Tuybia Bilal1*, Bilkees Ayoob1, Benat ul Behar3, Jauhar Rafeeq3 Basira Mehraj2, Saima Farooq1, and Irtizah Mushtaq1
Division of Forest Products and Utilization, Faculty of Forestry SKUAST-K, J&K1
Division of Forest Resource Management, Faculty of Forestry SKUAST-K, J&K2
Division of Silviculture and Agroforestry, Faculty of Forestry SKUAST-K, J&K3
Email: toibabilal123@gmail.com
Received-06.04.2022, Revised-17.04.2022, Accepted-28.04.2022
Abstract: Increased use of forest resources and a shrinking forest land base threaten the sustainability of forest genetic resources and highlight the importance of conservation and sustainable management of these resources. Conservation of forest genetic resources could be defined as a set of activities and strategies that are being implemented with the aim of ensuring the continued existence, evolution and availability of these resources for present and future generations. As forest trees are normally the keystone species of forest ecosystems, their continued existence is essential for many floral and faunal associations of these ecosystems. Major opportunities for conservation of forest genetic resources include: use of molecular genetic markers and adaptive traits for developing conservation strategies; in situ conservation through natural reserves, protected areas, and sustainable forest management practices; ex situ conservation through germplasm banks, common garden archives, seed banks, DNA banks, and tissue culture and cryopreservation; incorporation of disease, pest, and stress tolerance traits and ecological restoration of rare or declining tree species. Forest genetic resource conservation and resource use should be considered complementary rather than contradictory to each other. Therefore, the aim of genetic resources management is to improve conditions for the continuous evolution of the species, which represents the defense mechanism of organisms in suppression the environmental changes.
Keywords: Forest genetic resources, In situ gene conservation, Ex situ gene conservation
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