Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) – A promising spice for phytochemicals and biological activities

  • Review
  • Published:
Journal of Biosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) is a unique spice having morphological resemblance with ginger but imparts a raw mango flavour. The main use of mango ginger rhizome is in the manufacture of pickles and culinary preparations. Ayurveda and Unani medicinal systems have given much importance to mango ginger as an appetizer, alexteric, antipyretic, aphrodisiac, diuretic, emollient, expectorant and laxative and to cure biliousness, itching, skin diseases, bronchitis, asthma, hiccough and inflammation due to injuries. The biological activities of mango ginger include antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity, antifungal activity, anti-inflammatory activity, platelet aggregation inhibitory activity, cytotoxicity, antiallergic activity, hypotriglyceridemic activity, brine-shrimp lethal activity, enterokinase inhibitory activity, CNS depressant and analgesic activity. The major chemical components include starch, phenolic acids, volatile oils, curcuminoids and terpenoids like difurocumenonol, amadannulen and amadaldehyde. This article brings to light the major active components present in C. amada along with their biological activities that may be important from the pharmacological point of view.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Vata – an Ayurvedic principle necessary to co-ordinate the function of the nervous system.

  2. Pitta – an Ayurvedic principle that uses bile to direct digestion and hence metabolism into the venous system.

References

  • Ahmad PYA and Ahmad SM 1991 Potential of some rhizomes of Zingiberaceae family as grain protectants against storage insect pests. J. Food Sci. Technol. 28 375–377

    Google Scholar 

  • Aminul I 2004 Genetic diversity of the genus Curcuma in Bangladesh and further biotechnological approaches for in vitro regeneration and long-term conservation of C. longa germplasm. PhD Thesis, University of Hannover, Germany

  • Bhat PG, Jacob RT and Pattabiraman TN 1981 Enzyme inhibitors from plants: Enterokinase inhibitors in tubers and seeds. J. Biosci. 3 371–378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chandarana H, Baluja S and Chanda SV 2005 Comparison of antibacterial activities of selected species of Zingiberaceae family and some synthetic compounds. Tur. J. Biol. 29 83–97

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Choudhury SN, Rabha LC, Kanjilal PB, Ghosh AC and Leclercq PA 1996 Essential oil of Curcuma amada Roxb. from northeastern India. J. Ess. Oil Res. 8 79–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) 1950 Raw materials; In Wealth of India (New Delhi: CSIR) pp 401

  • Dutt S and Tayal JN 1941 Chemical examination of the essential oil derived from the rhizomes of Curcuma amada Roxb. Ind. Soap J. 7 200–205

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Golap SG and Bandyopadhyaya C 1984 Characterization of mango-like aroma in Curcuma amada Roxb. J. Agric. Food Chem. 32 57–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta AP, Gupta AM and Sushil Kumar K 1999 Simultaneous determination of curcuminoids in curcuma samples using high performance thin layer chromatography. J. Liq. Chromatog. Technol. 22 1561–1569

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta AP, Gupta MM and Kumar SJ 1999 Liq. Chromatogr. Rel. Technol. 22 1561–1569

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta M, Shaw BO and Mukherjee A 2010 A new glycosidic flavonoid from J warhar mahakashay (antipyretic) Ayurvedic preparation. Int. J. Ayur. Res. 1 106–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hussain A, Virmani OP, Popli SP, Misra LN and Gupta MM 1992; in Dictionary of Indian medicinal plants (Lucknow: CIMAP) pp 161–162

  • Jain MK and Mishra RK 1964 Chemical examination of C. amada Roxb. Indian J. Chem. 2 39

    Google Scholar 

  • Jatoi SA, Kikuchi A, Gilani SA, Watanabe KN 2007 Phytochemical, pharmacological and ethnobotanical studies in mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.. Zingiberaceae). Phytother. Res. 21 507–516

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kapoor LD 1990 CRC Handbook of Ayurvedic medicinal plants (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirtikar KR and Basu BD 1984; in Indian medicinal plants 2nd edition (Dehra Dun: Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh) pp 2422–2423

  • Krishnaraju AV, Rao TVN, Sundararaju D, Vanisree M, Tsay HS and Subbaraju GV 2006 Biological Screening of Medicinal Plants Collected from Eastern Ghats of India Using Artemia salina (Brine Shrimp Test). Int. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. 4 115–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakshminarayana S, Siddappa GS, SubbaRao MS and Johar DS 1963 Preservation of mango ginger. Food Sci. 12 11–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Moon K, Khadabadi SS, Deokate UA and Deore SL 2010 Caesalpinia bonducella F – An overview. Report Opin. 2 83–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Mujumdar AM, Naik DG, Dandge CN and Puntambekar HM 2000 Anti-inflammatory activity of Curcuma amada Roxb. in albino rats. Indian J. Pharmacol. 32 375–377

    Google Scholar 

  • Mujumdar AM, Naik DG, Misar AV, Puntambekar HM and Dandge CN 2004 CNS depressant and analgesic activity of a fraction isolated from ethanol extract of Curcuma amada rhizomes. Pharma. Biol. 42 542–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mustafa A, Ali M and Khan ZN 2005 Volatile oil constituents of the fresh rhizomes of Curcuma amada Roxb. J. Ess. Oil Res. 17 490–491

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nadkarni KM 1954 The Indian materia medica (Bombay: Popular Book Depot) p 412

    Google Scholar 

  • Policegoudra RS 2008 Functional properties of bioactive molecules from mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) and its applications in food. PhD Thesis, Mysore University, Mysore, India

  • Policegoudra RS and Aradhya SM 2007c Biochemical changes and antioxidant activity of mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizomes during postharvest storage at different temperatures. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 46 189–194

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Policegoudra RS and Aradhya SM 2008 Structure and biochemical properties of starch from an unconventional source - a mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizome. Food Hydrocoll. 22 513–519

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Policegoudra RS, Divakar S and Aradhya SM 2007a Identification of Difurocumenonol, a new antimicrobial compound isolated from mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizome. J. Appl. Microbiol. 102 1594–1602

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Policegoudra RS, Abiraj K, Channe Gowda D and Aradhya SM 2007b Isolation and characterization of antioxidant and antibacterial compound from mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizome. J. Chromatogr. B 852 40–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Policegoudra RS, Swaroop Kumar HM and Aradhya SM 2007d Accumulation of bioactive compounds and their bioactivity during developmental stages of mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizome. J. Agric. Food Chem. 55 8105–8111

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Policegoudra RS, Rehna K, Rao LJ and Aradhya SM 2010 Antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxicity and platelet aggregation inhibitory activity of a novel molecule isolated and characterized from mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizome. J. Biosci. 35 231–240

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prakash D, Suri S, Upadhyay G and Singh B 2007 Total phenol, antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities of some medicinal plants. Int. J. Food Sci. Nutr. 58 18–28

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Purseglove JW 1974 Tropical crops: monocotyledons. Longman Group Ltd, London

  • Pushpangadan PR, Chandana VR, Ajay KS, Ojha SK and Reddy GD 2006 Anti-allergic herbal formulation(s). Patent No. WO 2006067802

  • Rao AS, Rajanikanth B and Seshadri R 1989 Volatile aroma components of Curcuma amada Roxb. J. Agric. Food Chem. 37 740–743

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Salvi ND, George L and Eapen S 2000 Direct regeneration of shoots from immature inflorescence cultures of turmeric. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. 62 235–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Sasikumar B 2005 Genetic resources of Curcuma: diversity, characterization and utilization. Plant Gen. Res. 3 230–251

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shankaracharya NB 1982 Mango ginger. Indian Cocoa, Arecanut Spices J. 5 78–80

  • Shirgurkar MV, John CK and Nadgouda RS 2001 Factors affecting microrhizome production in turmeric. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. 64 5–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Siddaraju MN and Dharmesh SM 2007 Inhibition of Gastric H+,K+-ATPase and Helicobacter pylori Growth by Phenolic Antioxidants of Curcuma amada. J. Agric. Food Chem. 55 7377–7386

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Singh D and Singh AK 1991. Repellent and insecticidal properties of essential oils against housefly (Musca domestica L). Insect Sci. Applic. 12 487–492

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh G, Singh OP and Maurya S 2002 Chemical and biocidal investigations on essential oils of some Indian Curcuma species. Prog. Crystal Growth Charact. 45 75–81

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Singh G, Singh OP, Lampasona M P and Catalan C 2003a Curcuma amada Roxb – Chemical composition of rhizome oil. Ind. Perfum. 47 143–146

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Singh N, Singh J, Kaur L, Sodhi NS and Gill BS 2003b Morphological, thermal and rheological properties of starches from different botanical sources - a review. Food Chem. 81 219–231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Singh S, Kotesh Kumar J, Saikia D, Shanker K, Thakur J, Negi A and Banerjee S 2010 A bioactive labdane diterpenoid from Curcuma amada and its semisynthetic analogues as antitubercular agents. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 45 4379–4382

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Srinivasan MR and Chandrashekharan N 1992 Effect of Mango ginger on lipid status in normal and hypertriglyceridemic rats. J. Food Sci. Technol. 29 130–132

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Srinivasan MR and Chandrashekharan N 1993 Effect of Mango ginger on Triton WR-1338 Induced hyperlipidemia and plasma lipases activity in the rats. Nutr. Res. 13 1183–1190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava AK, Srivastava SK and Shah NC 2001 Constituents of the rhizome essential oil of Curcuma amada Roxb. from India. J. Ess. Oil Res. 13 63–64

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava S, Srivastava M, Rawat AKS and Mehrotra S 2006 Pharmacognostic evaluation of Curcuma amada Roxb. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. Ind. 76 153–160

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tarwadi K and Agte V 2005 Antioxidant and micronutrient quality of fruit and root vegetables from the Indian subcontinent and their comparative performance with green leafy vegetables and fruits. J. Sci. Food Agric. 85 1469–1476

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Velayudhan KC, Muralidharan VK, Amalraj VA, Gautam PL, Mandal S and Kumar D 1999 Curcuma genetic resources. Scientific monograph No. 4. National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources Regional Station, Thrissur, Kerala, India, pp 1–27

  • Verghese J 1990 Mango ginger - an exotic flavourant. Indian Spices 27 15–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Warrier PK, Nambiar VPK and Ramankutty C 1994; in Indian medicinal plants – a compendium of 500 species (Chennai: Orient Longman Pvt Ltd) p 106

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Defence Research Laboratory, Tezpur, 784 001, India

    R S Policegoudra & L Singh

  2. Fruit and Vegetable technology Department, Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, 570 020, India

    S M Aradhya

Authors
  1. R S Policegoudra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S M Aradhya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. L Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R S Policegoudra.

Additional information

[Policegoudra RS, Aradhya SM and Singh L 2011 Mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) – A promising spice for phytochemicals and biological activities. J. Biosci. 36 739–748] DOI 10.1007/s12038-011-9106-1

Supplementary materials pertaining to this article are available on the Journal of Biosciences Website at http://www.ias.ac.in/jbiosci/Sep2011/pp739–748/suppl.pdf

Electronic supplementary materials

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary Materials

(PDF 178 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Policegoudra, R.S., Aradhya, S.M. & Singh, L. Mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) – A promising spice for phytochemicals and biological activities. J Biosci 36, 739–748 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-011-9106-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-011-9106-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation