Screening of Turmeric ( Curcuma longa L.) Cultivars for Quality in Southern Dry Zone of Karnataka

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of growth and yield parameters of sixteen cultivars of turmeric for commercial production in southern dry zone of Karnataka. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications at the farm of College of Horticulture, Mysore. Among the sixteen turmeric cultivars grown in southern dry zone of Karnataka, Maximum fresh rhizome yield of 33.67 t ha -1 was observed in Salem at par with Rajapuri (32.67 t ha -1 ), Prathibha (32.56 t ha -1 ) and CLT-325 (32.49 t ha -1 ), whereas highest cured rhizome yield was exhibited by Salem (8.31 t ha -1 ), CLT-325 (7.98 t ha -1 ) and Co-1 (7.01 t ha -1 ). With respect to quality in terms of curcumin content, PTS-24, Prabha and Prathibha were superior (7.20 %, 6.45 % and 6.39 %, respectively).