Prospects of underexploited vegetables for nutritional security

The underutilized foods can be defined as “the foods which are less available, less utilized or rarely used or region specific” (William and Haq, 2002). Underexploited vegetable Crops are those crops which are neither grown commercially on large scale nor traded widely.Vegetables are the important components among horticultural crops in the diversification of agriculture to provide food and nutritional security. The underutilized crops are plant species that are traditionally used for their food, fiber, fodder, oil or medicinal properties.

Underutilized or neglected crops species are often indigenous ancient crop species which are still used at some level within the local, national or even international communities, but have the potential to contribute further to the mix of food sources than they currently do (Mayes et al., 2011).