Introduction

Ethiopia is known as a centre of diversity and/or origin of numerous cultivated crop plant species. This was first recognized by N. I. Vavilov in the late 1920s and later confirmed by several other scientists. Vavilov (1951) indicated that some 38 crop plants have their centre of diversity in the Ethiopian region. Zohary (1970) mentioned 11 crop species which had their centre of diversity in Ethiopia. Primitive cultivars or landraces and wild relatives of some of the world's major crops are found in the country. Pulse crops form a significant portion of the available genetic resource base for plant breeding programmes.

In this chapter an attempt is made to describe the situation for the most important pulse crops cultivated in Ethiopia regarding their diversity and the germplasm kept in the national collection, and their conservation, evaluation and utilization.

Collection

Owing to the richness and potential of the biological resources of the country, numerous plant expeditions have been undertaken by scientists in the past. However, it was only after the establishment of the Plant Genetic Resources Centre/Ethiopia (PGRC/E) in 1976 that systematic collecting missions were launched. The total holding of pulse accessions by PGRC/E is about 4300.

The bulk of the germplasm was acquired from field collecting (ca. 2900) on the basis of a well defined strategy, and some was acquired through repatriation and acquisition from national and international sources.