Selection of high quality turmeric (Curcuma longaL.) genotype for sodic wastelands of Northern India

Abstract

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is an important cash crop of India, used traditionally for many ailments. The quality of turmeric varies to a great extent in their chemical composition content with growing conditions and plant genotype. The crop prefers warm and humid climate, confining the major production areas to southern and northeastern states of India. To broaden its cultivation base to northern India, sodic wastelands, found extensively in Indo-Gangetic plains offer a great scope. To select superior genotypes for better yield and quality in such soils, three accessions of C. longa, NBH-3, NBH-10 and NBH-18 were grown in moderate sodic and garden soils at Lucknow, India. Total phenolic content, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and and bis-demethoxy curcumin, leaf and rhizome essential oil contents were found higher in rhizomes from sodic soil. Antioxidant activity was also studied in rhizomes in terms of IC50 DPPH. NBH-10 genotype produced the highest rhizome yield in sodic soil and NBH-18 yielded maximum in garden soil.