Climate Resilient Wild Edible Succulents of Mandi Himachal Pradesh, Their Indigenous Uses and Role in Socio-Economic Development of the Region

Incessant rise in temperature and drought associated with climate change are likely to pose serious social, economic and hunger crisis in coming years. This will challenge contemporary agriculturist, horticulturist and food scientist of all over the world to seek alternative pathways to feed day by day growing human population. However, succulence of some plants which is a morphological adaptation to regular drought and high temperature can be given preference while choosing future food crops as a solution of above crisis. So, the present study has been done from June 2018 to April 2022 to document wild edible succulents (WES) in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, which can be domesticated as future food crops. Six WES Agave cantala, Euphorbia royleana, Opuntia dillenii, Opuntia ficus indica, Portulaca oleracea and Kalnachoe pinnata reported in the present study belong to five families and five genera are climate resilient drought-tolerant plants. Being rich in nutritive, medicinal and aesthetic value these are the excellent source of food, fibre, fodder, medicine and material along with income for local community. So they can be domesticated as potential future food crops to boost health, immunity and rural prosperity.