Utilisation on wildlife is as old as mankind itself but the conscious use of wild genetic resources of plants as well as animals is a 20th-century phenomenon. Many outstanding technological advances in yield or quality of the commercial crops resulted from one or a few genes from the wild relatives of the domesticated plant species. The ushering in of green revolution in the sixties has replaced traditional agricultural practices with high input intensive agriculture in Punjab. Due to the change in the cropping pattern , there has been major change in area under different types of crops like Rice, wheat, Gram, Groundnuts, Cotton, Pulses etc. Data indicates that whereas the area under wheat has increased by 2.42 times, area under rice has increased by 11.5 times from 1960-61 to 1999-2000.  The area under Bajra has, however,  decreased by 24.6 times (from 123 th.ha. to 5 th.ha.), area under Barley has decreased by about half & area under Jowar is less than 500 ha now (from 6000 ha in 1960-61). 

Similarly, the area under gram and other legumes has decreased considerably.  Area under oil seeds especially, groundnut, rapeseed & linseed has also decreased considerably. Though sunflower cultivation was introduced and promoted in the early nineties in the state  but it has decreased now probably due to low market support and allelopathic impacts of the plant. Area under cotton & sugarcane is almost stable whereas area under potatoes has increased. Hence, not only the diversity of domesticated crops in the state has decreased, it has also resulted in the recent glut in the market with respect to some crops (especially wheat, rice & potatoes) where farmers have not been able to get remunerative prices. 

These  changes affected the  Domesticated Biodiversity  of the state very severely. 

It include the following :- 
  
Varietal Diversity

   Considerable varietal changes have also taken place since the introduction of green revolution in the State. Prior to Green Revolution 41 varieties of wheat, 37 varieties of rice, 4 varieties of maize, 3 varieties of bajra, 16 varieties of sugarcane, 19 varieties of pulses, 9 varieties of oil seeds & 10 varieties of cotton were reported to be in use and propagated through pure line selection by various workers. Since the advent of green revolution in the state as per available data (Verma, 1992), 38 varieties of wheat, 17 varieties of rice, 37 varieties of pulses, 10 varieties of sugarcane, 18 varieties of maize, 9 varieties of bajra, 27 varieties of oil seeds, 5 varieties of barley and 14 varieties of cotton have been released by the PAU since 1964. These include HYVs developed by PAU and in other parts of the country or abroad. 

Weed Flora & Pest Fauna

Change in cropping pattern has also resulted in change in weed flora  & pest fauna in the fields.  Data indicates (Sidhu, 1991;Sodhi, 1985; Kohli, 1994 ) the occurrence of 350 spp. of weeds in agricultural fields of Punjab.  Out of these,  78 spp. have been found to be associated with wheat  crop, 71 spp. with Paddy, 39 spp. with Maize, 41 spp. with Fibre crops especially , cotton, 56 spp. with Sugarcane, 22 spp. with groundnut and 25 spp. with Brassica.  Further 47 weed spp. are  reported to be associated with fodder crops.  This is inspite of high doses of chemical weedicides being used by the farmers.

The data of pest fauna associated with principle crops indicates the presence of 88 pest species(Deol, 1974; Sharma, 1976; Singh, 1976 a & b; Kumkum, 1976; Anand, 1977; Sandhu, undated; Kuthiala, 1977)   inspite of large scale use of chemical pesticides.  The overdozing of these pesticides have, infact, led to high pesticides content in soil, water, crops (especially vegetables) and bovine milk.  Though use of DDT and BHC is banned in Punjab for use in agriculture, however, still the residual quantities of these pesticides in bovine and mother’s milk are reported to be highest in the state (Singh & Dhaliwal, 1992).

Horticultural & Vegetable crops

Fruit production in the state has been considerably promoted during the past decade.  In all 35 species of fruit trees are being commercially grown in the state (Department of Plant Breeding, PAU Ludhiana). The data indicates the varietal changes  from 1971 to 1999-2000 as per Package of Practices, PAU and Deptt. Of Horticulture, GOP. Currently, 15 varieties of citrus fruits, 5 varieties of grapes,  14 varieties of mangoes &   6 varieties of ziziphus are being grown.  The cultivation of Papaya has also increased considerably and 5 varieties are grown throughout the state.  Emphasis has been on promoting improved varieties of a limited number of species and a large number of wild varieties have been largely ignored. 

        Further, 37 species of summer and winter vegetables are grown in the state. The maximum diversity is available in potato, brinjal & cauliflower vegetables.  Information obtained from the farmers indicates that cultivation of several varieties of beans and cucurbits (which were earlier available) have been discontinued in the state due to lack of demand in the market.  Similarly, the demand for leafy vegetables (which usually grow as weeds around fields) like, Chenopodium, Anethun (soya), Aloe etc. has also gone down especially in urban areas.

203 species of forest trees have been  recorded by the Deptt. of Forestry and Natural Resources, PAU Ludhiana, out of  which 15 species of trees are used for both, commercial and floriculture purpose in Punjab and 28 species of trees are fruit trees.  116 species of trees are used for landscaping in the state (Arora,1998 – Project supported by Punjab State Council for Science & Technology).  These include 8 drought resistant trees, 29 trees resistant to air and water pollution, 32 trees suitable for growing in dust prone areas and 30 trees suitable for growing in industrial & sewerage water. Further, 13  tree species are recommended for  use in Agro-forestry system in Punjab (PAU, Ludhiana).   About 218 species of ornamental plants have been recorded in Punjab by Deptt. of Forestry and Natural resources, PAU, Ludhiana, (2001). These include  58 species of Annuals, 81 species of shrubs, 24 species of climbers and 31 species of potted and bulbous plants. 291 species of medicinal plants and 218 species of economically important plants have also been in the state.

            Data on domesticated fauna indicates that the total population of domesticated animals in the state has increased by 8.7% in the past two decades. The population of buffaloes and  poultry has increased by about 43.8 percent but the population of other animals like cows, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, pigs, camels, etc has decreased during this period. 

Livestock and Poultry in Punjab: 1997 (thousand)

                       Source: Director, Land Records, Punjab and Director, Animal Husbandry, Punjab.

One Desi breed of cow has been reported by the Animal Husbandry Deptt. However, the pure Desi breed is now not available in most of the districts (except the breed ‘Sahiwal’ which is still reported in certain areas of districts    Bathinda, Mansa, and Moga) as it has been cross bred with Jersey and Holstein breeds (exotic) in an effort to increase the fat & milk content respectively. The Animal husbandry  deptt. has also recently established  8 farms for  the breeding of sahiwal in the state. 

Three out of 8 native breeds of buffaloes reported from India are found to exist in Punjab.  These include Nili Ravi (native to north western distts. of  Amritsar, Gurdaspur & Ferozepur) Murrah (native to southern distts. of Bathinda, Sangrur, Patiala, Mansa, Faridkot, Moga & Amritsar)  and Desi breed found in central & eastern parts of the  state which has now been cross bred with Murrah to develop Murrah graded (found in distts. Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Nawansher, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Jalandhar & Kapurthala). Out of these Nili Ravi is already reported as a threatened breed.  

Indigenous & Threatened Breeds of Domesticated Fauna of Punjab

Domestic Animal	Indigenous	Threatened
Cattle breeds	Hariana, Sahiwal	---
Sheep	Lohi, Nali	Lohi
Horse	Bhutia	Bhutia
Buffalo	Murrah, Nili - Ravi	Nili - Ravi
Goat	Beetal	Beetal
Poultry	Punjab Brown	----

        Source : Ministry of Environment & Forests, 1998-99