Bhat, S. Sreekrishna

Sudharshan, M. R.

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Harvesting stage and quality of cardamom261Small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomumMaton) is one among the major spice crops of India.Its cultivation is confined to the evergreen rain forestarea of Western Ghats of South India mainly in thestates of Kerala (41,242 ha), Karnataka (25,210 ha),and Tamil Nadu (4,560 ha) under varied agro-ecological conditions. The annual production inIndia during 2010-11 was 10,380 MT with a nationalaverage of 146 kg per hectare (Spices Board, 2012).Indian cardamom is well known for its flavour andaroma. Value added products fetch higher prices inthe world market.Cardamom oil is mainly derived from theseeds and it is used for flavouring beverages. Itcontains 2 to 10 per cent of volatile oil which iscolourless with an agreeable camphoraceous flavourand a pungent aromatic taste (Mohammed Sayed etal., 1979; Arjunan, 1980; Jothikumar and Nanjan,1982). Earlier, attempts have been made to studythe influence of stage of harvest on recoverypercentage (Korikanthimath and Naidu, 1986) andoil  quality (Govindarajan et al., 1982; Sankarikuttyet al., 1984; Sumathikutty et al.,1985; Leela et al.,2008). However, there is no report on the influenceof different stages of maturity on characters like bulkdensity, fresh and dry weight, recovery percentageand oil quality in prostrate panicle types ofcardamom in Karnataka. Hence, studies wereundertaken to assess the physical characters of thecapsules and the quantity of the oil obtained atdifferent stages of harvest which will help the growerto judge the correct stage of harvest.The study was undertaken for two years atIndian Cardamom Research Institute, Sakaleshpur,Karnataka during 2004-05 and 2005-06. FiveEffect of stage of harvest on the quality of cardamom(Elettaria cardamomum Maton)(Manuscript Received: 04-03-13, Revised: 06-05-13, Accepted: 03-06-13)Keywords: Cardamom oil, Elettaria cardamomum, quality, stage of harvestthousand flowers of ICRI 3 variety were labeledduring the month of July in each year and the fruitswere harvested at three different stages of maturitysuch as (i) pre-mature stage (capsules harvested 70days after flowering), (ii) physiologically maturestage (capsules harvested 90 days after flowering)and (iii) ripe stage (capsules harvested 110 days afterflowering). The length and girth of cardamomcapsules was recorded at weekly intervals from theday of flower opening till harvesting. After theharvest, fresh weight of the capsules were recorded.The capsules were dried in hot air oven and thephysical characters viz, recovery percentage, bulkdensity of the capsules, seed:husk ratio, averageweight of capsules and seeds were determined. Oilwas extracted from the dry capsules and oilpercentage was calculated using ClevengerApparatus. (Mohammed Sayed et al., 1979;Jothikumar and Nanjan, 1982). Average of threeobservations was taken for interpretation. Oilanalysis using gas liquid chromatography wascarried out to study the quality aspects.The data collected during 2 years were pooledtogether and analysed. At the time of flower opening,the length and the girth of the inferior ovary was3.96 mm and 10.0 mm respectively. After thepollination the capsule showed growth up to 6th week(42 days). No increase in the length and girth ofcapsules were observed beyond 6 weeks.Growth of the capsule was 1.04 mm long(11.0%) within one week after flower opening.Subsequent weeks the growth observed were 2.1 mm(22.2%), 2.5 mm (26.4%), 1.0 mm (14.8%) and 0.3mm (3.1%) indicating maximum growth period tobe 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks after pollination. The growthShort  Scientific  Report Journal of Plantation Crops, 2013, 41(2): 261-263Bhat and Sudharshan262in capsule length attained its maximum (9.44 mm)in about 42 days after flower opening (Table 1).Growth in the girth of a bean also showed asimilar trend. The first week showed 4.5 mm(16.3%) growth in the girth followed by 5.6 mm(20.2%), 4.6 mm (16.6%), 6.5 mm (23.5%), 5.7 mm(20.6%) and 0.7 mm (2.5%) in the subsequentweeks. The maximum girth attained by a capsulewas 27.6 mm (Table 1). After pollination, the fruitstook 90-120 days for harvesting. On an average eachfresh capsule weighed 0.7 g.74.5 per cent seeds in fruit and 7.6 per cent oil.According to Leela et al. (2008) to obtain high oilyields capsules should be harvested at thephysiologically mature stage.Table 1. Growth and development of cardamom fruits after floweropeningDays         Fruit length (mm) Growth      Fruit girth (mm) Growthafter Mean Range rate Mean Range rateflower week-1 week-1opening (mm) (mm)0 4.0 3.5-4.5 0.0 10.0 10-10.5 0.07 5.0 4.5-5.5 1.0 14.5 13-15.5 4.5(11.0) (16.3)14 7.1 7-8 2.1 20.1 18-21 5.6(22.2) (20.2)21 9.2 9-10 2.1 24.7 23-26 4.6(22.2) (16.6)28 11.7 10-13 2.5 31.2 29-33 6.5(26.4) (23.5)35 13.1 11-14 1.0 36.9 31-41 5.7(14.8) (20.6)42 13.4 11-15 0.3 37.6 34-41 0.7(03.1) (02.5)49 13.4 11-15 0.0 37.6 34-41 0.0The figures within parenthesis shows percentage growth rate week-1Table 2. Effect of capsule maturity on capsules characters and oilcontentCharacteristics Stage of harvestImmature Mature RipenFresh capsule weight (g) 0.75 0.09 0.85Dry capsule weight (g) 0.09 0.20 0.23Recovery (%) 11.8 22.2 26.7No. of  dry capsules kg-1 11,391 5,000 4,423Bulk density of capsules (g l-1) 309 470 520No. of capsules 3,520 2,350 2,300Seed:husk ratio (%) 58:42 67:33 71:29Dry seed weight (mg) 8.0 9.6 11.6Oil (%) 5.5 6.5 6.1Table 3. GC analysis of cardamom oils at different maturity stages (%)Components Immature stage Mature stage Ripe stageα - pinene 0.62 1.46 1.301, 8-cineole 46.69 54.95 55.36Linalool 1.35 0.61 0.70α-terpinyl acetate 29.85 22.51 26.36Nerolidol 4.04 5.89 5.37The bulk density, recovery percentage,seed:husk ratio and the oil yield showed increasingtrend with maturation (Table 2). The individualcapsule weight increased with maturity. Seeds inimmature capsules did not develop well resultingin lower weight. Recovery percentage wasmaximum in ripe capsules with 26.7 per centfollowed by 22.2 per cent in mature capsules andonly 11.8 per cent in immature capsules. Similartrend had been noticed by Korikanthimath et al.(1986). Seed to husk ratio was more in ripe capsules(71:29) followed by mature capsules (67:33) andleast in immature capsules (58:42). The oil contentwas maximum at mature stage (6.5%). There wasa slight reduction in oil yield in the ripe stage(6.1%) and immature capsules gave only 5.5per cent oil. Sumathykutty et al. (1985) reportedChemical composition of oil samples arepresented in Table 3. The 1,8-cineole whichcontribute fresh, cool and camphoraceous flavourto the oil showed an increasing trend withmaturity.  The nerolidol, which is responsible forthe woody floral and slightly green colour alsoshowed an increasing trend till maturity and therewas a slight decline in ripe capsules. The alcohol,linalool contributes to the floral flavor with citrusynote shows a decreasing trend from immature toripe stage. The ester, α-terpinyl acetateresponsible for the sweet spicy floral and fruityflavor of the spice was showing downward trendfrom immature capsules to mature capsules andthen again showing upward trend in ripe capsules.α-pinene accounts for the woody pine like flavorwas showing upward trend from immature tomature capsules but then slightly decreased in ripecapsules (Table 3).Sumathikutty et al. (1985) analysed thequality aspects in Mysore types of cardamom atdifferent stages of maturity and they found anincreasing trend in 1,8-cineole content uptoHarvesting stage and quality of cardamom263three months and then a drop at ripened stage.However, in our studies we found the 1,8-cineolecontent to increase with maturity and ripening.The trend in α-terpenyl acetate content is similarto earlier studies. Sarath Kumara et al. (1985)reported that the maturity of cardamom capsuleshad a definite effect upon the chemicalcomposition of oil.From the present study, it is clear that thoughcharacteristic flavour like sweet spicy fruity flavourand floral flavour with citrusy note are more inimmature capsules, their recovery percentage is veryless (11.8%) with less oil percentage (5.5%). Theoil percentage is more in mature capsules followedby ripe capsules with high percentage of α - pinene,nerolidol and 1,8-cineole. In cardamom theflowering period is staggered for six months andthus harvesting is also staggered. Generally, theharvesting is completed in six to seven rounds at15-20 days intervals and hence cost of harvesting ishigh. Since there is no significant difference betweenthe ripe and mature stage in terms of recoverypercentage, oil content and quality, harvesting ofthese two stages could be made together to optimizeharvesting cost.AcknowledgementThe help in analysis of cardamom oilsamples by the Quality Evaluation andUpgradation Laboratory, Spices Board, Kochi isacknowledged.ReferencesArjunan, G. 1980. Cardamom-Chemical composition andmedicinal values. Cardamom 12(1): 33-34.Govindarajan, V.S., Shanti Narasimhan, Raghuveer, K.G. andLewis, Y.S. 1982. Cardamom production, technology,chemistry and quality. Food Science and Nutrition16(3): 326.Jothikumar, P. and Nanjan, K. 1982. Oil extraction fromcardamom parts. Cardamom 14(9): 5-7.Korikanthimath, V.S. and Naidu, R. 1986. Influence of stage ofharvest on the recovery percentage of cardamom.Cardamom 19(11): 5-8.Leela, N.K., Prasath, D. and Venugopal, M.N. 2008. Essentialoil composition of selected cardamom (Elettariacardamomum Maton) genotypes at different maturitylevels. Indian Journal of Horticulture 65(3): 366-369.Mohammed Sayed, A.A., Korikanthimath, V.S. and Mathew,A.G. 1979. Evaluation of oil percentage in differentverities/types of cardamom. Cardamom 11(1): 33-34.Sankarikutty, B., Sumathykutty, M.A., Omanakutty, M.,Padmakumari,K.P. and Narayanan, C.S. 1984. Analysisof quality aspects of different commercial grades ofgreen cardamom. Cardamom 17(10): 9-13.Sarath Kumara, J.S., Packiyasothy, E.V. and Jansz. 1985. Somestudies on the effect of maturity and storage on thechlorophyll content and essential oils of cardamom fruit(Elettaria cardamomum). Journal of the Science ofFood and Agriculture 36: 491-498.Spices Board, 2012. Annual Report 20011-12, Spices Board,Cochin, Kerala.Sumathikutty, M.A., Sankarikutty, B., Omanakutty, M., NirmalaMenon, A., Thomas, P.P., Bhat, A.V., Padmakumari,K.P. and Narayanan, C.B. 1985. Analysis of qualityaspects of cardamom at different stages of maturity.Cardamom 18(11): 3-7.Indian Cardamom Research Institute, Regional Station,Dongial Post, Sakleshpur - 573 134, Karnataka1Spices Board, P.B.No.2277, Palarivattom P.O.,Cochin, KeralaS. Sreekrishna Bhat*M.R. Sudharshan1*Corresponding Author: sk9bhat@yahoo.co.in

Effect of stage of harvest on the quality of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton)

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Effect of stage of harvest on the quality of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton)

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