Genetic diversity of turmeric ( curcuma longa)

Genetic resources of Curcuma: Characterization and utilization

1. Genetic resources of Curcuma : Characterization and utilization Anand Agricultural University Major Guide : Dr. H.L. Dhaduk Minor Guide : Dr. Sushil Kumar Speaker : Sampath. L Date & time : 17/0 2 /2021 1

2. Contents Introduction Production, export and processing Genetic resource Characterization Uses (Aromatherapy, Foods and Ornamental) Case studies Conclusion Future Aspects 2

3. 3 Introduction

4. 4 The genus Curcuma belonging to the family Zingiberaceae , considered to have originated in the Indo-Malayan Region ( Rajalaxmi et al ., 2013) India harbours rich diversity of Curcuma, especially species and cultivar diversity ( Sushma et al ., 2014 ) Turmeric is called as “ Golden Spice ” Turmeric is basically dried rhizome knows as country cousin of ginger

5. 5 Major spice all over the world Anti-cancerous properties Indian Saffron Religious importance

6. 6 Area, Production and Productivity Sr. No. Particular Area (‘000 hectares) Production (‘000 tones) Productivity (kg/ha) 1. India 251.39 926.11 3684 2. Gujarat 4.57 18.18 3978 (3 rd advance estimates of area and production, 2019-20) India constitutes 82% of production area followed by China (8%), Myanmar (4%), Nigeria (3%) and Bangladesh (3%) The main turmeric producing states in India are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala

7. Turmeric powder used as a spice, food preservative and colouring material, in religious applications as well as a household remedy in folk medicine Curcuma is a rare genus having diverse uses in fields such as religion, medicine, aromatherapy, cosmetics, dye, floriculture and of course the food industry Curcuminoids , extracts of turmeric in various solvents and essential oil derived from different Curcuma species are the molecules responsible for the biological activity of turmeric As curcumin is now gaining importance all over the world as a potential source of new drugs to combat a variety of ailments, the exact taxonomic characterization is very significant from the bio-prospecting angle 7 Uses

8. India is the major producer and exporter of turmeric in the world. Turmeric is exported as turmeric dry, turmeric powder, turmeric oil and turmeric oleoresin besides curry powder. The important regional trade varieties of turmeric from India are ‘Rajapuri’, ‘Duggirala’, ‘Cuddappah’, ‘Berhampur’, ‘Erode’, ‘Nizamabad’, ‘Koraput’, ‘Kasturi’, ‘Chaya’, ‘Kodur’, ‘Salem’, Waigon, Alleppey, Karur,Tekurpeta and others (Govindarajan, 1980). During 2002 –2003, the United Arab Emirates topped the list of turmeric import from India (4724 Mt) followed by the USA (3914 Mt), Japan (2614 Mt), UK (2006 Mt), Malaysia (1993 Mt), Sri Lanka (1907 Mt), Netherlands (1742 Mt) and South Africa (1254 Mt). 8 Processing and export

9. 9 Genetic Resources

10. There are about 100 species in the genus Curcuma , 41 are known to occur in India of which at least 10 are endemic to the Indian subcontinent About 40 Curcuma species, 50 cultivars and 20 improved varieties of C. longa and one improved variety of C. amada are available in India The ecology of the species varies so much that their habitat ranges from sea level (sandy coastal habitat) to high altitude such as above 2000 m in the Western Ghats and Himalayas in India 10 Curcuma longa Curcuma amada Curcuma zedoaria Species diversity

11. Kingdom : Plantae (Unranked) : Angiosperms (Unranked) : Monocots (Unranked) : Commelinids Order : Zingiberales Family : Zingiberaceae Genus : Curcuma Species : C. longa Curcuma belongs to the tribe Hedychieae. Though there are at present about 100 species in the genus, it is believed that there may be only about 80 true species A comprehensive global taxonomic revision of the genus is yet to be attempted The work of Valeton (1918) is considered to be a comparatively comprehensive attempt to study the taxonomy of the genus on a global level 11 Taxonomy

12. Valeton’s classification Genus - Curcuma a. Subgenera- Eucurcuma (presence or absence of tubers and stolons) tuberosa nontuberosa stolonifera b. Subgenera-Paracurcuma (anther spur lacking) C. aurantiaca C. ecalcarata 12 Fig.1 Nature of Rhizomes in curcuma

13. C . montana C. mutabilis C. nilamburensis C. neilgherrensis C. oligantha C. petiolata C. pseśudomontana C. purpurea C. raktakanda C. rubrobracteat C. ranadei C. recinata C. ruhecens C. Strobilifera C.cesia C. aeruginosa C. amada C. amarissima C. angustifolia C. aromatica C. coriacea C. decipien C. ecalcarata C. ferrugenia C. cordifolia C. haritha C. indom C. kudagensis C. kamat C. longa L . 13 Curcuma species in India Curcuma aromatica c.angustifolia

14. Armur Ethammukkala Ranga Alleppey Gorakpur Rajapuri Avanigadda Guntur Renuka Amruthapani GL Puram Rasmi Amalapuram Jabedi Rajendra Sonia Balaga Kasturi Roma Bilaspur Bullapura Kanti Shimla Sobha BSR-1 Katpadi Local Sugandham BSR-2 Krishna Suguna C-A-72 Udayagiri Kothapetta Suvarna C-A-12 Lekadong Sudarshana CLL-324 Lokhande Suranjana CLL-328 Mundage Suroma Chinnanadan Mydukkur Thekkurpetta Chayapaspu Megha turmeric T Sundar Co-1 Nandyal Talachira Deshi Pattani Yelachira Duggirala Panamalur Varna Dundrigam Dughi Pcrumnadan Prabha Vombinitta Vonimitta 14 Cultivar/varietal diversity of turmeric ( Curcuma longa ) in India

15. 15 15 Characterization

16. Morphological characterization of Curcuma spp. Cytology of Curcuma spp. Anatomy Chemical profiling of Curcuma spp. Molecular characterization 16 List of characterization of curcuma species

17. 31 Curcuma spp. from India using numerical taxonomy tools ,these species could be clustered into nine groups in the dendrogram studied by Velayudhan et al ., (1999) By and large, the sessile tuberizing species were distinct from the species without sessile tubers Distribution, habitat, flowering time, floral characters, quantitative characters of the floral parts, qualitative and quantitative features of above and below-ground characters of the 31 Curcuma spp. are choosen for characterization 17 Morphological characterization of Curcuma spp .

18. Ch aracter 1 (above-ground vegetati ve) Pl ant type Erect semi-erect L ea f habit Er e ct, semi-er e ct, prostrate Shea th colour P urple-gr e e n , light or dark p u rp l e , purp l e-brow n , purpl e-green L ea f marg i n H i gh l y wav y , med i um wav y , l ow wavy L ea f ve i n Cl ose, di stant Presen ce of ha i r on th e dorsa l side of the leaf H a i r y , glabrous Presen ce of h ai r on the ventral side of the leaf H a i r y , glabrous Leaf mid-rib colour Gr ee n , purp l e-gr e e n , l i g ht purp l e-brown L e af mid-r i b fa d i ng Absent, present In florescence p os i t i on Centra l , l ateral and b oth Coma A b sent, p r esent C a l yx col o ur Whi te , yellow, purple Corolla col our W h i t e , oran g e, re d , purp l e , pa l e yello w , p u rp l e spot, b l u e Staminode colour Wh i t e , re d , pa l e yel l o w , oran g e , yellow Anther s pu r Absent, present Nature of stigma Exerted or appressed Fert i l e bracts co l our Red, purple, g reen , whi te 18 Table.1 C urcuma species database

19. C h aracter 2 ( b e l ow-ground rh i zom e ) Shape of root stock Oblong, cylindrical Col our of root stock Redd i sh yello w , yellow, blue-b l ac k , b l u e-cream N atu re of rhizome Sessile tubers present, no sessile tubers , stoloni ferous Prese n ce of s t i p i tate t u b ers Absent, present Presen ce of stolon Absent, present Shap e of stipitate tub ers Fusifor m , l ong fusiform Aroma of rhizome M an g o aroma, camphoraceous aroma, turmeric aroma, no aroma T aste B i tt e r , sw e et, i nert, turmer i c taste 19 countiuned

20. 20 1. Plant: Pseudo stem habit 9. Colour on dorsal side 17. Rhizome shape 2. Plant height (cm) 10. Colour on ventral side 18. Rhizome length (primary) 3. Number of shoots 11. Leaf venation pattern 19. Number of mother rhizomes 4. Number of leaves on main shoot 12. Leaf margin 20. Rhizome internode pattern 5. Leaf disposition 13. Pseudostem anthocyanin pigmentation 21.Status of tertiary rhizome 6. Petiole length 14. Coma bract colour 22.Rhizome inner core colour 7. Lamina length 15. Bract tip colour 23. Duration (days) 8. Lamina width 16. Rhizome habit 24. Dry recovery (%) Table.2 DUS Characterization of curcuma

21. Species Chromosome number C. amada 2n = 42 C. angustifolia 2n = 42, 2n = 64 C. aromatica 2n = 42, 2n = 63, 2n = 86 C. decipiens 2n = 42, 2n = 32 C. longa 2n = 62, 2n = 63, 2n = 64 C. neilgherrensis 2n = 42 C. petiolata 2n = 64 C. zedoaria 2n = 63, 2n = 64 C. caesia, C. haritha 2n = 42 C. malabarica 2n = 63 C. raktakanta 2n = 63 C. aeruginosa 2n = 63 21 Cytological characterization of Curcuma spp. Table.3 C hromosome number of some economically important species Raghavan et al. ( 1961) Fig.2 Somatic metaphase plates and idiograms of Curcuma longa (2n = 63 ) Curcuma amada (2n = 42)

22. T he rhizome anatomical characters of four Curcuma spp., namely C. longa , C. aromatica , C. amada and C. zedoaria studied by ( Sherlija et al . 1998 ) C. longa had the maximum number and size of curcumin cells. The endodermoid layer formed a continuous ring along with the pericycle in C. longa whereas it was more or less circular in C. amada In C. aromatica and C. zedoaria the endodermoid layer was discontinuous and wavy in nature 22 Anatomical characterization of Curcuma spp .

23. 23 Biochemical characterization of Curcuma spp . Fig.3 Chemical profiling of Curcuma spp . Sasikumar,B .(2005)

24. characterized five Curcuma spp., namely C. longa, C. zedoaria , C. caesia , C. amada and C. aromatica , based on randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiling of rhizome DNA by ( Sreeja .2002 ) A novel attempt to identify the genuine Curcuma species traded as drugs in China and Japan based on sequence analysis of the 18S rRNA and trnK genes coupled with amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) analysis was done by (Sasaki et al. 2002). Comparative isozyme polymorphism of the cultivated and natural populations of C. alismatifolia RAPD markers for identifying C. longa and C. zedoaria in the marketed turmeric powder are reported 24 Molecular characterization of Curcuma spp

25. 25 25 25 Utilization

26. Aromatherapy and the perfume industry Essential oil of turmeric in blends with other spice/herb oils is found to be effective in alleviating ‘Pitta’ and ‘Kapha’, ‘doshas’ in the Indian system of medicine (Marwah and Shetty, 2000) The essential oil of the dry leaf of C. longa is indicated as a potential oil for application in the perfumery, cosmetic and soap industry (Ramachandraiah et al ., 1998) 26

27. Turmeric uses: Foods and food industry Turmeric powder is used in mustard paste and curry powder to impart colour, aroma and taste whole dry or fresh turmeric, ground or turmeric powder with other spices is used for making vegetable and meat preparations and soups (Sasikumar, 2001) corollary action of turmeric and curcuminoids is to prevent the oxidation and resultant rancidity of oils and fats during storage and heating through inhibition of the formation of harmful free radicals (Revarkar and Sen, 1975) Vanilla ice cream, for example, is coloured with a combination of curcumin (200 ppm) and inorbixin (12 ppm) 27

28. Turmeric uses: Ornamental 28 Fig.4 Bract colour variation in curcuma ecalcarata (a-c) and C . thorelii (d) Sasikumar , B. (2005)

29. Case studies 29

30. Case study 1. Genetic resources, diversity, characterization and utilization of agronomical traits in turmeric ( Curcuma longa L. ) Materials and methods Sixty-five germplasm of turmeric ( C. longa L.) were collected from various wild/cultivated sources and places of India like Assam (34), Uttar Pradesh (29) and one each from Arunachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh The genotypes were grown in a completely randomized block design, replicated thrice at the experimental research farm of the CSIR—Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow India, in two consecutive years (2012–2013 and 2013–2014) under normal fertility condition with plot size of single row of 3 m each planted at 50 cm apart Plants were harvested 10 months after planting The climate was semiarid to subtropical in nature Lucknow Gupta et al ., 2015 30

31. Days to sprout = DS; Petiole length = PL (cm); Fresh weight of rhizome = FWR (g/plant); Dry weight of rhizome = DWR (g/plant); Days to leaves emergence = DLE; Leaves length = LL (cm); Number of leaves = NL Length of stipulated tuber = LST (cm); Leaves width = LW (cm); Plant height = PH (cm); Rhizome length = RL (cm); Thickness of rhizome = TR (cm); Thickness of stipulated tuber = TST (cm). Agro-morphological observations were recorded on five plants per replications for thirteen economic traits, namely 31

32. Table. 4 Distribution of sixty five turmeric ( C. longa L .) genotypes into different clusters S. No. Clusters No. of genotypes Genotypes/accessions include in clusters 1 Cluster I 37 2, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 2 Cluster II 9 1, 3, 4, 5, 14, 46, 50, 58, 59 3 Cluster III 9 7, 8, 10, 18, 47, 48, 49, 64, 65 4 Cluster IV 4 28, 29, 35, 57 5 Cluster V 3 61, 62, 63 6 Cluster VI 2 45, 51 7 Cluster VII 1 12 Total 65 32

33. Table. 5 Intra- (bold) and inter cluster distances of 65 genotypes of Curcuma longa L. Clusters I st II nd III rd IV th V th VI th VII th Average (-D 2 ) I st 430.90 (20.75) 432.88 (20.80) 477.88 (2126) 479.3 0(21.89) 431.87 (20.78) 732.93 (27.07) 719.90 (26.83) 529.33 II nd   332.99 (1824) 434.20 (20.84) 480.90 (21.93) 482.09 (21.96) 564.06 (23.75) 511.08 (22.61) 462.54 III rd     282.69 (16.81) 520.61 (22.82) 449.09 (21.19) 699.42 (26.44) 454.49 (21.32) 474.05 V th       325.72 (18.05) 516.66 (22.73) 508.24 (22.54) 489.55 (22.13) 474.42 VI th         278.05 (16.67) 959.96 (30.98) 707.74 (26.60) 546.49 VII th           228.92 (15.13) 1020.64 (32.01) 673.45             0.00(0.00) 557.62 33

34. Table. 6 Cluster mean value of genotypes Clusters mean     Days to sprout (DS)   Petiole length cm (PL)   Dry weight of rhizome ( DWR)   Fresh weight of rhizome (FWR)   Days to leaves emer- gence (DLE) Leaves length (U.)   Number of leaves (NL)   Length of stipu- lated tuber (LST) Leaves width (LW)   Plant height (PH)   Rhizome length (RL)   Thickness of rhizome (TR)   Thickness of stipu- lated tuber (TST) Cluster 1 22.48 15.17 103.12 398.37 28.66 43.13 13.56 4.89 13.34 39.68 8.19 12.37 4.7 Cluster 2 22 13.88 95.89 386.04 28.44 58.17 14.41 5.37 14.64 48.77 8.61 12.1 4.34 Cluster 3 14.37 13.87 90.56 337.44 22.45 49.11 13.74 5.45 15.07 51.67 8.14 11.83 4.16 Cluster 4 16.75 16.54 105.5 401.17 22.25 42.02 12.75 5.175 12.29 38.26 8.41 13.74 4.43 Cluster 5 14.45 16.44 86.67 308.22 23.44 56.55 15.67 5.26 16.17 69.61 8.1 13.06 3.55 Cluster 6 31.67 16.83 118.67 461.84 37.84 47.42 14.17 5.2 12.55 4425 827 10.84 4.22 Cluster 7 28 12.58 85 361.67 35.67 52.33 14 3.67 15.1 44.5 10.2 13 4.77 34

35. Case study 2. Genetic variability, correlation and path coefficient analysis in turmeric ( Curcuma longa L. ) Objective: To study the genetic variability, heritability with genetic advance, correlation, direct and indirect effects of characters on rhizome yield Materials: Genotypes like Rajendra Sonia, PTS-12, ACC-361, ACC-360, PTS-43, BSR-1 PTS-62 and local variety were used Methodology: 8 genotypes were taken and plotted randomized block design with three replications. The finger rhizomes were planted on ridges adopting a spacing of 45 × 20 cm - Rajyalakshmi et al ., (2013) Andhra Pradesh 35

36. Table. 7 Estimation of variability and genetic parameters for yield and its components in turmeric Character Mean Range Genotypic variance Phenotypic variance Heritability broad sense Genetic advance as % of mean Plant height (m) 0.95 0.73-1.00 0.007 0.009 0.8073 16.79 No. of tillers plant' 2.34 1.63-2.62 0.123 0.134 0.9126 29.43 No. of leaves plant' 9.21 6.97-9.75 0.809 0.924 0.8765 18.84 Rhizome yield (t ha'') 18.93 8.49-23.96 26.524 31.469 0.8429 51.45 Results and discussion: 36

37. Findings: For turmeric - plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of leaves per plant and rhizome yield indicating that yield and its components were highly heritable with moderate to high level of genetic advance.   P l a nt height Tillers plan t -1 Leaves plan t -1 Plant height p (0 . 47) 0.44   - . 08   G (0 . 06) . 83   - . 04 Tillers plan t p 0.36 (0.5 7)   - . 07   G 0.06 (0.94)   -0.03 Leaves plan t p 0.42 0.42   (-0.09)   G 0.06 0.75   (-0.04) Table. 8 Direct and indirect effects obtained through path coefficient analysis in turmeric Residual effect 0.10565 (Values in parentheses are direct effects) 37

38. Case study 3. Synthesis and characterization of bioactive Curcumin derived from selected turmeric plants in India Materials and methods Solvent extraction (solvent used 95% Ethyl alcohol and Acetone ) Samples: Four varieties such as CL-101, CL-219, BSR-01, BSR-02 were obtained from Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and Madhurai in Tamilnadu respectively The standard curcumin powder was ordered from HPLC India. All reagents were of analytical grade and used as received Muhamed et al ., 2014 Chennai 38

39. Synthesis of curcumin - Processing care: One kilogram of fresh turmeric rhizomes from each plot (comprising 30% mother rhizomes and 70% primary and secondary rhizomes) were boiled in pure water for 45-60 minutes till the rhizomes became soft and emitted a typical turmeric odour After boiling, the rhizomes were dried under sun light to attain 8% moisture content The recovery of dry turmeric rhizomes then cleaned, crushed and powdered 39

40. Synthesis of curcumin - Plant extraction: In the present work, curcumin was quantitatively extracted in soxhlet apparatus from turmeric by using 95% ethanol as a solvent The dried turmeric powder below 300 mesh (IS- 2446, 1963) were taken in a soxlet apparatus at the rate of 5 g was refluxed with 250 ml of 95% ethanol for 2 hours and 30 minutes The extract was cooled and filtered quantitatively into a 100 ml volumetric flask; the residue was then transferred to the filter, washed thoroughly and volume was made up to 100 ml with Ethyl alcohol 40

41. Characterization: where d = average crystallite size of the phase under investigation B = Scherrer constant (0.89) λ = wavelength of X-ray beam used β = the full-width half maximim (FWHM) of diffraction and θ is the Bragg's angle 41

42. 42 Fig.5 a UV- vis spectrum of CL-101 curcumin Fig.5 c UV- vis spectrum of BSR-01 curcumin Fig.5 b UV- vis spectrum of CL-219 curcumin f Fig.5 d UV- vis spectrum of BSR-02 curcumin

43. Curcumin Experimental value Theorical value C H N C H N C 21 H 20 O 6 69.43 5.20 - 68.47 5.47 - Turmeric variety (Curcumin) Average size, K=0.9 λ / β cos ϕ CL-101 57 nm CL-219 70 nm BSR-01 40 nm BSR-02 63 nm Table 10 . Average crystallite size of Curcumin varieties Table 9 . Elemental analysis data of Curcumin 0.00025 X absorbance of sample X 100 X 100 Curcumin (%) = Absorbance of standard X Weight of sample X 5 43

44. 44 Fig.6 a XRD pattern of CL-101 curcumin Fig.6 b XRD pattern of CL-219 curcumin F ig 6 c XRD pattern of BSR -01 curcumin Fig.6 d XRD patter of BSR-02 curcumin

45. Case study4 . Assessment of genetic diversity in indigenous turmeric ( Curcuma longa ) germplasm from India using molecular markers Materials and methods Leaf samples of twenty nine genotypes of C. longa were used in the present study These genotypes are grown and maintained at Distant Banthra Research Centre of CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI), Lucknow, India Closely related taxon Costus speciosus (Koenig) Sm. was considered as the out-group for comparison with C. longa genotypes Total genomic DNA was extracted from the fresh leaf tissues following CTAB method Sushma et al ., 2015 Lucknow 45

46. Materials and methods: It's quality and quantity was checked by gel electrophoresis on 0.8 % agarose gel, stained with ethidium bromide, and compared with a set of known DNA concentration standards (100 bp ladder), and by UV spectroscopy using a Nanodrop ND-1000 Spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies Inc. USA) 46

47. 47 Fig.7 Representative gel images showing pcr profiles of curcuma longa genotypes using (a) DAMD primer 14C2 (b)ISSR primer UBC 835 .Lanes indicated by marker contain low range molecular as the size marker

48. Table. 11 Mentel correlation between the genetic distance obtained from DAMD, ISSR and cumulative data analysis among Curcuma longa genotypes Marker pairs Correlation coefficient ( p ) value ISSR vs DAMD 0.93084 0.0020 ISSR vs cumulative 0.98297 0.0020 DAMD vs cumulative 0.98212 0.0020 48

49. Table. 12 comparison of DAMD, ISSR and cumulative data analysis in indigenous Curcuma longa genotypes Markers DAMD ISSR Cumulative No. of accessions 29 29 29 Total no of assays/primer 15 13 28 Total no. of bands amplified 275 221 478 Polymorphic bands (p) 217 175 392 Polymorphism (%) 84.4 79.2 82.0 Band size range (bp) 160-3000 200-2500 160-3000 Generic distance range 0.06-0.61 0.00-0.60 0.03-0.59 Average PIC 0.29 0.28 0.29 Average diversity index (DIav) 0.35 0.36 0.01 Multiplex ratio (MR) 17.1 17.0 17.1 Effective multiplex ratio (EMR) 14.5 13.5 14.0 49

50. Case study 5. Curcuma raktakanda Induces Apoptosis and Suppresses Migration in Cancer Cells: Role of Reactive Oxygen Species Objective: The overall goal of this study was to examine the anti-cancer potential of the extract from C. raktakanda that has demonstrated larvicidal activities Mishra et al., 2019 Kerala 50

51. Curcuma raktakanda , a poorly studied species, is most commonly distributed in the Kerala state of India They examined the efficacy of different fractions (acetone, hexane, and ethyl acetate) of C. raktakanda against glioma, cervical, and breast cancer cell lines Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM, glioblastoma or grade IV glioma) is the most aggressive, invasive, and most common tumor of the central nervous system Methodology: 51

52. Fig. 8 (A) C-6 glioma cells were exposed to different concentrations (µg/mL) of CR extracts 52

53. Fig. 9 (B) Cisplatin and imatinib were used as positive controls 53

54. Fig. 10 (C) CR extracts concentration dependent reduction in the number of colonies 54

55. Fig. 11 Acetone extract induces apoptosis in glioma cells 55

56. Fig. 12 Acetone extract induces cell cycle arrest and lowers mitochondrial membrane potential in glioma cells (A ) Relation between concentrations (µg/mL) of acetone extract and population (B ) C6 cells treated with acetone extract for 24 h and then stained with JC-1 (10 µg/mL). 56

57. Fig. 13 Relation between acetone extract concentrations and percentage of wound size and healed area 57

58. Conclusion The desirable genotypes may be selected among the genotypes of the cluster for improving more than one economic character to obtain genotypes which may lead to develop high yielding varieties For turmeric - plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of leaves per plant and rhizome yield indicating that yield and its components were highly heritable with moderate to high level of genetic advance All varieties are statistically significant from each other in respect of curcumin extraction by using 95% ethanol solvent. Among the four turmeric varieties CL-101 collected from Erode (92%) is statistically superior over all Indigenous germplasm could be further utilized in various genetic improvement programmes including conventional as well as marker assisted breeding towards development of new and desirable turmeric genotypes The rhizome extract from C. raktakanda exhibit anti-carcinogenic activities 58

59. Future Aspects There is need to purify seed material of elite varieties Continuous efforts are required to evolve or identify turmeric varieties tolerant or resistant to rhizome rot and rhizome fly The profile of curcuminoids in the different curcuma species and within the varieties of c. longa is yet to be studied in detail There should be a urgent need to pay due attention to qulitative and quantitative differentation of curcuminoids Flucidation of the biosynthetic patway of curcuminoids and identification and identification of the key enzymes involved will pave the way for more biotechnological manipulations. 59

60. Thank You A presentation by L. Sampath 60