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Agrobiodiversity in a biodiversity hotspot: Kerala State, India. Its origin and status

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Abstract

This paper examines the status and characteristics of agrobiodiversity present in Kerala State, India, which is a part of the Western Ghats—Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot. They show much heterogeneity. The State grows 142 crop plants belonging to 104 genera and 43 families. Almost the entire agrobiodiversity conservation work is being carried out by the central government, even though the states are also mandated to do this work. This appears to have an adverse effect on agrobiodiversity conservation. Until now, most attention was being paid to only the most important food and commercial crops, and very limited to their wild relatives and the less important crop plants.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Drs Z Abraham, KA Kabeer, N Mohanan, and GVS Murthy for providing some unpublished information. I thank also Conservation International, Arlington VA, USA, for letting me use one of their figures. I am grateful to Dr P N Premachandran and Mr Thomas Cherian of the Kerala Soil Survey Organization for supplying me 4 of the 5 Kerala maps used in the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, 695 581, Kerala, India

    N. M. Nayar

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  1. N. M. Nayar
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Correspondence to N. M. Nayar.

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This paper is dedicated to Dr Peter Hanelt on his 80th birthday with affection and regards.

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Nayar, N.M. Agrobiodiversity in a biodiversity hotspot: Kerala State, India. Its origin and status. Genet Resour Crop Evol 58, 55–82 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-010-9555-7

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