Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
malnutrition. The region is rich in rain, surface and ground water resources
with plenty of sunshine and large tract of fertile land. However, owing to
poor utilization of water resources, the cropping intensity in the region is
low. Consequently large tracts of cultivable land remain fallow. Horticul-
ture and horticulture based cropping patterns offer best land utilization
option for these areas.
4.2 BIODIVERSITY
The region is endowed with an array of native flora and economically
important horticultural species. The presence of a large number of eth-
nic groups and inaccessibility of the area following sustenance of agri-
culture has contributed to the preservation of horticultural crop diversity.
The different agricultural universities and ICAR Institutes have taken up
the task to preserve the diversity in their gene banks. The region has rich
diversity of many fruit crops like
Citrus, Musa, Mangifera, Artocarpus,
Emblica, Carica, Ficus, Grewia, Litchi, Buchanenia, Morus, Syzygium,
Tamarindus, Annona, Madhuca, Diospyrus, Ziziphus, Garcenia, Dellenia,
Borasus, Averroha, Persia, Aegale, Avocado, Actinidia, etc.
The different
Universities and ICAR institutes are maintaining the field gene bank of
these fruit crops. Among the vegetables, the region has rich diversity of
Benincosa, Momordica, Cucumis, Trichosanthes, Cucurbita, Luffa, Coc-
cinia, Solanum, Capsicum, Vigna, Lablab, Pisum, Colocasia, Amorphal-
lus, Dioscoria, Abulmoschus, Amaranthus, Basella, Beta, Corriandum,
Trachyspermum, Rumex, Nigella, Lepidum, Foeniculum, Euryale, Trapa,
Bamboosa, Curcuma, Zingiver, Chenopodium.
The high vegetation area
of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Assam is endowed with a
vast genetic diversity of different medicinal and aromatic plants such as
Solanum khasianum, Cassia angustalia, Diosocorea, Vinca
,
Bacopa, Wi-
thonia, Roulfia, Citrunella, Centela, Ociamum.
Out of the large gene pool
few species has been tapped by the local Baidya and are being cultivated
at larger scale in the region. These includes
Andrographis paniculate
,
Aloe
vera
,
Asparagus racemosus
,
Bacopa monnieri, Chamomil, Nyctanthes ar-
bortristis, Piper longum
,
Rauwolfia serpentina, Tinospora cordifolia and
Withania somnifera.
