Abstract
The genetic resources of Allium in India are potential source of genes for widening the crop genetic base. Despite their high economic value, limited number of germplasm accessions of wild species have been collected and conserved mainly due to difficult access to areas of occurrence. The present work mainly highlights information on species diversity distribution and utilization of wild Allium species to assess the value of Indian germplasm and prioritization for future collection and conservation programmes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Astley D, Innes NL, Van der Meer QP (1982) Genetic resources of Allium species – a global report. IPGRI, Rome
Baker JG (1874) On the Allium of India, China and Japan. J Bot 289–295
Bujisen JRM (1990) Taxonomic survey of Allium species cultivated in South-East Asia. Rijks Herbarium, Rapenberg
Chandel KPS, Pandey R (1992) Distribution, diversity, uses and in vitro conservation of cultivated and wild Alliums: a brief review. Indian J Plant Genet Resour 5(2):7–36
Chauhan NS (1999) Medicinal and aromatic plants of Himachal Pradesh. Indus Publishing Co., New Delhi, India, 479 pp
Chaurasia OP, Singh B (1996–2001) Cold desert plants, vol I–IV. Field Research Laboratory (FRL), Defence Research and Development Organization, Leh (J&K), pp 18, 21, 32 and 38
Davies D (1992) Alliums. The ornamental onions. Bastford, London
de Vries JN, Wietsma WA, de Vries T (1992) Introgression of leaf blight resistance from A. roylei Stearn into onion (A. cepa L.). Euphytica 62:127–133
Friesen N, Fritsch RM, Blattner FR (2006) Phylogeny and new intrageneric classification of Allium (Alliaceae) based on nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences. Aliso 22:372–395
Fritsch R, Friesen N, Bachmann K (1999) Research activities in the department of taxonomy, IPK, Gatersleben. In: Maggioni L, Astley D, Rabinowitch H, Keller J, Lipman E (eds) Report of a working group on Allium. Sixth meeting, 23–25 October 1997, Bulgaria. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy, pp 76–79
Gohil RN (1992) Himalayan representatives of Alliums. In: Hanelt P, Hammer K, Knüpffer H (eds) The genus Allium – taxonomic problems and genetic resources. Gatersleben, Germany, pp 335–340
Hanelt P (2001) Alliaceae. In: Hanelt P and Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (eds) Mansfelds encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops, vol 4, 3rd edn. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 2250–2269
Hanelt P, Schulze-Motel J, Fritsch R, Kruse J, Maass H, Ohle H, Pistrick K (1992) Infragenetic grouping of Allium – the Gatersleben approach. In: Hanelt P, Hammer K, Knüpffer H (eds) The genus Allium – taxonomic problems and genetic resources. Gatersleben, Germany, pp 107–123
Hara H (1966) The flora of eastern Himalaya. University of Tokyo, Japan, 405 pp
Hooker JD (1892; rev. 1973) Liliaceae: Allium L. Flora of British India, vol VI, repr. edn. Bishen Singh and Mahindra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, pp 337–345
Kachroo BL, Sapru BL, Dhar U (1977) Flora of Ladak – an ecological and taxonomic appraisal. Bishen Singh and Mahindra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun
Kamenetsky R, Fritsch RM (2002) Ornamental alliums. In: Rabinowitch HD, Currah L (eds) Allium crop science: recent advances. CAB International, CABI Publishing, UK, pp 459–490
Karthikeyan S, Jain SK, Nayar MP, Sanjappa M (1989) Florae indicae enumeration monocotyledonae. Botanical Survey of India, Howrah, Calcutta, West Bengal, India, 435 pp
Kofoet A, Kik C, Wietsma WA, de Vries (1990) Inheritance of resistance to downey mildew (Pernospora destructor (Berk.) Casp.) from Allium roylei Stearn in the back-cross Allium cepa L. × (A. roylei × A. cepa). Plant Breed 105:144–149
Nasir E (1975) Alliaceae. In: Flora of West Pakistan, no 83. Stewart Herbarium, Gordon Collage, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Nautiyal S (2003) Edible alliums and decorative alliums. J Econ Taxon Bot 27(1):73–75
Nayar NM, Ahmedulla M, Singh R (1992) Allium in South Asia: importance, ethnobotanical uses, genetic resources, enumeration of species and distribution. In: Hanelt P, Hammer K, Knüpffer H (eds) The genus Allium – taxonomic, problems and genetic resources. Gatersleben, Germany, pp 205–213
Negi KS, Gaur RD (1991) Little known endemic wild Allium species in the Uttar Pradesh hills. Mt Res Dev 11(2):162–164
Negi KS, Kala CP (2001) Survey and collection of flower species, medicinal and aromatic plant germplasm in Bhyundar valley (valley of flowers and Hemkund Sahib, Lokpal), Chamoli, Garhwal, Uttarakhand – a report. National Agricultural Technology Project, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Bhowali
Negi KS (2006a) Allium species in Himalayas and their uses with special reference to Uttaranchal. Ethnobotany 18:53–66
Negi KS (2006b) Addition to the rare and economically useful plant germplasm of Allium clarkei Hk. f. of Uttaranchal. Indian J Plant Genet Resour 19(2):95–98
Negi KS, Pant KC (1992) Less-known wild species of Allium L. (Amaryllidaceae) from mountain region of India. Econ Bot 46(1):112–114
Pandey UB, Kumar A, Pandey R, Venkateswaran K (2005a) Bulbous crops – cultivated Alliums. In: Dhillon BS, Tyagi RK, Saxena S, Randhawa GJ (eds) Plant genetic resources of vegetable crops. Narosa Publishing House Pvt Ltd., New Delhi, pp 108–120
Pandey A, Pandey R, Negi KS (2005b) Wild Allium species in India: biodiversity distribution and systematic studies. In: National Conference on Allium (Abst.). Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, 24–25 February 2005, 44 pp
Pandey R, Apte SR, Pandey A, Negi KS (2005c) Biochemical approaches for conservation of Allium germplasm resources. In: Abst. National Conference on Allium. Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, 24–25 February 2005, 45 pp
Polunin O, Stainton A (1984) Flowers of the Himalaya. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp 413–416
Purseglove JW (1972) Alliaceae. In: Tropical crops (monocotyledons). Longman Group Ltd., pp 37–57
Rabinowitch HD, Brewster J (1990) Onion and allied crops – botany, physiology and genetics, vol I. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 1–26
Rabinowitch HD, Currah L (2002) Allium crop science: recent advances. CAB International, CABI Publishing, UK
Radhamani J, Pandey A, Singh AK (2007) Standardization of germination protocols in some wild relatives of crop plants from Western Himalayas. In: 28th ISTA seed symposium, Iguaçu Falls, Brazil 2007, International Seed Testing Association (abstr. accepted)
Saini DC (1998) New phytogeographic record of Allium hookeri Thwait from Upper Gangetic Plain. J Econ Taxon Bot 22(2):462–464
Sancir C, Pistrick K, Hanelt P (1989) Zur Nutzung von Allium- Wildarten der mongolischen Flora. Kulturpflanze 37:133–143
Sanyal GS, Samant SS, Kumar K (2000) Indigenous knowledge and conservation of medicinal plants used by Bhotia tribes in Kumaon Himalaya, India. Int J Sust Dev World Ecol 9(2):159–166
Sharma DC, Umesh C, Gupta RK (1996) Allium biodiversity and its traditional prophylactic significance in Indian sub-continent. Indian J Plant Genet Resour 9(2):201–218
Simon PW (2005) Realizing value from central Asian Allium germplasm collection. In: Proc. of workshop held at ASHC centennial conf., Province Rhode Island, USA, 3 October 2003. Hort Sci 40(2):309–310 (PGR Abst. (2005):14(3))
Singh N (1995) Storability of onion seeds at low moisture levels. Indian J Plant Genet Resour 8(1):97–98
Singh BP, Rana RS (1994) Collection and conservation of Allium genetic resources: an Indian perspective. Acta Hort (ISHS) 358:181–190. http://www.actahort.org
Specht CE, Keller ERJ (1997) Temperature requirements for seed germination in species of the genus Allium L. Genet Resour Crop Evol 44:509–517
Stearn WT (1947) The Alliums of British India (rev. JD Hookers list of 1892). Herbertia 12:73–84
Stearn WT (1960) Allium and Milula in the central and eastern Himalaya. Bull Br Mus Nat Hist (Bot) B2:159–191
Stearn WT (1992) How many species of Allium are known? Kew Mag 9:180–182
Stewart RR, Ali SI, Nasir E (1979) Flora of West Pakistan. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Pakistan, pp 76–99
Van der Meer QP (1997) Old and new crops within edible Allium. Acta Hortic 433:17–31
Wealth of India (1985) The wealth of India-raw material, vol 1. Council of Scientific and Agricultural Research, New Delhi, pp 166–187
Xu JM, Kamelin RV (2000) Allium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 294, 1753. In: Wu Z, Raven PH (eds) Flora of China, vol 24. Science Press, Beijing, pp 165–202
Xu JM, Hanelt P, Chun-Lin L (1990) Key to the Alliums of China. Herbertia 46(2):138–164
Acknowledgements
Authors acknowledge with thanks the valuable guidance and help provided by the Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. We are also thankful to Dr VD Verma, Officer-in-Charge, Regional Station Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India for sharing his field experience and to Sh. Shashi Kant Sharma for preparing the figure in this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pandey, A., Pandey, R., Negi, K.S. et al. Realizing value of genetic resources of Allium in India. Genet Resour Crop Evol 55, 985–994 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9305-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9305-2