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-tropicalZingiberaceae family, which originated from Southeast Asia. Ginger is one of themost widely used herbs contains several interesting bioactive constituentsincluding [6]-gingerol that has potent antioxidant activity and health promotingproperties. Substrates plays an important role for plants to growth in the soillessculture system. Given the nature of the substrate may play a crucial role indetermining water and nutrient availability for the plant and hence may affect themetabolic pathways involved in the synthesis of specific biochemical compounds,this study was conducted to determine the effects of organic soilless substrates suchas coir dust and burnt paddy husks on ginger growth, yield and [6]-gingerol contentusing soilless culture system. The treatments were arranged in a randomizedcomplete 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% burntpaddy husks; and T5 = 50% coir dust and 50% burnt paddy husks. Results showedthat plant in T1 gave rise to highest rhizomes yield (5480  325 gm) compare toother treatments. Media containing high amount of coir dust (70 – 100%) showedgood growth and increased the rhizome yield up to 36% compared to thosecontaining high amount of burnt paddy husks. There was no significant differencebetween all treatments in term of [6]-gingerol content in the fresh and dry gingerrhizomes. The studies suggested that the secondary metabolites like [6]-gingerolcontent and accumulation were not affected by the substrates. It can be concludedthat 100% coir dust are the best substrates for growing ginger in soilless culturesystem.