EFFECT OF ORGANIC SUBSTRATES ON GINGER GROWTH, YIELD AND [6]-GINGEROL CONTENT CULTIVATED USING SOILLESS CULTURE SYSTEM

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) belongs to a tropical and sub-tropical
Zingiberaceae family, which originated from Southeast Asia. Ginger is one of the
most widely used herbs contains several interesting bioactive constituents
including [6]-gingerol that has potent antioxidant activity and health promoting
properties. Substrates plays an important role for plants to growth in the soilless
culture system. Given the nature of the substrate may play a crucial role in
determining water and nutrient availability for the plant and hence may affect the
metabolic pathways involved in the synthesis of specific biochemical compounds,
this study was conducted to determine the effects of organic soilless substrates such
as coir dust and burnt paddy husks on ginger growth, yield and [6]-gingerol content
using soilless culture system. The treatments were arranged in a randomized
complete block design (RCBD) with five levels of treatment with three replicates.
The treatments include, T1 = 100% coir dust; T2 = 100% burnt paddy husks; T3 =
70% coir dust and 30% burnt paddy husks; T4 = 30% coir dust and 70% burnt
paddy husks; and T5 = 50% coir dust and 50% burnt paddy husks. Results showed
that plant in T1 gave rise to highest rhizomes yield (5480  325 gm) compare to
other treatments. Media containing high amount of coir dust (70 – 100%) showed
good growth and increased the rhizome yield up to 36% compared to those
containing high amount of burnt paddy husks. There was no significant difference
between all treatments in term of [6]-gingerol content in the fresh and dry ginger
rhizomes. The studies suggested that the secondary metabolites like [6]-gingerol
content and accumulation were not affected by the substrates. It can be concluded
that 100% coir dust are the best substrates for growing ginger in soilless culture
system.