Turmeric Tissue Culture

* The preferred method of propagation of turmeric is through pieces of rhizome. But this is a slow process since rhizome has a dormancy period. It only sprouts during the monsoon, and only 5 to 6 plants can be obtained from rhizome in a year. * A rapid method of multiplication is needed especially for newly developed high yielding varieties, which are available in small quantities. * Tissue culture is valuable for the propagation of several plant species. * Hussey described a procedure for the induction of plantlets directly on stem tissue without callus from several species of bulb and corm-bearing plants on media which is having low concentration of auxins or no auxins. * Nadgaudaetal have described tissue culture method for obtaining plantlets from 2 high-yielding turmeric varieties. The plants obtained are being compared with controls in field trials for their growth rates and rhizome yields. * Of the several turmeric plants regenerated 2 have been selected with 7 to 8% curcumin content, for which turmeric is valued and respected. Field performance of these plants to determine stability of curcumin character for 3 successive generations has also been studied and it has been found quite stable. * At the CPCRI, turmeric with curcumin content up to 14 to 14.5% have been selected. These novel selections should be studied further with tissue-culture technique. * As regards the future possibilities of utilizing tissue culture as a commercially accepted technique, this has already been achieved in other countries and it will only be a matter of time before similar commercial establishments spring up in India. * The main limitation at the moment is high initial capital costs. * However, small-scale tissue-culture laboratories, as in several South-East Asian countries, can produce several plants at fairly economical rates * Several tissue culture raised plants were tested in the field where the main plus points are the higher