TITLE:
Morphological and Physiological Development of Organic Greenhouse Grown Ginger (Zingiber officinalis, Rosc) in a Temperate Climate as Influenced by Container and Transplant Origin
AUTHORS:
Lurline Marsh, Gabrielle Morris, Brett Smith, Petrina McKenzie-Reynolds
KEYWORDS:
Container, Transplant Origin, Organic Agriculture
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.13 No.4,
April
15,
2022
ABSTRACT: Ginger (Zingiber
officinale Rosc) is a spice produced from underground rhizomes. This makes
it necessary to consider the size of its growing area. There is limited
information on the phenological development of the plant in containerized
greenhouse conditions in temperate regions where natural daylength decreases as
the growing season advances. This study determined the effects of container and
rhizome sources on ginger shoot growth, chlorophyll concentration, leaf
chlorophyll index, transpiration rate, and rhizome yield. Ginger, from
non-tissue culture (O1) and tissue culture (O2) origins, were transplanted in a
greenhouse in June 2019, 2020 and 2021, and monitored in five container types
of different sizes. These were (C1) plastic Supertub (113.2 L), (C2) large Sterilite box
(55.3 L), (C3) small Sterilite box (36.7 L), (C4) Husky heavy duty contractor plastic clean
up bags (26.3 L) and
(C5) Root Trapper Grounder Squat bag (27.9 L). The results did not show consistent trends for
the effects of the respective size and origin combinations on most of the
morphological characteristics, and all the physiological characteristics
evaluated. Increasing container size increased the shoot biomass in all studies
and increased fresh rhizome yield in two of three studies in the greenhouse.
The effect of transplant origin was inconclusive, with a tissue culture
advantage one year and no effect the other year. During the first 5 months
after transplanting, the morphological development of tillers and height
increased. Leaf chlorophyll index, chlorophyll concentration and stomatal
conductance varied across sampling months, and within container and rhizome
origin at individual sampling dates. The development of the plants in a
greenhouse with decreasing natural day length posed a challenge as some plants
senesced within 5 months after transplanting. Further opportunities to arrest
senescence and extend growth should be introduced as another approach to extend
growth and increase rhizome yield.