Ginger: Botany and Horticulture

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), a monocot of the Zingiberaceae, is an important spice and medicinal plant known since time immemorial. Ginger is intimately associated with the food habits of India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, and other southeast Asian countries. The potential of ginger in the culinary, nonculinary, and medicinal fields is based on the chemistry of volatile oil and nonvolatile pungent principles. The origin of ginger is not certain, but evidence indicate that it must have originated in south Asia to southeast Asia. It was in cultivation in China in antiquity and in India since Vedic times. Global production is over US$913 million and global trade from top 20 countries is around US$247 million. Nigeria has the largest area under ginger, accounting for nearly a half the total world area. India ranks first in production, contributing to 30% of global production. Australia leads the world in production of ginger confectionary products. Ginger never sets seed, and sexual recombination has never been reported. Cultivars have evolved by unconscious selection and are generally known by the name of the region. The major crop improvement objectives in ginger are high yield, wide adaptability, resistance to diseases (such as rhizome rot, bacterial wilt, and Fusarium yellows), improvement in quality parameters (oil, oleoresin), and low fiber. Taxonomy, morphology, cytology, genetic diversity and improvement, horticulture, pests and diseases, and postharvest processing are reviewed in this chapter.