sources with the help of a planned and structured interview schedule in three regions of Andhra Pradesh. There are 65 wild relative grass species belonging to 18 genera of 24 cultivated grasses in Andhra Pradesh. Commercial grasses are represented maximum with 11 grasses and 23 wild relative species, which is followed by small millets with 7 species and 22 wild relatives, millets with 2 crop species and 12 wild relative species, cereals with four cultivated crops species and 8 wild relatives. Out of all Panicum having maximum of 10 wild relatives followed by bamboo (9) and Cymbopogon (9), Pennisetum (7), Oryza (6), Sorghum (5) and Setaria (5), Zea (2) and 4 crops showed minimum with one wild relative each. The wild relatives of Andhra Pradesh, particularly those occurring in the Eastern Ghats zone have narrowed distributional. Systematic efforts must be taken to conserve these wild relatives through in-situ means.