82 IJMFM&AP, Vol. 9 No. 1, 2023 INTRODUCTION Organum is a large and diverse genus of plants belonging to the family Lamiaceae. This genus includes 49 taxa belonging to 10 sections (Ietswaart, 1980). Several species including Origanum vulgare L. are rich in essential oils and are commonly known as Oregano (Skoulaand Harborne, 2002). It is a perennial herb that grows to a height of 1.5 m and is distributed in the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, China and South Asia (Kokkini, 2002).The plant has been introduced to many other parts of the world and is now found in temperate and subtropical regions worldwide. The herb of oregano is widely consumed and traded as a culinary spice globally (Kaefer and Milner, 2008). It has been established that the herb contains a large diversity of secondary metabolites particularly thymol, carvacrol sometimes linalool (Lukas et al., 2008; Nurzynska-Wierdak et al., 2012; Mastro et al., 2017, Machado et al., 2023) which are regarded as the signature class of compounds for recognizing the quality oregano. And due to these compounds, it is used for centuries as a traditional medicinal plant for curing myriad diseases across the globe. The same has been established through numerous clinical trials that a herb possesses a potential pharmacological activity especially, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-oxidant and expectorant (Cleff et al., 2010; Senderski, 2014; Brðanin et al., 2015; Brondani et al., 2018; Campos et al., 2022). In India, Origanum vulgare subsp. vulgare (common oregano) is spread abundantly in the central, north and northeastern Himalayan region (Sarin, et al., 1991) and is the only representative of Origanum vulgare in India (Chishti et al., 2013). It is recognized with different names depending International Journal of Minor Fruits, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Vol. 9 (1) : 82- 87, June 2023 Exploration and collection of different germplasm accessions of Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) from the Kashmir Himalayas Ummar Atta 1* , S.A Gangoo 1 , Amarjeet Singh 1 , M. AIslam 2 , Nageena Nazir 3 and G.M Bhat 4 *1 Division of Forest Products and Utilization, Faculty of Forestry, Benhama, Ganderbal, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India- 191201 2 Division of Forest Resource Management, Faculty of Forestry, Benhama, Ganderbal, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India- 191201 3 Division of Silviculture & Agroforestry, Faculty of Forestry, Benhama, Ganderbal, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India- 191201 4 Division of Agricultural Statistics, Faculty of Horticulture, Shalimar, Srinagar, SKUAST-K, Jammu and Kashmir, India-190025 Email :scholarforestry55@gmail.com Received : 17.03.2023 ; Revised : 01.04.2023 ; Accepted : 02.04.2023 DOI : 10.53552/ijmfmap.9.1.2023.82-87 License: CC BY-NC 4.0 ABSTRACT The collection of accessions of Origanum vulgare is an important resource for its conservation and utilization. To explore and collection of the different accessions of Origanum vulgare, an extensive survey was conducted across the Kashmir Himalaya. These exploration trips were concerted in North, Central and South zones of Kashmir Himalaya. The germplasm collections were conducted from late march to mid-May. This extensive survey yielded a total of nineteen accessions from different places; of which 17 accessions were from wild origins and two accessions were from cultivated sources. The germplasms were submitted to the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) gene bank for their preservation and allotment of IC numbers. All the live plants of all the accessions were maintained in experimental plots at the Faculty of Forestry, SKUAST-K. These accessions can be used to maintain the species’ genetic diversity, improvement of culinary, medicinal, and ornamental qualities, and to ensure its long-term survival. Keywords: Collection, germplasm accession, Kashmir, NBPGR, Origanum vulgare