Morphological and postharvest treatments in Alpinia cultivars

Rozineide Pereira Alves De França,Auclar Felipe Botini,Willian Krause,Celice Alexandre Silva,Henrique Machado Almeida

doi:10.1590/2447-536x.v25i3.1537

Rozineide Pereira Alves De França, Auclar Felipe Botini + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/2447-536x.v25i3.1537

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Abstract

Abstract The characterization and morphological evaluation of plants are essential steps towards the germplasm classification and use in breeding. The objective of this study was to improve the morphological characterization of four Alpinia purpurata cultivars by means of qualitative evaluations to identify genotypes with promising traits for the ornamental plant market. Four cultivars of A. purpurata (‘Jungle King’, ‘Kimi’, ‘Red Ginger’ and ‘Pink Ginger’) were assessed in a partially shaded cultivation system. Quantitative morphological descriptors such as stem length and diameter, number of leaves on floral stem, leaf width and length, inflorescence width and length, fresh weight of floral stem and the number of produced and marketable stems were evaluated. The qualitative descriptors were evaluated on inflorescence, floral stem, petiole, leaf and bracts. Postharvest longevity was tested in a cold chamber (at 16 and 19°C) and at ambient temperature (26°C). The most outstanding quantitative traits of the cultivars ‘Jungle King’, ‘Kimi’ and ‘Pink Ginger’ were stem length and diameter, fresh weight, floral stem durability, inflorescence length and width and productivity. Cultivar ‘Red Ginger’ was less outstanding in the quantitative traits mentioned for the other cultivars. Variation among the cultivars was observed for inflorescence shape and color. The cultivars ‘Kimi’ and ‘Pink Ginger’ produced a stem yield of 6,654.32 and 7,580.24 ha-1 year-1, respectively, and cultivars ‘Red Ginger’ and ‘Jungle King’ 6,012.34 and 4,037.03 ha-1 year-1, respectively. The postharvest durability of the four cultivars evaluated under refrigeration exceeded 15 days and that of the control was less than 8 days. The qualitative and quantitative traits of the cultivars ‘Jungle King’, ‘Kimi’ and ‘Pink Ginger’ were promising for the tropical ornamental plant market.

Highlights

Plants of the family Zingiberaceae have been widely used as food (Curcuma longa L.) and for medicinal (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and ornamental purposes
The four A. purpurata cultivars ‘Jungle King’, ‘Kimi’, ‘Red Ginger’ and ‘Pink Ginger’ were evaluated under 30% shading
In April 2016, eight months after planting, first floral stems of cultivar ‘Red Ginger’ were observed

Summary

Introduction

Plants of the family Zingiberaceae have been widely used as food (Curcuma longa L.) and for medicinal (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and ornamental purposes Koenig) (Althaus-Ottmann et al, 2011). In Brazil, the occurrence of two species of the genus Alpinia, namely Alpinia purpurata and Alpinia zerumbet, has been recorded in all Brazilian regions (Maas and Maas, 2017). Alpinia purpurata (Zingiberaceae) is a perennial, herbaceous and upright perennial monocot that can reach a height of 4 m, with clumps with a diameter of 1.5 m. The stem is underground, rhizomatous, with horizontal growth. The pseudostem consists of long, tightly overlapping leaf sheaths. The leaves are broad, lanceolate and dark green (Bezerra and Loges, 2005)

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