BP Singh

•Centres of Origin and Diversity of Crop PlantsBhag SinghIntroductionHuman beings may have existed as a species for about 2million years yet it was only about 10,000 years ago that humanbeings started growing food, rather than merely gathering it fromwild state and hunting wildlife. With the origin of settledagriculture, the interest in environmental assets began. Whereverman has gone, his plants have gone with him. When the transitionfrom 'gathering' to I growing' food took place, there was immediateinterest in the collection and utilization of useful plants, andanimals from native flora and fauna. Most of the importanteconomic plants and animals were domesticated thousands ofyears ago. The pioneer work of de Candolle (1886) and N.I.Vavilov(1926) led to the wide spread recognition that the diversity of cropswas centred in certain geographical regions.Concept of centres of origin and crop plant diversityThe study of origin of agriculture and its spread providesclues to the geographical distribution of centres of domestication.These centres were found to be located in areas of maximumdiversity.In the forefront of contributors to our knowledge of the globaldispersal of crop plants and their wild relatives has been Vavilov(1927). He believed that time was the only factor that influencedthe dispersal of species and their increase in variation. Hesuggested that centres of origin of species coincide with the areas