Karyomorphological investigations on some economically important members of Zingiberaceae from Eastern India

Abstract

In this paper, karyological investigations of four economically and medicinally important Indian species of Zingiberaceae belonging to the genera Curcuma and Zingiber were performed. The somatic chromosome number of Curcuma amada was 2n = 42 and that of Curcuma longa was 2n = 63, while the chromosome numbers of both Zingiber officinale and Zingiber zerumbet were 2n = 22. Chromosome morphology of the two species of Curcuma studied showed predominance of constrictions in the median region and absence of secondary constriction. In contrast, the two species of Zingiber studied showed a wide variation of constrictions from median to subterminal and six chromosomes with secondary constrictions. The results indicated presence of more symmetric karyotype in Curcuma spp. with respect to that of the Zingiber spp. studied. Detailed karyomorphological studies were undertaken and the results obtained were analyzed with respect to the published karyotype data for the four species.