Sistema TARGET

Perhaps, India is the only country where there is a strong R&D base for turmeric. However, research on turmeric, especially in the area of pharmacology, is being pursued by many workers in many countries (U.S., U.K., France, Japan, Thailand, etc.).

The first ever research on turmeric in India was initiated at Udayagiri in Orissa in 1944 under the Imperial Council for Agriculture Research. However, organized research programs were initiated in independent India during the first Five-Year Plan. Based on a recommendation of the Spices Enquiry Committee (1953), turmeric research was started in Kandaghat (Punjab), Targaon (Maha-rashtra), and Thodupuzha and Ambalavayal (Kerala). A scheme for turmeric research was initiated in 1955 at Andhra Pradesh (at Peddapalem). However, the real impetus for turmeric research was received with the organization of the All India Coordinated Spices and Cashew Improvement Project. In 1975, research programs were started in two centers, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu Agricul-ture University — TNAU) and Pottangi (Orissa University of Agricultural and Technology, High Altitude Research Station).

From 1975 onward, work in the areas of germplasm collection, evaluation, conservation, and development of agrotechnology have been taken up. Jagtial, under the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University became another important center for turmeric research. The conservation and evaluation work was taken up by the All India Cashew and Spices Improvement Project at Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod where its headquarters was located. It was also at this time, Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysore started some research programs in the areas of postharvest technology and quality studies in turmeric. Subsequently improved curing methods and technology for processing, oleoresin extraction, and extraction of curcumin were developed. Later, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research felt the need for intensifying research on spices and established a Regional Station of the CPCRI at Calicut, Kerala.

This center became the National Research Centre for Spices in 1986, and then Indian Institute of Spices Research in 1995. Research programs on turmeric, such as germplasm collection, conser-vation, evaluation, varietal improvement, crop production, and crop protection, were initiated in the research center at Calicut (Kozhikode). In 1986, the original coordinated project was split into independent projects for cashew and spices, and the new All India Coordinated Research Project on Spices (AICRPS) came into existence with headquarters at the National Research Centre for Spices at Calicut. Under the AICRPS, turmeric research was initiated at the Agricultural Universities at Orissa (Pottangi), Himachal Pradesh (Solan), Uttar Pradesh (Kumarganj), Bihar (Dholi), Chat-tisgarh (Raigarh), and West Bengal (Pundibari).

The biological effects of turmeric and its coloring matter, curcumin (curcuminoids), are being researched upon during the past 50 yr or so, and many research publications came out (for reviews:

Ammon and Wahl, 1991; Chattopadhyay et al., 2004; Joe et al., 2004; Khanna, 1999, etc. and the other chapters in this volume). A wide spectrum of biological actions has been reported for turmeric and curcumin.

The present monograph is the first attempt to collect and collate the information so far generated on this golden spice and medicinal plant. All the aspects, botany, chemistry, agronomy, plant protection, post harvest technology, pharmacology, uses, etc., are dealt in detail in this volume in separate chapters. There are also chapters on the role of curcumin in modern medicine, and the importance of turmeric in the traditional medicines. Scientists from Japan, India, U.K., and U.S.

collaborated in the production of this first comprehensive monograph on turmeric, the golden spice and the spice of life.

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