Ram Bahadur KC^1*, Bal Krishna Joshi² , Krishna Hari Ghimire² and Hem Raj Paudel^3
1Nepal Horticulture Society, Khumaltar, Lalitpur
²National Genebank-NARC, Khumaltar, Lalitpur
³National Herbarium and Plant Laboratories, Godawari, Lalitpur
*Corresponding author's email: rbkc05@gmail.com

Abstracts

Forest always remains very important source for collecting diverse types of resources including vegetables. Vegetables collected from wild and around farming areas without seeding and caring are defined as wild and noncultivated vegetables. Their distribution, values and harvesting months varied across the country. This study therefore was conducted to assess the status of wild vegetables along with their use values and availability in different districts. Information were collected through focus group discussion in 30 districts and key informant survey in 11 districts. This information was further updated and verified in many literatures and websites. The number of species was estimated for different altitude ranges and districts. The highest number of species was observed in Bagmati Province whereas the lowest in Madhesh Province. We have reported a total of 334 species from 99 families, out of which, the highest vegetable species were recorded from Fabaceae (21 species) and Polygonaceae (20 species) family. Based on plant parts used, 116 species were leafy vegetables. Maximum vegetable diversity (211 species) is available in June. The hotspot areas for diversity were identified based on the number of species and farmers’ responses and this information would be very useful for conservation plan. Many wild vegetables are very useful to sustain the farming and consumer communities across the country. Some of them can easily be domesticated and marketed widely. Conservation experts, researchers, breeders and policy makers should plan to prioritize wild vegetable species for domestication, in-situ and ex-situ conservation and use in breeding program.