BIOCHEMICAL VARIATION IN TURMERIC (CURCUMA-LONGA LINN) ACCESSIONS BASED ON ISOZYME POLYMORPHISM

Fifteen accessions of Curcuma longa L. collected from different geogra phical areas in India, along with a few seedling progenies, were studi ed for variation based on isozyme polymorphism. A high degree of varia bility (63.8-96% similarity) was seen in the population studied. Phene tic analyses revealed several groups with interesting features. Two se edling progenies, which showed maximum similarity, stood distinctly fr om the clonally propagated material. Other pairs of accessions showing high similarity (above 90%), were from the same geographical area, in dicating that accessions collected based on vernacular names and those collected from adjoining areas, need not be genetically distinct.