Thank you Abhishek, it is true minirhizome technology has been developed under AICRP Spices and is being promoted by growing seedlings in protrays and this way seed quantity and cost both is reduced. But we need to promote healthy planting material production protocol.

Sir, 

This is a serious issue in ginger and turmeric production. The protray production technology too depends on seed material, which is usually produced under very pathetic conditions. Presently, the large quantity of seed circulated among the farmers i.e. up to 80 % is from farmers who raise the crop for seed purpose and sell it to other growers. They only concentrate on high production but give the least emphasis on rhizome quality. Recently, we have observed in certain seed lots, 10 % of rot affected rhizomes were there. If farmers source such material, they definitely face problems. As seed requirement is huge and unorganized, it is very difficult to monitor the system of production. One way is accreditation of seed growers and encourage them to use protocols available with the government. 

Very good suggestion. I shall try to bring it in the category of accreditation. Can you share this question with spices group who are your follower. I want suggestions from this group.

Thank you Dr. Kalidasu. You have provided very good feed back. We are aware that farmers share rhizomes with other farmers for growing these crops. Accreditation system is not prevailing. We need to encourage nurseries for raising certified seedling in protrays. We shall develop guidelines for this purpose. 

Dear Suresh Malhotra,

The use of certified propagation fields and materials will greatly reduce the issues related to pathogens on propagation material. In the case of ginger and turmeric the present of active nematode in the propagation material is a good place to start.  The root knot nematode is commonly harbored on Indian ginger and turmeric resulting in chronic root decay issues and low yield and quality.

Educating on the use hot water therapy can greatly reduce these issues. Especially when combined with comprehensive farm systems to give improved rotation and soil qualities.

This should combined with certification protocols. In the case of ginger and turmeric their is need to  educate on the role of managing the propagation material and the influence of mini sett methodology and controlling the issues from the propagation fields.

Attached is the work done on clean propagation done in Hawaii in relation to bacterial wilt.

Thank you Paul for feedback. In fact in India soft rot is the serious problem we do not have any serious problem of nematode. But both of problems are soil borne. Therefore any of the quality planting planting material production protocol will address both problems together. Dr. Normal Babu at IISR has done a good work.

Dr Malhotra , my compliments to you to toss up such timely discussed issue , which addresses one of distinct gaps in production technology . Hopefully , some excellent suggestions will pour , lets wait. 

Correct Dr. Anoop, it is a practical  problem being faced by farmers. I want to bring solution and further want to implement.

Dear Doctor Malhotra, You mentioned issues with soft rot. These are many times the consequence of insufficient Calcium and Boron. In that regard the complete tissue analysis can supplement the soil analysis and the use of micronutrient and Calcium amendment can be cirtical. The optimization of Calcium in the ginger rhizome toughens the tissues from the assault of the soft rot bacteria many times greatly reducing the susceptibility of the material as Calcium improves the tissue ability to cope with pectinase such as Pectin Methyl Esterase which is important in soft rot development. Best Regards

Heartiest thanks for explanation. I shall try to explore from this angle as you have correlated with Ca and B. Yes I agree with you because cultivation of ginger and turmeric is being undertaken by farmers where soils are slightly acidic and application of Ca will be critical.

Dear Suresh Malhotra, In your soil test if the Calcium is above 1000 you are probably OK. Ginger will do best at soil pH 6 to 7. If the soil pH is below that liming would be recommended. If the soil Mg is less than 100 I would use dolomitic limestone and if not Calcitic. If you apply at a dose of 1 ton per hectare and monitor it would be the best strategy. Soil B less than 1ppm would indicate deficiency potential and less than 10 ppm in the foliage would be problematic. Maintenance of proper curing and storage conditions can be very influential in decreasing the losses of these crops in storage. 

While preparation of media for growing minirhizomes, the nutritional management can be done as you have suggested. But pilot testing will be required. Thank you Dr. Paul for suggestions.

Ginger and turmeric being vegetatively propagated have high risk for transmission of several diseases which could be lethal. Use of poor quality planting material adversely affects the production, productivity and quality of rhizomes. How can we ensure healthy planting material production of rhizomatous spices crops such as ginger and turmeric? 

Dear Dr. Paul I am giving here few details about diseases in rhizomes crops. The soft rot disease in ginger and turmeric is mainly soil borne and seed borne and occurs at random and spreads contiguously to adjacent clumps. The wet soil conditions, high soil moisture and relatively high soil temperature are the most important factors influencing the development of soft rot. Irrigation water from diseased field also helps in the spread of the disease. The fungus has been found to grow over wide range of pH (3.0-9.0) and the best growth is obtained between pH 7.0 - 8.0. Oospores production is maximum between pH 6.0 and 9.0. The fungus was also found to be pathogenic to sorghum, maize, barley, oat, cotton, potato, tomato, carrot etc. When the ginger is intercropped with maize, the disease manifests itself rapidly after the maize harvest.

Dr Malhotra , you have been uploading some very fascinating insights onto the issue , which is important for almost all the vegetatively propagated crops. We have been comprehensively missing the role of substrate in production of quality rhizomes . We need to have a substrate capable  of looking after the growth of rhizomes and  combating with many of the soil borne diseases. How should we develop a dynamic substrate , is a matter of concern ?

Since ginger and turmeric are clonally propagated crops which need extra care to produce disease free planting material. Different protocols are available one is through tissue culture method nucleus material is generated which makes it sure for complete freedom from diseases, those hardened seedlings are allowed to grow either in hydroponic system for micro rhizomes or in sterilized grow bags in shade net.. We need to adopt and vaildate this system for mass production of planting material. IISR and TNAU has done it.

Dr Malhotra, your inputs are so important in the context of whole discussion, accept my congratulations.

Dr. Shirgure, you deserve compliments for active participation.

Vegetative propagation of clones needs to involve procedures that maintain genetic identity, detect genetic modifications, and exclude pathogens, such as fungi, bacteria, nematodes, viruses, and mycoplasma like organisms. Bringing one diseased plant into proximity to other clean stock can result in infection of all. Genetic identity of clones must be maintained by maintaining trueness to type. Visual infection of the source plants, preferably when in flowering or fruiting or at a mature stage of development, is the usual test for trueness-to-type, but visual inspections have limitations. Growing test plants (progeny testing) may be desirable to select specific sources of a cultivar. Some molecular/biochemical tests exist to aid in separating different species and cultivars.

For excluding pathogens in the propagation stock, specific pathogen tested (SPT) or specific virus tested (SVT) plants are to be used. Any programme to utilize SPT, true to type sources or clones for propagation involves the following three phases:

• Initial selection of a source of propagation stock
• Maintenance of such stock in a block with adequate safeguards against infection
• A system of propagation and distribution whereby such stock is disseminated without infection, and cultivar and source identity is maintained. The propagation system itself should not introduce variability.

Once a SPT, true-to-type source has been obtained, plants should be multiplied and maintained under conditions that will prevent infection and at the same time allow detection of any significant genetic change from the original source. For the purpose, a stock block/scion orchard/mother block is maintained. Such stocks allow the propagator to manage the plants  and also to control potential pathogen and genetic problems. Preservation of an SPT propagation source has three aspects : isolation, sanitation and periodic inspection and testing.

Dr Malhotra, very informative feedback on the issue. Could you through some more light about the rapid testing of viruses in field concerning the production of rhizomatous  spices ?

As you do indexing in citrus, likewise indexing of rhizomes is done for ensuring freedom from viruses. Diagnostics plays the major role in production chain.

The distribution systems should be to provide nursery protray plants that meet some minimum standards of cleanliness and genetic purity. Nuclear stock, foundation block and mother clonal blocks are maintained at different stages to maintain genetic purity. Certified stock is produced for commercial sale. Propagation material comes primarily from mother blocks but could come directly from foundation blocks. This kind of system if comes in practices it will help in enhancement of yield and quality.

Dear Dr. Giridhar, you have raised the point, which is the best way to organize seed crop growers in clonally propagated crops like turmeric and ginger? Does accreditation of nurseries help. Let me reply here:

1. When we use the word seed it means planting material for clonally propagated crops.

2. Micro-rhizome technique has been recommended under AICRP Spices for raising pro-tray seedings of ginger and turmeric for further transplanting in the field. If full rhizomes are used then requirement of planting material will come to 20-25 q per hectare and if pro-tray seedlings are produced for transplanting, the seed rhizome requirement will come down to 1/3 and i.e. 8 quintal seed rhizomes per hectares. Therefore this method has proved as best way for raising healthy disease free seedlings in net-house. The cost of seed rhizome if calculated for 20 q will be approx between Rs. 80000-125000/ha but through this method cost will come down 50% with high quality of seedlings.

3. Your another point relating to accreditation is concerned, let me explain here. So far nursery guidelines are available for fruit crops only and accreditation was accorded to nurseries raising fruit plants. Recently a committee was constituted under my chairmanship to give recommendation about vegetable and flower nurseries also, because many nurseries are now producing seedlings of hybrid varieties of vegetables and other high value seedlings of flower crops. But standards for vegetables and flowers crops were not available, therefore now Malhotra committee has given standards for seedling production of vegetables and other clonally propagated crops which covers seedlings productions of ginger and turmeric also.

4. Why seedling production in ginger and turmeric, i have cited few reasons above in point 1 but the important point for freedom from serious diseases such as soft rot is critical since diseases travel from one rhizome to another. Accredited nurseries if produce seedlings will definitely ensure healthy production and supply of seedlings in protrays. 

In recent years, tissueculture techniques (micropropagation) are increasingly used for rapid clonal multiplication of several economic plants, restoration of vigour and yield loss due to infection, and preservation of loss of germplasms. Tissueculture method of plant propagation is a useful alternative in the propagation of cultivars when conventional methods permit only slow increase in clonal plants. Even with plants that are propagated readily through cuttings, division or other asexual methods, tissue culture can be used to enhance substantially their rate of multiplication otherwise which are conventionally propagated by means of cuttings/divisions, a million-fold increase in the rate of clonal multiplication over conventional method has been found possible. In commercial nurseries, tissue culture seems to be an ideal method to minimize the growing space that is usually necessary for the maintenance of stock plants. Tissueculture techniques have advanced to a high degree in Japan, Taiwan and China for the propagation of many improved selections of horticultural crops. But here in case of ginger and turmeric, nucleus and breeding stock is produced through tissue culture.

There is a well defined system in the country to regulate the production and sale of quality seed of seed propagated food crops, oilseed, pulses and vegetables, etc but there is no such system for quality control of vegetatively propagated clonal horticultural crops ginger & turmeric excepting potato. Under such circumstances, spread of poor quality planting material through private nurserymen poses great problem to nursery industry. Therefore, efforts have been made to develop quality standards of each horticultural crop by Government of India, which are followed by the nurserymen now.

Please go through the link entitled Spice wars: Winning the battle against ginger disease. It is an excellent success story.

 http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-22/the-problem-with-pythium-sunshine-coast/7529826

Very informative link Dr Malhotra , narrating the success story of fighting against Pythium in ginger  , where as much as more than 50% of ginger rhizomes were affected  . We aslo see , how important is the role of water management in disease spread. 

Do we have quality standards for rhizomatous crops  as far as nursery production is concerned. ?

Yes we have standards available with us. Please use following link to download.

http://agricoop.nic.in/Admin_Agricoop/Uploaded_File/INDIAN_MINIMUM_SEED_CERTIFICATION_STANDARDS.pdf

 Thanks Dr Malhotra ,  very interesting indeed. Do we have stringent Act to govern the flow of planting material of rhizomatous spices from one place to another place..?

Very useful PDF Dr Malhotra. Enjoyed reading it. 

Ginger is propagated vegetatively by portions of rhizomes known as seed rhizomes and among inputs, seed material alone accounts for about 40% of total cost of production. In order to obtain good germination, proper storage of early season seed rhizomes is essential. The seed rhizomes should be stored appropriately so that rotting, shriveling, dehydration and sprouting can be avoided until the next season. Maintaining a storage temperature of 22-25oC make the growing buds fat and strong and temperature higher than 28oC in the long run make the buds thin and weak. If the storage humidity is too low, ginger rhizome epidermis may also loose water and wrinkle and the sprouting speed and bud quality may be affected. Ginger can be stored in pits (1 x 1 x 1 m size), inner walls lined with stones/ bricks. The bottom is filled with 10 cm thick dry sand. 

Rhizomes for seed purpose are generally stored by heaping in well-ventilated rooms and covered with turmeric leaves. The seed rhizomes can also be stored in pits with saw dust, sand, leaves of Glycosmis pentaphylla , Srtychnos nux-vomica. The pits are to be covered with wooden planks with one or two openings for aeration. Adequate aeration is required during storage. The highest recovery (94.88%) of healthy seed rhizomes at the end of storage was recorded when stored in zero energy cool chamber, followed by 250 gauge polyethylene bags with 0.5% area of vents with more sprouting. Storing in heaps under a tree canopy covered with leaves had lowest sprouting (64.41%) and highest rotting (21.94%) caused by Pythium spp. (Wet rot) and Aspergillus spp. (dry rot) and insect damage caused by Lasioderma serricorne beetles. Hot water treatment at 50oC for 30 min without affecting germination eradicate all fungi associated with turmeric seed rhizomes.  

Good arguments Dr Malhotra. Carries some solid science. 

 In the endeavor of ensuring quality planting material production, it is important to follow good nursery practices. Some of the good nursery practices for maintaining quality of planting material are use of containers for growing plants, use of biofertilizers, growing seedlings in protected structures, use of sterilized growing media, sanitation, solarization, proper care and handling of nursery plants, regular inspection of nursery for keeping planting material free from pests, diseases and abiotic stresses. The hi-tech seedling production involves good nursery practices.

The Seed Act does cover the planting material, but enforcement of quality standards and certification of nurseries and planting material has not been pursued. One of the major reasons was the absence of technical standards required for certifying such a live material. But now technical standards have been finalized. To ensure the quality of planting material, it is imperative to improve standards which can be imposed through legislation or self-imposition of standards by nurserymen. Many of the states have implemented Nursery Act, but perhaps for want of valid standards, the Act could not be enforced effectively. This would need a dialogue for unification of standards, which shall be important for ensuring the availability of disease free quality planting material. 

Seed rhizomes are prone to heavy post harvest losses.  There is lack of proper storage technology for seed rhizomes to prevent them from rotting due to Pythium and Aspergillus, shrivelling, dehydration and sprouting till the next season. 

Turmeric traditionally propagated vegetative through rhizome (underground modified stem). Although seed set was reported, it is useful in breeding programmes. For commercial production rhizomes used as seed. Turmeric rhizomes are mainly two types viz., oval shape mother rhizome (first formed rhizome from main pseudo-stem) and finger rhizomes develop from mother rhizome. The fingers may be first order (primary rhizome), secondary or tertiary order. In the literature, the term ‘bulb’ or ‘corms’ also used to denote rhizomes.  All the three will give new plants after planting. Mother rhizomes found better than finger rhizomes. The mothers split longitudinally into two halves and fingers are broken into pieces of 5 to 10 cm length weighing approximately 50 to 100 gram with one or two buds are used for planting.  In general, most of the turmeric areas primary fingers used for seed. Transplanting of sprouted buds also attempted in turmeric. Rhizomes for seed purpose are generally stored by heaping in well-ventilated rooms and covered with turmeric leaves. The seed rhizomes can also be stored in pits with saw dust, sand, leaves of Glycosmis pentaphylla , Srtychnos nux-vomica. The pits are to be covered with wooden planks with one or two openings for aeration. Adequate aeration is required during storage. The highest recovery (94.88%) of healthy seed rhizomes at the end of storage was recorded when stored in zero energy cool chamber, followed by 250 gauge polyethylene bags with 0.5% area of vents with more sprouting. Storing in heaps under a tree canopy covered with leaves had lowest sprouting (64.41%) and highest rotting (21.94%) caused by Pythium spp. (Wet rot) and Aspergillus spp. (dry rot) and insect damage caused by Lasioderma serricorne beetles. Hot water treatment at 50oC for 30 min without affecting germination eradicate all fungi associated with turmeric seed rhizomes.  

Very good explanation Dr Malhotra. We are enriched with the valuable information on turmeric. 

Dr Malhotra very  good articulative response . Is there any headway in developing some suitable substrate for growing these crops at pre-evaluation stage..?

It was Haberlandt, the Father of today's tissue culture industry put forth the phenomenon of totipotency some hundred years ago, has created a miracle in farming community all over the world. By inherent virtue of providing the same genotype and phenotype characteristics in growth and yield, in vitro propagation methods has become the most preferred alternative method of multiplication of plants. Later, studies have proved that the in vitro grown plants exhibited vigorous growth as well as superior qualitative and quantitative yield as compared to conventional method. In India, lot of research activities started during 1970-80's in various public and private sector research organizations. In nucleus stock production micropropagation is very important in case of ginger and turmeric also.

If the targeted production has to be achieved, intensified efforts of all the stakeholders would be needed for ensuring the availability of “quality planting material”. Each lot may carry a label as a mark of quality assurance. 

Dear Suresh K Malhotra, The amazing ability of tissue culture methods to free plants from virus is encouraging. As a caveat when I worked with ginger in tissue culture the technique can give both clean material and lead to erratic phenotypic changes which seem to related to genetic alteration. Off types in cultured ginger and bananas can be high enough to cause concern. It would appear to be avenue for selection. It can add time and expense to get the preferred phenotypes back into production. In the case of ginger some off types were distinctly less productive while others were extremely robust. In modern agriculture the market increasingly asks for specific uniform quality to market.  This is an issue which needs to be considered and addressed and tissue culture while wonderful is not a panacea. Paul Reed Hepperly

 Thank you Dr. Paul. However, if we look at the past, many laboratories did not able to survive, either because of improper selection of the crop or lack of knowledge and high rejection level due to contamination. There are number of factors that influence the contamination in the laboratory, few of them are season, productivity and infrastructure. These were not the only factors responsible for creating hurdle in commercialization of the micro-propagation technologies. If reviewed critically, number of factors plays an important role in making this technology successful and is mostly related to plant quality, particularly genetic purity, age uniformity and quality of initial plant material being used for mass propagation. Here, the mother plants are kept under observation for many generations to know the yield potential of the plant. Molecular techniques can also be used to observe genetic purity of the daughter tissues with their mother plant. Besides selection of initial tissues from mother plant, in vitro propagation protocol plays an important role in producing true to type plant.

Micropropagation (tissue culture), a proven means of producing millions of identical plants under controlled and aseptic conditions, has become a commercial reality in many horticultural crops. The story of tissue culture industry is two decades old and its commercial adoption especially in banana is cost effective too and is a success of the decade, improving productivity and ensuring freedom from diseases. The technique is simple, but requires the skill of management to run the venture profitable. Initial stage of tissue culture in banana passed through many problems and is now successful. Technological advancements have ensured least variations and freedom from disease.  Currently, research is continued to reduce the cost of production, enhance the efficiency in secondary hardening and hasten the delivery mechanism.

These crops are mostly propagated by using portions called seed rhizomes, may get infected and carry load of degenerative diseases and pose challenge for quality planting material production. Seed material is bulky in nature, handling, transportation and storage is labour intensive and costly and accounts for about 40% of total cost of production. Seed rhizomes are prone to heavy post harvest losses.  There is lack of proper storage technology for seed rhizomes to prevent them from rotting due to Pythium and Aspergillus, shrivelling, dehydration and sprouting till the next season. 

Dr Malhotra

In my view training/research/outreach in 1) the proper storage conditions, 2) the use of mini sett technology and 3) the design and management of nursery are priority areas for the need.

Ginger and tumeric can respond to growth regulators to hasten or retard the sprouting and the the use biorational materials for stimulating the better management of Pythium and Aspergillus. In terms of stimulating and retarding sprouting work should center on the use use of Ethylene generators stimulator early and uniform sprouting and Gibberellic acid as a retardant.

In terms of Pythium the use phosphorous acid is an effective biorational control method.  Trichoderma harzianum strain 382 is very interesting for its ability to trigger hyperparasitism and the stimulation of plant resistance reactions. 

Considering it large world use and market the work on ginger is greatly under emphasized in my opinion. 

You action can hopefully lobby for addressing these needs for designing efforts to address the constraints you point out. 

Best wishes for prosperity in these efforts. 

Thank you Dr. Paul for intellectual input. I agree with your suggestions. 

In conventional method of using seed rhizomes about 20 quintal of rhizomes are needed but raising seedlings in plug trays using minisett, the seed requirement can be reduced to 1/3. But seedlings are required to be raised hygienically and source should be clean from diseases. Such technology has been standardized by TamilnaduAgri University and has been accepted at large scale.

 Ginger is no exception, more so because the conventional breeding programs are hampered due to lack of fertility and natural seed set. Rhizome rot caused by Pythium spp. and bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum are major diseases affecting ginger that are spread primarily through infected rhizomes. Tissue-culture techniques would help in the production of pathogen-free plant­ing material of high-yielding varieties. Since no source of resistance is available in the germplasm, somaclonal variation could be an important source of variability to evolve high-yielding, high-quality disease-resistant lines. Tissue-culture techniques could also be used for in vitro pollination and embryo rescue in ginger. However, the applicability of such techniques depends upon the ability to regenerate plants effectively within in vitro cultures. Protocols for micropropagation, plant regeneration, in vitro pollination, protoplast culture, the development of synseeds, and cryopreservation are available. These can be effectively used in ginger crop—improvement programs.

 Somaclonal variation and microrhizomes in ginger: (a) bold rhizomes harvested from ginger somaclone (CR 1222); (b) comparison of rhizomes from TC plants with that of conventionally propagated plants; (c) tissue-cultured plants after second year of nursery in comparison with conventionally propagated plants; (d) variations in rhizome size, shape, and internodal length in micropropagated plants; (e) growth recovery of microrhizome- derived plants in comparison with conventionally propagated plants; (f) initial growth of microrhizome-derived plants in comparison with conventionally propagated plants; (g) microrhizomes from ginger tissue cultures; (h) rhizomes harvested from microrhizomes as planting material.

STI — Sustainable Turmeric Initiative: An Innovative Method for Cultivation of Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/aboutsri/othercrops/otherSCI/InTN_STI_Baskaran092712.pdf

An excellent feedback Dr Malhotra on STI, quite informative for all of us. 

Good PDF attached  Dr Malhotra . STI is like a good agricultural practices with respect to a crop  , or you feel different 

Ensuring that farmers have timely access to planting material of good quality is one of the most important elements of successful crop production & development. increased access by farmers to appropriate locally adapted planting material is a key element in support of agricultural production.  Despite this reality, seed and planting material available to small-scale farmers in many developing countries is often of insufficient quality, which undermines potential yield and performance of crop production. With the support of Government in the mission program for addressing the challenge of raising the quality of the seed produced locally and used by smallscale farmers is encouaged through support for establishment of nurseries in 1 ha area.

Nice input Dr Malhotra , appreciate it . Let me raise another issue , how do you rate the nurseries ?. What criteria d you really look at while evaluating the rating of the nurseries..?

Nurseries accreditation guidelines as finalized by NHB are available on website. Whenever any request for accreditation is received, it is evaluated on the basis of guidelines and components which are essentially required  to be provisioned in a nursery. The major components are location, soil and water status, agro-climate, motherblock of varieties for planting material production, expertise, infrastructure such as potting media spot, filling, soil solarization, polyhouse, packing yard etc. The constituted team visit the candidate nursery and award scores on the basis of score card. Accordingly on the basis of total score obtained, one star, two star, three star is finally awarded by the approval committee. Application procedure etc is available on website nhb.gov.in/.

Very nice inputs Dr Malhotra.  Is there any difference in methodology adopted in facilitating accreditation to private nurseries as against public funded  govt. nurseries...?

There is no difference in methodology adopted by public or private nurseries. The only difference is that nurseries with government sector such as with research institutions or state agricultural universities are superior, as they are scientifically maintained by the scientists and they give proper emphasis on all components particularly on motherblock and scion bud wood bank of varieties developed by them. Thus they are supposed to supply breeder stock to all private nurseries to establish mother block.

 Similarly, in turmeric, apart from improved varieties like Lakadong and Megha Turmeric-1, a number of local cultivars exist in northeastern region. The turmeric produced in this region contains high oleoresin and curcumin content. The product is mostly marketed in the fresh form. The local demand being very limited, roughly 70-80per cent of the total production is reportedly available as marketable surplus from the region. As it is abundantly available in the region, different products like turmerones (turmeric oil), oleoresin, and powder can be prepared for export, which are very common in developed countries. Good planting material is important for healthy crop.

 Pre-sprouting is a technique that provides ideal germination conditions for the ginger while you're still waiting for ideal conditions in your growing location. If you had perfect  weather outside and warm soil temps, you would simply just plant into your growing beds. Pre-sprouting buys some time for you, as you can start sprouting the seed before outdoor temperatures are warm enough to plant, and if you have a short season, this would be a good technique to employ.

 WHAT MEDIA OR TYPE OF SOIL WILL GROW THE BEST GINGER?

Any very fertile, well draining soil or media will grow good ginger. Soil or media that is heavy clay, hard pan, mucky or the like will produce less successful results. If growing in pots or bags, we recommend coir media for baby ginger production as opposed to peat. Coir tends to be less mucky and wets easier when it does become dry, and it is also a sustainable resource while peat is not.

 WHAT TYPE OF FERTILIZER SHOULD BE USED?

Maintaining high fertility is essential to producing ginger. Every soil is different. We recommend get a soil test if you are growing in the ground. Growing in media requires that you supply all elements that your plants will require. Generally a well balanced organic fertilizer like a 5-5-5 in the beginning of the crop cycle or perhaps chicken manure is a good way  to start. High quality compost is a good addition however it usually does not have the required amount of fertilizer that ginger requires, maybe for lettuce but not for ginger. High levels of Calcium promotes cellular integrity (read stress) in the crop.  One should be careful using lime as it can raise the pH of the soil or medium and cause imbalances in the nutrient cation thus leading to deficiencies of other elements in the plant. Gypsum is your lime option if ph is an issue.  Potassium is also of special interest to ginger growth. In short make sure you maintain high levels throughout cycle. 

Very reply Dr. Malhotra. These recommendations needs to be customized as per site .

 National Agriculture Research System has succeeded in development of more than ten high yielding varieties but needed to bring in the quality planting material production chain. IISR is maintaining the nucleus and breeder stock and regularly making it available to the intending states and nurseries. Co-ordinated system of AICRP has also special focus on these two crops and region and location specific varieties, production and protection system has been developed and adopted by the farmers.

For excluding pathogens in the propagation stock, specific pathogen tested (SPT) or specific virus tested (SVT) plants are to be used. Any programme to utilize SPT, true to type sources or clones for propagation involves the following three phases:

Initial selection of a source of propagation stock

 Thank for response. You have raised an issue, which I have replied earlier. I am repeating reply here. Maintenance of such stock in a block with adequate safeguards against infection

A system of propagation and distribution whereby such stock is disseminated without infection, and cultivar and source identity is maintained. The propagation system itself should not introduce variability.

Once a SPT, true-to-type source has been obtained, plants should be multiplied and maintained under conditions that will prevent infection and at the same time allow detection of any significant genetic change from the original source. For the purpose, a stock block/scion orchard/mother block is maintained. Such stocks allow the propagator to manage the plants  and also to control potential pathogen and genetic problems. Preservation of an SPT propagation source has three aspects : isolation, sanitation and periodic inspection and testing.

How can we ensure healthy planting material production of rhizomatous spices crops such as ginger and turmeric? - ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_we_ensure_healthy_planting_material_production_of_rhizomatous_spices_crops_such_as_ginger_and_turmeric/3 [accessed Aug 19, 2016].

Inclusion of diagnostics is important for indexing of basic planting material. But what should be sample size, which in real sense representative of lot

In case of clonally propagated crops, which are known for high vulnerability to diseases, ensuring that farmers have timely access to planting material of good quality is one of the most important elements of successful crop production & development of particularly turmeric and ginger which are considered high value crops.   Despite this reality, seed and planting material available to small-scale farmers in many developing countries is often of insufficient quality, which undermines potential yield and performance of crop production. With the support of Government in the mission program for addressing the challenge of raising the quality of the seed produced locally and used by smallscale farmers are encouaged through support for establishment of nurseries in 1 ha area.

 Accreditation system is not prevailing. We need to encourage nurseries for raising certified seedling in protrays. We need to develop guidelines for this purpose. 

Thank you Dr. Shirgure, apart from this how storage conditions can be improved.

A Success story on Production and Cultivation of turmeric transplants through  Single Bud Rhizome:

Turmeric is essentially a tropical crop grown in India. It is the third important spice crop of our country. It is used as an important condiment and as a dye with varied applications in drugs and cosmetic industries. In India, it is grown in an area of 1,94,000 ha with a production of 9,90,000 tons. In Tamil Nadu, it is grown in an area of 35,700 ha with production of 1,90,000 tons and productivity of 5.3 tons of dried rhizome/ha. Turmeric is propagated through rhizomes and large quantity of rhizome is required because the low efficiency of vegetative propagation. Planting material requirement is about 2.5 t/ha and total requirement of the country is about 2 lakh tonnes per year. In addition, during storage and cultivation, rhizomes are susceptible to rhizome rot disease that causes tissue senescence and degeneration. It is difficult to propagate through seed because of poor flowering and seed set. Survival percentage of plants through rhizome is low (80 per cent) in field condition. The availability of quality planting material is also scarce during the cropping season (June – September). To overcome these constraints rapid multiplication of turmeric through single bud rhizome techniques has been developed by TNAU, Coimbatore. In this protray technique of turmeric, planting material requirement will be reduced; about 25 per cent of planting material requirement can be reduced. As rhizome is cut and used for the preparation of planting material, the diseased rhizome can be eliminated. So, it helps in screening of rhizomes for diseases and the planting material will be disease free.

            Due to these advantages, the turmeric transplants derived from rhizome bud can be selected as the planting material for turmeric cultivation which will augment the turmeric cultivation with good propagating materials and also increase the farm income. It is not only a simple technique for adoption, but also accounts high success rate. A turmeric farmer             Mr. C. Vadivel, Kanurpudur of Avinashi, Tamil Nadu had adopted and popularized this technology. He got training on “Turmeric protray technology” during 2013-14 from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. He produced turmeric transplants in his field and supplied to other farmers in and around Avinashi. Another farmer, Mr. M. Govindharaj, Thandukaranpalayam of Tamil Nadu cultivated turmeric transplants in an area about 2 acres. He followed organic cultivation. He could not observe rhizome rot disease incidence in his field. He got an yield of 7.5 tons of dried rhizome. It was 20 per cent increase in yield over conventional method of cultivation.

 There is need to define large scale quality planting material production chain for high yielding varieties in turmeric and ginger

There are several diseases which travel with planting material. Therefore quality assumes utmost importance for clonal propagated crops

 What should be large scale quality planting material production chain for high yielding varieties of ginger and turmeric.

There are several varieties more than a dozen have been developed and popular in different agro-climates.

Dr Malhotra and colleagues, how do feel , such attempts we need to replicate more in perennial crops compared to annuals , or such should be our strategy across crops..? Or , lets adopt such strategy for those crops where soil borne diseases are major production constraint..?

Rhizome rot and wilt are the serious diseases of ginger and turmeric. but control measures are avialable

Vegetatively propagated crops have high risk for transmission of several diseases. The only solution is using healthy planting material.

Dear Vaibhi Malhotra, I am including information of health plant material and production system for ginger. Suresh is spot on with his concern in this area. I believe following this system will help resolve these issues as it did in Hawaii and North America. Sincerely Paul Reed Hepperly

Both of  publications attached are excellent and carry very good information and similar attempt has been made at Indian Institute of Spices Research Calicut and success has been acheived and technology commercialized for disease free planting material production for ginger.

Diagnostics really has to play prominant role

When it comes to planting materials of vegetative tubers potato Solanum tuberosum  has been the inspiration. In North Carolina they have used the potato type systems of virus indexing and reproduction under controlled environments for application to sweet potato Ipomeae batatas production. Using these clean seed systems of virus freely confirmed varieties the sweet potato production on a yield per area measurement has doubled in the last 30 years. This type of program would be very useful for India and other tropical areas where chronic transmission of deadly pathogens are common.  Suresh and collaborators could study these and recreate their effectivity for India environment. 

Thank you Dr. Paul. In India, Central Potato Research Institute Shimla has standardized techniques for virus indexing long back. About 0.8 million metric ton seed is successfully produced in India every year. Please see follwing link:

http://cpri.ernet.in/summer_school/summer_school_8_28_July_2014.pdf

Use of poor quality planting material adversely affects the production, productivity and quality of rhizomes. Seed rhizomes if infected may carry load of degenerative diseases. How we can ensure freeness from diseases, many good points have come. Diagnostic will play major role in near future in planting material production sector.

Yes , Vaibhvi , i agree with you , infact this is major issue in establishment of sound industry...good issue...

Yes There is shortage of good planting material in case of vegetatively propagated crops. Therefore under horticulture mission more than 7000 nurseries have been established and accrediated.

There is need to tag each and every plant sold from nursery. If barcoding can be done to ensure quality and performance in the field.

In many of small farmer situations the prime product is sold in the market and any defective material is saved for seed. This is something that really constrains the farmer over a long term.

Another issue is that many times the large vegetative fragments are used to get large rhizome size. If we compare a 30 gram fragment of ginger compared to 120 gram on a per plant bases 120 can give 120% higher plant yield but if we use 30 g piece we could 'seed" 4 times the area. Thus when fragments are limiting the small fragments would lead to 3.2 .8 by 4 compared to the large fragments.

For this reason the concentration for the vegetative crop needs to focus on small seed pieces.

In addition for ginger and tumeric a big obstacle in rhizome dormancy which delays the sprouting and causes issues with uniformity. The way to overcome this is through hot water and ethrel treatment prior to the planting season. Ideally these concepts are combined with a seed piece nursery and the system can be used to reduce the pest and disease issues and give maximized uniform plants for planting. When all the practices are put together the potential for thise crops are totally amazing. 

Very good points Dr. Paul. Earlier also you attached publications and power point which was very informative. Single bud rhizome technique for raising plants in plug trays have helped in reducing cost of production. 

Some good points  , you have raised Paul , very pertinent to on-going discussion. For sure , we need to have relook at complete  set of issues like we do in a standard  mode of crop husbandary  .

The use of tissue cultured and indexed plants can be very effective for releasing vegetatively produced species from serious pathogens such as virus. The issues that remain is farmer cost and availability and the fact that certain somatic variations can plague the use of tissue culture plants and the adaptation to the field can be challenging. For these reasons I believe many of these systems are a bridge too far in concerning their adaptation for tropical farmers of meager capitalization and resources. The somatic variation which we encountered in the ginger propagation studies was an issue but it also can be a potential source of useful variation for a somatic variation mining to improve these species. This is particularly revelant since sexual breeding strategies so far have not been available for breeding efforts. . 

Sincere thanks for good elaborations on the topic. It is true in between certain somatic variations can plague the use of tissue culture plants and the adaptation to the field can be challenging. If we keep aside the use of  variability for breeding purpose, how we can ensure 100% true to type population without any somaclones. 

When people use tissue culture techniques the hormonal treatment can increase the re arrangement of the genetic factors. So the use of minimal hormones to get results but minimize the re arrangements would be prudent. The multiplication of clean up lines should always be identified as cellular lines and off type lines discarded. Although vegetative techniques can have increased ability to propagate viral agents they do not have issues with off types. The verification of increase protocols and standards are part of the goal of certified propagation systems. A systematic and protocol approach with monitoring and measurement is needed to assure quality standards can be met and improved. 

It is very much clear that use of poor quality planting material adversely affects the production, productivity and quality of rhizomes. Therefor diagnostics have to play greater role in planting material production chain for ensuring production of high quality planting material.

endorsing your excellent comments Dr Malhotra, i feel , on-field management is more important , regardless of quality of planting material.  If we are in  a position to address both the issues, it is simply icing on the cake ..