Genetic diversity and conservation of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton.) in India

Abstract

India is recognized as a rich source of genetic diversity for cardamom. Today, the conservation and use of the genetic resources of cardamom constitute one of the priority programmes adopted by the Indian Institute of Spices Research. Numerous exploration missions have been carried out leading to the collection of about 310 accessions. The collected germplasm accessions are conserved in ex silo and in vitro germ plasm repositories (short and long term). Accessions with distinct morphological marker characters, such as compound panicle types, terminal panicle bearing, narrow leaf types, pink pseudostem types, dark green and bold capsules and high-yielding biotic-stress tolerant types, are conserved in the repository. Three-hundred-and-ten accessions of cardamom germplasm were evaluated for 16 characters. Nine of the characters showed high variability. Following nonhierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis all the genotypes were grouped into three clusters with a variable number of genotypes. Accessions of three cultivar groups often grouped together in the same cluster, suggesting some degree of ancestry between the three groups.