Vol. 12, Issue 11 (2023)

Author(s):
Silpa SG, Sreekala GS and Deepa S Nair

Abstract:
Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is a very important spice cum medicinal plant having a somatic chromosome number of 2n=22. Ginger has a narrow genetic base and breeding is limited mostly to clonal selection. Polyploidy breeding is one of the frequently used methods in vegetatively propagated horticultural crops to create variability. Colchicine, which is the most widely used chemical for the induction of polyploidy can be applied on the seeds, seedlings, apical shoots, inflorescence, sprouting buds etc. Colchicine can be applied both in vitro and in vivo to induce polyploids. The most discernable effect of polyploidy has been the increase in yield, essential oil content, production of fertile bridge hybrids and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Polyploids have greater genetic and biochemical diversity enabling greater ecological tolerance and are expected to have larger geographical ranges than diploids. To comprehend the degree to which the observed variation was due to genetic factors, the value of phenotypic variation, genotypic variation, Environmental variation, co-efficient of variation, phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation was obtained.