BP Singh

IIPromising Introductions and Prioritize Needs ofExotic Germplasm in Different Groups ofVegetable CropsPratibha BrahmiIntroductionThe Indian sub-continent had been assigned as one of thecentres of origin of different crop plants by Vavilov, and a goodnumber of vegetables like brinjal, cucumber, ridge and spongegourd, and root crops have been identified as native to thiscountry. Zevan and Dewet have also identified Hindustani centre,as an important centre of diversity for some of the vegetable cropsand their related species. This centre also possesses rich diversityand is a secondary centre for crops like Vigna unguiculata,Abelmoschus esculentus, Capsicum annuum and Citrullus lanatus.India has a past histroy of vegetable cultivation and somevegetable crops were introduced well before the Christian era.The domestication and diversification in some of theintroduced vegetable crops has not been properly studied, andalso duly less appreciated. European temperate type vegetableshave acclimatised to warm and humid conditions of north India,such that these have been transformed into a cosmopolitan cropadapted to wide range of tropical and sub-tropical conditions.Wide range of variability now available in chillies introduced byPortuguese in 15th centuary is another example of diversification.Several other examples can be quoted as in tomato, a comparitivelylate introduction, into India. As a result of rich diversificationalready there in native and introduced kind, prioritization of future