Invitro Conservation of Zingiber Officinale through rhizome

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is a perennial herb. It belongs to the family Zingiberaceae and commercially cultivated in most tropical regions of the world. The underground rhizomes are the planting materials in a conventional propagation of ginger however it has a low multiplication rate. It is known that there are possible methods are available for rapid vegetative propagation of ginger through direct organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis under in vitro conditions but it is necessary to find the best protocol for in vitro multiplication of ginger. However, significant efforts have been made in the procedure for in vitro micro propagation in the other ginger growing countries. The available literature with respect to in vitro plant regeneration has been perused and this review mainly focused on the in vitro propagation via direct organogenesis from rhizome buds or shoot tips of ginger often used as explants. In vitro techniques are increasingly being employed to conserve vegetatively propagated crops in various germplasm conservation programs. These are specifically applied to crops where the seeds are recalcitrant (seeds which get killed on drying and freezing), seeds are not formed. In vitro technique has several advantages: In contrast to clonal repositories or field gene bank, in vitro repositories offer safety from environmental vagaries and widespread diseases. The main advantage of the technique is the ability to regenerate disease free, true to type plants at high frequency from axillary buds, shoot tips and meristems.