7/3/2021 Plants & Environment: April 2021

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Plants & Environment

Wednesday, 28 April 2021

GINGER: A SPICE WITH MANY HEALTH BENEFITS

  

Ginger Rhizomes

Botanical
name:   Zingiber officinale 
(Synonym: Amomum zingiber)

Indian names: Adrak (Hindi,

Punjabi, Digri), Ardraka (Sanskrit), Ada (Bengali), Hasisunti (Kannada), Allam, Inji
(Tamil), Allamu (Telgu), Ale (Marathi), Andrakam, In
(Malayalam)
Family: Zingiberaceae 
Chromosome No.: 2n= 22
 

Ginger is a
widely used spice obtained from the rhizomes of Zingiber
officinale. It is a common condiment used in various foods,
beverages and folk medi
Ginger is mostly
consumed as fresh in vegetables and meat dishes. However, dried powder, slices
preserved in syrup and candy are also available. In India,
frequently
used for flavouring tea. The calorific value
of fresh ginger is 67 kilo calories. The characteristic aroma and flavour in
ginger are due to the presen
gingerol, shogaol, neral and geranial.

India
is the largest producer (1,109,000
tonnes annually) of ginger in the world, contributing 33.9% of the world's harvest (FAOSTAT, 2016). Other m
ginger-producing countries are Nigeria
(522,964
tonnes), China
(492,905
tonnes),  Indonesia
(340,341
tonnes) Nepal
(271,863)
and Thailand
(164,266
tonnes). An
of 407,773 hectare is under ginger cultivation in the world
(2016), with a production of 3,270,762 tonnes
annualy. An area of 165,000 hectare is under g
cultivation in India
(FAOSTAT, 2016) with a production of 1,109,000 tonnes. In India, major ginger
producing states are Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Hima
Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Sikkim and Orissa.

ORIGIN AND
DOMESTICATION

Ginger is believed to be originated

in the tropical rainforests from the Indian subcontinent to Southern Asia. It
exhibits considerable genetic diversity in this region
might have originated
as a ground flora in lowland forests. Many wild relatives of ginger are still occurring
in this region. It was one of the first spices exported
India and
adjoining countries. Archaeological evidences suggest that ginger was used by ancient
Greeks and Romans.

MORPHOLOGY

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Plants growing in Kerala  

(Photograph courtesy: Sh. Thilak Makkiseril, Kochi, Kerla)

         Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a perennial

herbaceous plant, which survives through a fleshy rhizome. Many fibrous
adventitious roots arise from the rhiz
(underground stem). Pseudostems
(false stem made up of rolled bases of leaves), arising from the underground
rhizomatous stem, are erect, slender, rounded, an
and invested
by smooth sheaths of leaves. Pseudostem can grow to a height of 50–100 cm.  The leaves are distichous (arranged
alternately in two rows) and subse
Each leaf is divided into basal sheath
and terminal lamina. The basal part of the leaf forms a rounded sheath to form
a stem-like structure called pseudostem
lamina of each leaf is narrow,
linear-lanceolate and approximately 17.0 × 1.8 cm in size. Lamina has a
prominent midrib. The second and later stems are short
length as compared
to the main stem. The inflorescences arise directly
from the rhizome and bear flowers. The flowers are pale-yellow and streaked
with purple. F
which develops only rarely, is a triangular-oval capsule
containing numerous blackish seeds.

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7/3/2021 Plants & Environment: April 2021
An Inflorescence of ginger 
(Photograph courtesy: Sh. Thilak Makkiseril, Kochi, Kerla)

CULTIVATION

Ginger can be successfully grown in a warm

and humid climate up to 1500 m altitude. A moderate rainfall at the sowing time,
well-distributed showers durin
growing season and dry weather for about a
month before harvesting are necessary conditions for the successful cultivation
of the ginger crop. A well-drained loam
with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5 and rich
in humus is best for ginger. The ideal temperature range for ginger cultivation
is 19-28°C. Mostly, it is cultivated during the sum
season. The land is ploughed
4-5 times to bring the soil to fine tilth. Well decomposed farmyard manure or
compost is added to the fields @ 20-30 tonnes/ha b
planting. The beds of
about 1 m width, 30 cm height and convenient length are prepared. Ginger is
propagated through rhizomes. The rhizomes are cut into s
pieces of 2.5-5.0
cm in length and treated with mancozeb @  0.3% (3 g/L of water) for 30 minutes. They are
shade dried for 3-4 hours and planted at a spacing of 2
cm along the rows and
20-25 cm between the rows. The crop matures in 210-240 days after planting. However,
rhizomes can be harvested after 180 for vege
purpose. Harvesting is generally
done manually by lifting the rhizome clumps carefully with a spade or digging
fork. The rhizomes are cleared of dry leaves, roots
soil.

VARIETIES

Traditional
Cultivars: Kuruppampadi, Ernad, Wayanad, Maran, Himachal, Nadia, etc. 

Improved
Varieties: Himagiri
(for North Western hills), Suprabha, IISR-Rejatha,
IISR-Mahima, IISR-Varada, Karthika, Athira, Rio-de-Janeiro, etc.

Dry Ginger (Sonth)

CHEMICAL
CONSTITUENTS

The
characteristic aroma and flavor of ginger is due to presence of volatile oils
(1-3% of fresh weight; chiefly sesquiterpene, monoterpene and oxygen
monoterpenes). The main volatile oils are zingerone,
shogaols and gingerols. Gingerols, which impart pungency to the fresh ginger
rhizomes, are converted
zingerone during the drying, making dry ginger
less pungent with spicy-sweet aroma. The general chemical constituents in fresh
ginger are  80.9% moisture, 1
carbohydrates, 2.3% protein, 0.9% fat, 0.9, 2.4% fibre, 1.2% minerals and
vitamins.
 
USES  
1. As a Spice: The fresh as well as dry (sonth) rhizomes of ginger are used as  spice for flavouring various
foods throughout the world. It is widely used as
a seaso
in Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and many South
Asian cuisines. Meat and seafoods are also flavoured with ginger juice. Powdered dry ginger (s
is an integral part of Kashmiri and Himachali dishes. 

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Fresh Ginger

2. Medicinal Uses: Ginger has excellent medicinal

properties. It is used as an
ingredient in many Ayurvedic, Unani and traditional medicinal preparations.
G
has been used traditionally to aid in digestion, to treat stomach upset,
diarrhoea and nausea. It is reported to have antioxidant, anticarcinogenic,

inflammatory and antitumour activities. Ginger tea is given to persons

suffering from cough and cold. Ginger increases the rate of perspiration and
giv
feeling of warmth. 

3. Flavouring
of Beverages: Ginger is traditionally used for flavouring of
different non-alcoholic (herbal tea, adrak chai, soups, etc.) and alcohol
(ginger wine, g
ale, ginger beer) beverages. 

4. Pickles:
Ginger
can be pickled in vinegar, sherry or citrus juice. 

5. Ginger Powder: The powdered dry

ginger is used for flavoring some recipes such as gingerbread, cookies and cakes. 

6. Ginger Candies: Ginger can be made

into sweet candies.

 
 

Posted by
Dr. Anil Kumar Thakur
at
13:04
3 comments:

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