Conservation of tropical fruit genetic resources

Abstract

Tropical regions are rich in fruit diversity and many globally important tropical fruit tree species and their wild relatives, including the rare or neglected species, are of Asian origin. Conservation of these tropical fruit species is imperative as they are increasingly threatened. For cultivated species the threat is by specialization of production systems restricted to a few varieties and by land use changes, and in the case of wild relatives it is due to habitat loss. Conservation efforts are in progress by various countries and agencies in order to save the rich tropical fruit diversity. Conservation methods include in situ and ex situ (field genebanks, botanical gardens, in vitro and cryopreservation). As the main objective of genetic resource conservation is for utilization in crop improvement, characterization and evaluation of all the accessions are carried out together with the collection and conservation efforts. In this chapter, conservation efforts of tropical fruit species will be covered for the whole tropical region in general and emphasis will be given to three main areas; Malaysia, South Asia (India), and tropical Africa, occasionally touching tropical America. Challenges and future directions are discussed.