Cumin

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.), according to some survey is the most popularly used spice in the world. A member of the family Apiaceae, it is a small herb with chromosome number of 2n = 2x = 14, and it is economically very important and its cultivation is a means of livelihood of millions in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Cumin is mainly cultivated in India, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and Turkey. India is the largest producer and exporter. It is widely used in foods, beverages, liquors, medicines, toiletries, and perfume industries. The mature dried fruit contains 2–5% essential oil. Though it is an important plant among seed spices, it suffers from various inherent problems. Low germination rate and poor seedling establishment are one of the major problems in cumin. Similarly, being a monotypic species, phenotypic and genetic variability in cumin is also low, because of which there is no source of resistance available against biotic (Alternaria blight and Fusarium wilt) and abiotic (frost and salinity) stresses. The flowers being small and slender restricts possibilities of artificial pollination, which hinders recombination breeding for genetic improvement. Consequently, most of the varieties available today are developed through selective breeding. Large number of efforts have been made in identification of bioactive constituents and verification of their pharmacological effects in animal systems. Cumin is one of the most widely used raw drug in the Indian system of medicine (Ayurveda). But as compared to cumin’s classical breeding including mutagenesis, very less efforts have been made on molecular breeding. Therefore, practically no molecular tools are available and no genomics-based breeding programs for improvement of cumin have been initiated yet. In this chapter, we underline the research attempts made in cumin on various aspects including genetic resources collection, conservation, and utilization, like genotype (G) and environment (E) effects on the seed biochemical constituents, mutation breeding, variability studies, tissue culture and genetic transformation, molecular markers studies, and some future directions of research are also suggested.