ICAR-NBPGR is pleased to report upon the de novo assembled draft whole genome sequence of small cardamom, (Eletaria cardamomum. Maton) from ICAR-NBPGR, an initiative funded by ICAR-Consortium research Platform on Genomics.

ICAR-NBPGR is pleased to report upon the de novo assembled draft whole genome sequence of small cardamom, (Eletaria cardamomum. Maton) from ICAR-NBPGR, an initiative funded by ICAR-Consortium research Platform on Genomics. This is the first ever report on the draft genome assembly of small cardamom, the queen of spices which is the third most expensive spice in the world. More than 75% of the genome of popular Indian variety Njallani Green Gold has been assembled using short and long sequencing reads. This is the third member of the Zinziberaceae family (after Curcuma longa and Curcuma alismatifolia whose whole genome has been sequenced.

In addition to reporting the WGS, the publication reports on the development of genome wide microsatellite markers and their utilization for diversity analyses of Indian cardamom accessions. The information on utilization of the SSR loci for generation of markers has been developed into a public database, ‘cardamomSSRdb’ that is freely available for use by the cardamom community.
DOI 10.3389/fpls.2023.1161499