Long Abstract
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South and Southeast Asian countries are territories of ancient agricultural civilizations. N.I.Vavilov attached great the importance to these promising regions for the survey and further development of the theory of centers origin of cultivated plants: “All my thoughts are directed now to India, Southeast Asia; summing up the world philosophy, distribution of plants, we came logically to this part, all the rest is more or less clear" (1933). In 1926-1928, according to recommendations of academician N. I. Vavilov, specialist in subtropical crops V. V. Markovich explored the flora of South Asian countries. It was the longest and the only one trip through the territory of India (including modern Pakistan and Bangladesh), the islands of Java and Ceylon. His notes and photographs show developed agricultural and cultural traditions of the population in these countries. In 1950es, the N.I.Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources established mutually beneficial contacts with research institutions in South and Southeast Asia, the exchange of seed and planting material took place. Especially it should be noted in terms of cooperation the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi; the National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack; the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad; in Bhutan - the Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD); in Sri Lanka – the Rice Research Station, Batalagode; the Potatoes and Vegetable crops Research station, Sitaeliya; Central Agricultural Research Institute, Gannoruwa; in Bangladesh - Bangladesh Research Rice Institute (BRRI); in Vietnam, until 1991, there were experiment bases in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, where reproduction and study of VIR plant samples were carried out. The exploration of plant resources and their mobilization in the VIR collection would be impossible without interaction with local industrial and scientific institutions, the help of their employees, farmers and ordinary people. The research was performed within the framework of the State Task according to the theme plan of VIR, ? 0481-2022-0006
