Kaempferia galanga L., a member of the family Zingiberaceae is used as a medicinal plant for remedy of nasal blocks, asthma, hypertension, rheumatism etc. Eight cultivars from Manipur, North-East India were subjected to genetic diversity estimation using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) analyses. Twenty five RAPD primers were used for amplification of the genomic DNA. Out of these, thirteen primers yielded polymorphic bands generating distinct bands in all the cultivars. Twenty ISSR primers were used out of which eleven produced prominent and scorable bands. On average, 5.38 bands per primer were observed by RAPD and 6.54 bands per primer by ISSR markers. The polymorphic bands were used to estimate genetic variability with Dice Similarity Coefficient using NTSYSpc2.2 software. A dendrogram was constructed using unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) algorithm based on the similarity index for the taxa. Cluster analysis by RAPD and ISSR markers revealed clear distinct diversity between cultivars. The chemical analyses revealed that Tamenglong cultivar has the highest vitamin C content. Highest phenol was found in Ukhrul cultivar. Imphal-east cultivar has maximum value of kaempferol content.
