IN VITRO MORPHOGENIC PERFORMANCE OF GINGER (Zingiber officinale) AS INFLUENCED BY MEDIA VARIATIONS

ABSTRACTGinger (Zingiber officinale Rose) is a perennial herb that grows from undergroundrhizomes. The demand for fresh and dry ginger and its essential oil in the world marketis high. Ginger is propagated vegetatively using underground rhizomes. Most farmersuse planting materials saved from previous harvest. These materials could have beensold for cash. Contingent on this, many farmers are reluctant to use healthy succulentrhizomes for planting. These are rather sold thereby resulting in acute shortage of

planting materials.

Tissue culture technique can be applied to mass-produce seedlingsfor distribution to ginger farmers. This however, is not cost effective now due to lack ofthe necessary materials such as agar required for tissue culture. It is on the basis ofthese considerations that the present research was set up to develop a locally availableand cheap protocol that is reproducible in ginger plant tissue culture work with the

following objectives:

To determine the best pre-initiation treatment for in-vitro gingermultiplication; To determine the effect of plant growth hormones – auxin and cytokininon in-vitro propagation of ginger at the initiation stage using agar as a gelling agent; Tocompare agar gelled medium with cassava gelled medium in in-vitro propagation ofginger at the initiation stage. The research was carried out in the tissue culture researchlaboratory of the National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike Station,Umuahia, Abia State. The explants were collected from ginger germplasm of the

Institute. The result shows that Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl) as 30% bleach and

ABSTRACTGinger (Zingiber officinale Rose) is a perennial herb that grows from undergroundrhizomes. The demand for fresh and dry ginger and its essential oil in the world marketis high. Ginger is propagated vegetatively using underground rhizomes. Most farmersuse planting materials saved from previous harvest. These materials could have beensold for cash. Contingent on this, many farmers are reluctant to use healthy succulentrhizomes for planting. These are rather sold thereby resulting in acute shortage of

planting materials.

Tissue culture technique can be applied to mass-produce seedlingsfor distribution to ginger farmers. This however, is not cost effective now due to lack ofthe necessary materials such as agar required for tissue culture. It is on the basis ofthese considerations that the present research was set up to develop a locally availableand cheap protocol that is reproducible in ginger plant tissue culture work with the

following objectives:

To determine the best pre-initiation treatment for in-vitro gingermultiplication; To determine the effect of plant growth hormones – auxin and cytokininon in-vitro propagation of ginger at the initiation stage using agar as a gelling agent; Tocompare agar gelled medium with cassava gelled medium in in-vitro propagation ofginger at the initiation stage. The research was carried out in the tissue culture researchlaboratory of the National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike Station,Umuahia, Abia State. The explants were collected from ginger germplasm of the

Institute. The result shows that Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl) as 30% bleach and

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