Sett weights (9, 7, 5 and 3 g) were assessed for rapid seed ginger (Zingiber officinale) multiplication at varying intra-rows (20, 15 and 10 em) at two locations in South Eastern Nigeria. Establishment counts increased with larger setts but sowing off-sized setts (~ 3 g) offers potential for rapid seed harvest and multiplication ratio. Close planting (10 cm within-row spacing) and larger setts produced significantly higher yields of rhizomes but not seed harvest multiplication ratio.
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OKWUOWULU, P A

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Journal of Spices & Aromatic Crops 3 (J) : 1-5, 1994 1 Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rose.) in South Eastern Nigeria. II. The field response of the uncoated ginger Yatsun-biri for rapid seed ginger production P A OKWUOWULU National Root Crops Research Institute Umudike, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria_ ABSTRACT Sett weights (9, 7, 5 and 3 g) were assessed for rapid seed ginger (Zingiber officinale) multiplication at varying intra-rows (20, 15 and 10 em) at two locations in South Eastern Nigeria. Establishment counts increased with larger setts but sowing off-sized setts (~ 3 g) offers potential for rapid seed harvest and multiplication ratio. Close planting (10 cm within-row spacing) and larger setts produced significantly higher yields of rhizomes but not seed harvest multipli-cation ratio. Key words : ginger, seed ginger multiplication, Zingiber officinale. Introduction The Nigerian ginger derives from two main cultivars viz., Tafnn-giwa and Yatsun-biri. Yatsun-biri has a shriv-elled appearance and presents a dull white colour. It emits a coarser essence than Taffin-giwa and though would be preferred in perfumery, some consum-ers relish the rather peppery taste. Aspects of yield response to varying sett weights, time of planting and age at harvest were presented earlier (Okwuowulu 1988; Okwuowulu et al. 1990). There is need to evolve a system of generating large quantity of seed ginger to meet commercial require-ments. The in vitro rapid multiplication method (Nadguada et al. 1980; Balachandran, Bhat & Chande11990) is not widely applicable at the farmers level at present. The present study therefore outlines the use of minisett weights for rapid production of seed ginger. Materials and methods Storing of seed ginger Prior to field planting, large ginger knobs, obtained from previous season's crops were stored in moist sawdust bedding in locally woven baskets as suggested by Okwuowulu & Nnodu (1988) until planting time. Okwuowulu Field cropping The trials were conducted at two loca-tions viz., Umudike (5°29'N, 7°33'E; 122 m altitude) and Bori (4°41'N, 7°21'E; 4m altitude) and seasons (1988 and 1989) using seed pieces weighing about 9, 7, 5 .and 3 g. Composite soil samples collected from the site at random were also analysed for nutrients. The trials were laid in a Completely Randomised Block Design replicated three times, each plot measuring 2.4 m x 2 m. The setts were sown at approximately 5 cm depth at 20, 15 and 10 cm within row and 20 cm apart. The prevailing cultural management practices for commerical ginger production in South Eastern Nigeria (Okwuowulu 1988) were adopted. Satisfactory establishment was obtained at 3 months and the crop was harvested after 8 months and the seed harvest mUltiplication ratio was calculated. As germination and growth are affected by fIuctutating tempera-tures (Evenson, Bryant & Asher 1978), meteorological data were also recorded to explain yield differences at crop harvest. Results and discussion Use of moist sawdust as storage bedding for ginger facilitated inspection of seed lots and enabled early sprouting, the main source of deterioration to become easily detected and nipped off from the storage baskets. Weight loss and rotting, the other sources oflosses were minimal. Paulose (1973) described soils for ginger which included clay loams, sandy clay loams and lateritic soils. The soil type in this study, sandy clay loam was adequate for growing ginger. The soil at Umudike is derived from sand stones and shales distinct from the deep, 2 Table 1. Influence of sett weights on establishment of ginger (1988) Location Sett weight (g) Umudike Bori 3 ·73.0 70.4 5 69.9 71.8 7 74.5 82.7 9 75.1 83.1 SE 7.03 6.47 CD at 5% 5.50 5.28 Values denote percentages (A similar trend was observed during 1989) porous soils derived from shale deposit at Bori. Visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency or excess (Asher & Lee 1975) taken during crop growth revealed no abnormalities. The major nutrients (N and K) often lacking in most of the soils were in the range of medium to high values (Anonymous 1989). The nutrient amendment application of compound fertilizer NPK 15: 15: 15 was similar to typical fertilizer mix of13; 13: 13 (Haynes, Partridge & Sivan 1973) adopted in Fiji. A lower yield was obtained in Umudike probably because of lower organic car-bon content (1.10 in Umudike and 2.94 in Bori). The higher relative value in Bori with high organic matter fraction confirmed that ginger requires high organic matter (Paulose 1973; Okwuowulu et al. 1990). The yield was related to vaying establishment counts (Table 1). This varied significantly with increasing sett sizes; lower values at small setts being due to lower rate of sprouting and survival of smaller setts within each study site. The differences in yield betweel). seasons (Table 2) could probably be attributed to the effect of Multiplication of seed ginger 3 Table 2. Yield of ginger as influenced by sett weight and intra-row spacing Intra-row Bori Umudike spacing (em) Sett weight (g) Sett weight (g) 97539753 1988 20 13.50 9.37 8.90 7.97 9.57 8.53 8.27 5.90 15 16.20 13.57 9.90 10;07 12.07 11.60 9.53 9.13 10 20.43 17.43 13.57 12.03 16.10 15.33 12.87 8.80 Mean 16.71 13.46 10.79 10.02 12.58 11.82 10.22 7.94 SE 1.57 1.43 CD at 5% 4.59 4.18 1989 20 10.00 8.67 5.97 15 11.53 9.03 6.30 10 11.90 11.90 8.63 Mean 11.14 9.71 6.97 SE 1.20 CD at 5% 3.52 Values denote fresh rhizome yield (t ha~[) certain weather elements. For instance, rainfall and temperature were not mark-edly different but sunshine, level of sensible heat and radiation distribution contrasted sharply causing retarted growth during sprouting and early life in the second cropping. Evenson, Bryant & Asher (1978) suggested that 4.43 10.50 4.80 5.40 2.60 6.20 12.73 7.50 6.90 5.07 7.47 19.33 12.15 9.30 6.77 6.03 14.19 8.28 7.20 4.81 1.08 3.17 fluctuating temperatures during crop growth may well be the important factor limiting ginger production in Australia. Our experience (Okwuowulu 1991) and this study showed that soil temperature which may become erratic during crop harvest at rhizome development zone is an important factor which controls the Table 3. Influence of sett weights and within- row spacing on seed harvest multiplication rate (SHMR) in ginger Within-row Bori Umudike spacing (cm) Sett weight (g) Sett weight (g) 9 7 5 3 9 7 5 3 1988 20 5 5 5 8 4 4 5 6 15 5 6 6 10 4 5 6 7 10 6 5 7 11 4 5 7 8 1989 20 3 3 3 5 4 4 4 5 15 4 4 4 6 4 3 4 4 10 4 5 5 6 3 4 3 5 Okwuowulu ultimate physical yield of rhizomes. Closer planting (10 cm within - row spacing) gave a significant higher yield (Table 2) similar to the yield obtained by larger sett weights but contrasted with the seed harvest and multiplica-tion ratio (Table 3). The present study indicated that use of minisett pieces offers promise for rapid seed multiplication in ginger similar to reports in food yams (Dioscorea sp.) and cocoyams (Colocasia sp. and Xanthosoma sp.) (Okoli et al. 1982; Kalu 1989; Arene, Udealor & Mbanaso 1987). The advantage of the current finding is use of as low as 3 g seed pieces for ginger, contrasting with the normal minisett weight of 25 g in other tuber crops. This response of the uncoated ginger can be exploited for massive production of seed ginger for the grow-ing industry. AcImowledgements I thank the Director, National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike and the Head, Community Development, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Port Harcourt, for providing materials for the study, A 0 Ubbor for the meteorological data and Mrs. R I Kanu for typing the manuscript. References Anonymous 1989 Fertilizer recommen-dation for ginger. In: Fertilizer use and Management Practices for Crops in Nigeria (pp. 71). Fertilizer Procurement and Dis-tribution Division, Federal Minis-try of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development, Lagos. Arene 0 B, Udealor A & Mbanaso E N A 1987 Cocoyam minisett technqiue: a new technology in 4 enhanced cocoyam production. In: Arene et al. (Eds.) Cocoyam in Nigeria (pp.210). Proceedings of First National Workshop on Cocoyam, August 16-21, 1987, Umudike, Nigeria. Asher C J & Lee M T 1975 Diagnosis and correction of nutritional dis-orders in ginger (Zingiber officinale). Department of Agri-culture, University of Queens-land, Australia. Balachandran S N, Bhat S.R & Chandel K P S 1990 In vitro clonal multi-plication of turmeric (Curcuma spp.) and ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.). Plant Cell Re-ports 8 : 521-524. Evenson JB, Bryant P J & Asher C J 1978 Germination and early growth of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rose.). I - Effect of constant and fluctuating soil tem-perature. Trop. Agric. (Trinidad) 55 : 1-7. Haynes P A, Partridge I J & Sivan P 1973 Ginger production in Fiji. Fiji Agric. J. 35 : 51-56. Kalu B A 1989 Seed yam production by minisett technique: Evaluation of three Dioscorea species in the Guinea and derived Savannah zone of Nigeria. Trop. Agric. (Trinidad) 66 : 83:86. Nadguada R S, Kulkarni D 0, Mascarenhas A F & Jaganathan V 1980 Development of plantlets from culture tissues of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.). In: Proceeding of Plant Tissue Cul-ture, Genetic ManipUlation and Somatic Hybridization of Plant Cell (pp.358-365). Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay. Multiplication of seed ginger Okoli 0 0, Igbokwe M C, Ene L S 0 & Nwokoye J U 1982 Rapid multiplication of yams by minisett technqiue. Res. Bull. No.2. Na-tional Root Crops Research Insti-tute, Umudike, Nigeria. Okwuowulu P A 1988 Some effects of seed ginger weight on the flower and rhizome yield of field grown edible ginger (Zingiber officinale Rose.). Trop Sci. 28 : 171-176. Okwuowulu P A 1991 Some effects of depth of seed placement and at harvest on the tuberous stem yield and primary losses in edible ginger in south eastern Nigeria. 5 Beitr. zur Trop. Landwirtsch. Vet. med. 30 : 163-168. Okwuowulu P A & Nnodu E C 1988 Some effects of pre-storage chemi-cal treatment and age at harvest-ing on the storabiJity of fresh ginger rhizomes (Zingiber officinale Rose.). Trop. Sci. 28 : 123-125. Okwuowulu P A, Ene L S 0, Odurukwe S 0 & Ojinnaka T I 1990 Effect of time of planting and age at harvest on the yield of stem tuber and shoots in ginger (Zingiber officinale Rose.) in the rain forest zone of south eastern Nigeria. Expt. Agric. 26 : 209-212. 

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) in South Eastern Nigeria. II. The field response of the uncoated ginger Yatsun-biri for rapid seed ginger production

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Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) in South Eastern Nigeria. II. The field response of the uncoated ginger Yatsun-biri for rapid seed ginger production

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