Varied climatic conditions, topography and different agro ecological zones of Nepal is directly associated with biodiversity of neglected and underutilized fruits. Those fruits play an important role in food, nutrition as well as economic security of poor rural people. To assess their diversity a review has been done. This study showed that there were 93 neglected and underutilized fruits from 36 families existed in the country out of this the highest number of species comes under rosaceae (19), followed by rutaceae (12), moraceae (10), anacardiaceae (5) while rest families have less than three species. Introduction of high yielding exotic commercial varieties, changing food habit, mono cropping trends and climate change are major causes of their gradual declination in Nepal. They have multidimensional uses, with increasing awareness, many formerly neglected commodities have now become globally significant. All Governmental, nongovernmental and private organizations involved in fruit research and development should give emphasis to indigenous and underutilized fruit species and use it as an adoptive measure for diversification, food and nutrition security. This paper provides current status, importance and potential of neglected and underutilized fruits. This review also addresses the prospects of long-term conservation of neglected and underutilized fruit species in Nepal.
Key words: Biodiversity, food security, neglected and underutilized fruits
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