Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

Pulse crops are important group of crops next only to cereals. These constitute an essentially recommended component of diet particularly for vegetarians because of their much higher protein content and the complementary amino acid composition as compared with cereal grains. In India, some pulse crops viz., Pisum arvense, Lentil and Lathyrus sativus were domesticated as early as in the neolithic and chalolithic periods. This region exhibits primary diversity for many pulse crops viz., mung bean, urid bean, chickpea, pigeonpea, cowpea and horsegram. However, pulses remained primarily the crops opted for marginal and poor lands. The native genetic resources of these crops abound in variable forms, landraces, primitive types etc. The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources has the mandate to plan, conduct, promote and co-ordinate activities on plant exploration and collection, germplasm import and exchange, plant quarantine, characterization and evaluation, multiplication, regeneration and distribution, documentation and conservation of indigenous and exotic genetic diversity in crop plants and their wild relatives. NBPGR has acquired and evaluted over 37,000 germplasm samples of 20 grain legumes of major and minor importance at its Headquarters and regional stations The National gene bank's long term repository at NBPGR holds over 22,000 accessions of various pulse crops which are stored at −20°C. There is a systematic and interlinked flow of germplasm of pulse crops in the National PGR programme. The research achfevements for various pulse improvement programmes has been fairly significant in the country. The NBPGR's genetic resources activities through the Indian National Plant Genetic Resources System (IN-PGRS) and Crop Advisory Commillee (Pulses) have added impetus to the germplasm handling and utilization of these crops. An allempt has been made to summarize these efforts related to PGR activities on various pulse crops in the Indian context. An effective approach to disseminate information base on accessions to the users is their suitable documentation. Inventories have been published by NBPGR on various pulse crops which provide basic information on the introduced germplasm. In addition, NBPGR has also brought out a number of Catalogues on the passport, characterization and evaluation data in relation to germplasm sets of different pulse crops which may be of help to users in selecting out the right type of germplasm for making a seed request. Various suggestions for future PGR activities and their prospects are also discussed.