Curcuma aromatica Salisb., commonly known as wild turmeric, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae is an important medicinal herb that face acute narrowing of natural populations due to human activities. A study was carried out to assess the genetic variability of wild turmeric in Kerala State of India in relation to growth and yield characters. Sixty two accessions of wild turmeric collected from different locations of Kerala were grown in RBD and assessed for variability in terms of genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), heritability (H2) and genetic advance (GA). High estimates of PCV, GCV, heritability and genetic advance in the case of the characters studied indicated the presence of considerable variability in the genetic resources of this important crop in the study area and also the scope for selection for crop improvement and release of promising varieties. Wide range of characters indicates the involvement of higher number of contributing alleles and higher involvement of environmental factors in the expression of characters. The highest genetic advance was found in the case of yield per plant (74.59%) followed by length of secondary finger (52.19%). Heritability was maximum for plant height (83.71%) followed by yield per plant (78.16%) and length of primary finger (76.95%). Most of the agronomic characters showed heritability above 50% while only one character i.e., number of tillers showed heritability below 50%. Heritability of the characters ranged from 30% to 83.71% and genetic advance varied from 15.06 to 74.59. The results indicate the occurrence of broad genetic base in the study area in the case of the wild turmeric populations studied and also the feasibility of selection of superior genotypes based on the characters that show broad range of variation.
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2022: 6.012
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