Unveiling the bountiful treasures of India’s fruit genetic resources

The plant genetic resources (PGR) of a country are vital for its sustainable agriculture and food security. The importance of trees has been recognized by humanity since ancient times. However, changing climate and genetic erosion are causing rapid loss of diversity indicating an urgent need to conserve and maintain genetic resources for food security. India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. An analysis of the status of diversity, distribution, and conservation of fruit genetic resources (FGR) in India was carried out to determine the opportunities and challenges in the management of fruit germplasm for sustainable food security. The objectives of this article include (i) tracing fruit crop diversity and distribution in India (ii) discussing the potential of wild relatives of indigenous fruit crops; (iii) reviewing conservation strategies in the Indian and global context (iv) current conservation status of fruit crops (iv) analysing constraints in germplasm conservation and utilization; (v) and proposing new ways to safeguard FGR. Methods employed include database retrieval, literature review, and communication with key informants. India is home to several fruit species of global importance including mango, banana, and some citrus, and holds approximately 148 crop wild relatives (CWR) of fruits. The first gene sanctuary of wild citrus species was established in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya and efforts are being made to also establish gene sanctuaries for Musa species and mango. Over 13,000 accessions of fruit crops are conserved in field gene banks of seven regional stations of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research- National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR) and 10 National Active Germplasm Sites working under the National Agricultural Research System. The ICAR-NBPGR maintains some 4,000 accessions in its cryobank as seed, embryo, and embryonic axes as explants; some 800 accessions in the in vitro repository; and about 100 accessions in the in vitro base gene bank belonging to tropical, temperate, and minor fruits. By contrast to field crops, the conservation of fruit crops poses unique challenges; this is because these collections comprise only 6% of the total accessions that are maintained in ex situ collections worldwide. Basic research is needed to develop robust medium- and long-term conservation protocols for fruit crops and their wild relatives. This especially concerns challenging recalcitrant seeded species such as Artocarpus spp., Litchi chinensis, Mangifera spp., Syzygium spp., Garcinia spp., among many others. Equally important is the utilization of the conserved germplasm, which requires trait identification, linking the characterized and evaluation data to accessions, and proper documentation. The implementation of modern technologies is vital for effective exploration, data collection, conservation, and efficient database management.