Nutritional and Biochemical Variation in Small Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton) Capsules

Abstract

Small cardamom, one of the most valuable spice crop hails from the Western Ghats and exhibits a rich diversity in its morphology and quality. The variation among small cardamom genotypes for nutritional and biochemical parameters of capsules was studied for 18 genotypes and 3 check varieties maintained as field gene bank at Cardamom Research Station, Pampadumpara, Kerala Agricultural University during the period from September 2024 to September 2025. The enchanting flavor and fragrance of the cardamom capsule are mainly contributed by the essential oil and oleoresin content. Chlorophyll content of the husk contributes to the greenness of the capsule while the starch, crude fiber and antioxidant content determine the nutritional quality. The Design used was Augmented Randomized Complete Block Design (Augmented RCBD). Statistical analysis of the data identified distinctive variation among the genotypes studied in terms of genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV). All the studied biochemical parameters come under moderate and high PCV and GCV categories. There is no much difference between GCV and PCV, thus the influence of the environment on the studied characters is less. As the commercially important characters, essential oil content and chlorophyll content of capsules showed high heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean (GAM), these characters could be selected for further breeding programmes. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the biochemical parameters identified two principal components with a cumulative variance of 78.20 per cent. Essential oil, oleoresin, starch, crude fiber and antioxidant activity showed more than 10 per cent of variance in both the principal components.