Turmeric is a cross-pollinated, sterile, triploid species that is clonally propagated using its underground
rhizomes. Though vegetative propagation is the usual means of reproduction, several studies have shown the
existence of genetic variation in the species. Nayak et al.2 was able to detect genetic variation among 17 promising
cultivars of turmeric using 4C nuclear DNA content and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. The
significant variation in 4C DNA content recorded was hypothesized to be due to loss or addition of highly repetitive
sequences in the genome. RAPD analysis also revealed intraspecific polymorphism among the 17 cultivars, ranging
from 35.6 % to 98.6 %. Among the 20 RAPD primers used, two primers (OPN06 and OPA04) showed strong
resolving power and were able to distinguish all 17 cultivars. Similarly, Leong-Skornickova et al.3 observed more
than 9 % genome size variation in two accessions of C. longa having the same chromosome number. They
suggested that the observed intra-specific variation may be related to the long-term cultivation and targeted selection
of desirable genotypes in C. longa, which in turn may have adaptive value to the crop. On the other hand, using
microsatellite markers, a relatively low overall genetic variability was observed among 39 turmeric accessions from
a Brazilian germplasm collection4
. Though genetic variation was observed within the states where turmeric is
cultivated, the overall lack of polymorphism was attributed to the possible introduction of only a few genotypes in
Brazil.