Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

Arid ecosystem, especially ‘Thar Desert’ of India possess highest flora and fauna among the desert ecosystems of the world. It has a very rich floral diversity consisting about 628 species, 352 genera and 87 families, mainly occupied by dry grassland, trees, thorny bushes, and arid fruits and vegetables of economic importance. the adapted species of hot arid zone have specific traits of high significance in future for climatic changes and/or the emergence of new diseases. On the other hand, herbal nutraceuticals and antioxidants are gaining momentum world over for human being as well as animal's health care and arid flora are treasure house of such traits. Mining of unique genes from arid flora provides ample scope for imparting abiotic stress tolerance in the high yielding commercial crop cultivars. Most of the native flora of this region viz. Khejri, ker, kumat, karonda, kachri, pilu, lasora, bitter apple, cactus pear, phog, kheep, etc are unexploited and underutilized which require sincere research efforts for their conservation and sustainable utilization at commercial level. nutraceutical and nutritional profiling of selected indigenous and traditional crops and varieties, and their bioavailability can help to determine which crops should be promoted and marketed for the health benefits. Besides, arid regions have an ample scope for introducing a number of crops from isoclimatic regions for crop diversification and promotion of nutritional security. Furthermore, the Indira Gandhi Canal Project has increased the over-exploitation of ‘Thar Desert’ for agricultural activities which enhanced the domestication of animals, particularly dairy animals like cows, buffalos, goats and other ruminants in the region. also, the area under fruits, vegetables and spices has increased substantially since past few decades. thus, sustainable management of these arid horticultural native crop plants certainly reduces the poverty, malnutrition and improves the nutritional quality of the foods and ultimately ensure nutritional security of resource poor people living in hot arid climate. this review will be helpful in conserving native flora of arid region and their sustainable use during the scenario of climate change.