Wild Relatives of Cultivated Plants in India. A Reservoir of Alternative Genetic Resources and More, A.K. Singh, Springer (2017) 309 pp., Price 156.99 £, ISBN: 9789811051166

Abstract

Wild relatives of cultivated plants are the treasure trove of genetic resources for crop improvement and dietary diversification. Especially, they are crucial for conferring diseases resistance and abiotic stress tolerance (such as drought, flood, heat-shock, salinity, etc.) in cultivated crops and thereby breeding next generation of climate smart crops (i.e. climate resilient crops) for futuristic climatic conditions. Unfortunately, most of the wild relatives of crop plants across the world are being neglected and underutilized, without recognizing its real potential. In this backdrop, the book herein review titled “Wild Relatives of Cultivated Plants in India: A Reservoir of Alternative Genetic Resources and More”, authored by Anurudh Kumar Singh, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, India is a timely and topical endeavor to provide a vivid account of more than 958 species of wild relatives of cultivated plants in India along with their occurrence, distribution, current status, as well as their future potential for breeding program and dietary diversification. Moreover, the author has also explored the additional utility of such crop species for ecosystem restoration, phytoremediation and soil carbon sequestration in detail. Here we distill the essence of this 309-page book for the better comprehension and understanding for a wide range of potential readers like graduate students and doctoral researchers in agricultural and environmental sciences, agronomist, plant breeders, as well as various national and international policy makers and regulatory agencies.