Studies on genetic variability and improvement of white turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria Rosc.) of kerala

Abstract

Curcuma zedoaria Rosc., also referred to as white turmeric or zedoary is an important member of the family Zingiberaceae. In Ayurveda and other folk and tribal systems of medicine, different components of C. zedoaria are utilised. The goal of the current study is to examine genetic variability of C. zedoaria in Kerala in order to conserve and improve its genetic stock and also to identify superior genotypes from the germplasm. The genetic variability of zedoary was analysed using continuous frequency distribution. Thirteen of fifteen agronomic traits showed a higher accumulation of recessive contributing factors in their gene pool. Statistically significant level of variability was observed in the case of all the studied characters. The highest heritability was recorded for plant height followed by leaf length. Genetic advance was higher for leaf area followed by yield per plant. As per correlation analysis yield of the plant, a complex trait was found to have significant correlation with fourteen remaining agronomic characters studied. Thus, plant breeders can take advantage of these traits to improve the yield of the crop. Character association study revealed that length of primary fingers, circumference of primary fingers, yield per plant and circumference of secondary fingers had the highest factor loadings. Using cluster analysis, genetic divergence and the behaviour of genotypes under investigation were evaluated. Genotypes CUW 36 and CUW 37 are more genetically related. Comparative performance of the different accessions of zedoary has been evaluated with the help of performance indices. Accession CUW 9 ranked the first with a cumulative performance index of 22.76. The CUW 3 and CUW 4 accessions were placed second and third. The top ranked accessions can be used for further breeding programmes. The variation in yield of the crop in relation to the status of the planting material used was studied. A higher yield was observed when plants were raised from mother rhizomes and primary fingers being used as the planting material. It suggests that farmers can use both mother rhizomes and primary fingers for large-scale cultivation of C. zedoaria for maximum harvest.