ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on genetic diversity in agriculturally important plant genetic resources and its conservation. Plants are a vital component of life and drivers of global sustainability. The biodiversity of plant kingdom can be best gauged by the fact that there are about 32,212 different plant species on the Earth, and 87% of these are flowering plants. Biodiversity or biological diversity refers to the variability that exists among all living organisms. According to the definition of UN Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity is “the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems”. Since the dawn of agriculture, humans collected seeds and vegetative propagules for their consumption as well as for planting in subsequent seasons.
