FOREST SEED-A SOURCE OF FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY

摘要

Food can be classified as orthodox or conventional foods and unorthodox or unconventional foods. Orthodox foods comprise of the foods traditionally consumed by man for centuries, that he selected through trial and error and made a part of his daily diet. Of the 3000 edible plant species commonly used in agriculture, horticulture and forestry that exist in nature man has exploited only about 30 plant species. World wide there are 50,000 flowering plants that are edible. Therefore, there still exists immense scope of meeting man's nutritional requirements from nature and enlarging the food basket. In times of scarcity unconventional food sources become quite important for sustenance of traditional people.