Planting Materials, Shading Effects, and Non-Destructive Estimation of Compound Leaf Area in Konjac (Amorphophallus Muelleri)

Abstract

Konjac glucomannan has been commercially produced and used as functional food, food additives, food supplements, pharmaceutical and cosmetic, and biomaterials. Despite intensive and advance research at postharvest stage, knowledge on cultivation of konjac plants has been limited. This research covered current issues associated with selecting agronomically the most suitable planting material, shading effects on shoot emergence and growth characteristics, and non-destructive area estimation of the compound leaf in the konjac plants. Planting materials used were 81 true seeds, 81 bulbils and 81 cormels. Results of this study indicated that bulbil was a suitable planting material based on its early shoot emergence and size of above ground organs. Shading at 50 and 70 % exhibited a better performance in time of emergence and growth characteristics than konjac plant fully exposed to sunlight, even though the differences were not statistically significant. Total leaf blade area (LA) of the irregular konjac compound leaf can be accurately (R2 = 0.9932) and consistently estimated using the 0-intercept linear model and the multiplication product of total midrib length and average width of all leaflets (TLM×AWL) is used as predictor. The recommended formula is LA = 0.6761(TLM×AWL).
 HIGHLIGHTS
 
 Shoot emergence in konjac plant was significantly earlier if the true seed was used rather than bulbil and cormel as planting materials
 Plant grown using cormel and bulbil exhibited larger shoot and corm compared to those grown using true seed
 Shading at 50 and 70 % increased length of the pseudo-stem, total number of leaflet, and other morphological characters
 Total midrib length of all leaflets and average of all leaflet width (TLM×AWL) could be used as predictors for accurate LA estimation
 
 GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT