Tissue culture of tropical spices.

Abstract

The progress made in this area during the last 3 decades is reviewed with special reference to the work carried out at the National Research Centre for Spices. Two main areas of interest are discussed: (1) in vitro clonal propagation, including information specific to cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), ginger (Zingiber officinale), turmeric (Curcuma longa), black pepper (Piper nigrum), and the tree spices cinnamon [Cinnamomum zeylanicum], clove [Syzygium aromaticum] and nutmeg (Myristica fragrans); and (2) regeneration of plantlets from tissue culture, and somaclonal variation.