Phenotypic and biochemical characterisation of land races and variety (Chhattisgarh Tichkur-1) of East Indian arrowroot (Curcuma angustifolia, Roxb.)

Abstract

East Indian arrowroot (Cucuma angustifolia) is widely cultivated in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh,Northeast and certain Southern pockets of India, as source of starch. In the present study, selectedeight accessions of land races of C. angustifolia along with its released variety and related species (C.zedoaria) were characterised for phenotypic and biochemical traits for selecting desirable geneticstocks. The East Indian arrowroot land races, variety and related species had morphological differencesin plant, leaf and rhizome traits. This study also has helped to distinguish land races from rest of EastIndian arrowroots and wild species. Investigation on quantitative characters and biochemical analysisunveiled one land race (CTCRI-CA-PM-1) collected from Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala whichshowed superior performance in terms of lengthy primary rhizome (21.25 cm) coupled with higheststarch content (16.8%), rhizome yield per plant (709.8 g) and rhizome dry recovery (19.15%). Otherequally better promising genetic stocks selected from the present study are IGSJT-10-2 (IGKV-VarietyChhattisgarh Tikhur-1) and IGDMT-10-1(landrace from Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh). Selected geneticstocks along with other population will be further studied for molecular; biochemical and processingproperties for their effective utilisation. All the germplasm accessions are conserved at ICAR-CTCRI,Thiruvananthapuram (NAGs centre), Kerala, India.Keywords: East Indian arrowroot, PPV & FRA, DUS guidelines, starch and genetic stocks