ABSTRACT
O. H. Frankel defined the conservation of genetic resources as the need to explore and collect the vanishing genetic heritage, and to classify, evaluate, conserve, and document the collected material for the benefit of generations. Genetic resource conservation is concerned with the range of variation within each crop plus those wild species which may be of value either now or in the future. The need to conserve genetic diversity for utilization in the future is accepted within the scientific community. The method of conservation for specific parts of the genepool is still under debate, the discussion being based on the relative merits of in situ and ex situ conservation. The conservation of wild taxa in situ prompted S. K. Jain to coin the phrase genetic reserves. He pointed out the value of in situ conservation as being the continued evolution of wild biota in environments which are changing at an accelerating rate. Regeneration will change the genetic constitution of a population.
