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Asian Journal of Plant Sciences

Year: 2008 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 2 | Page No.: 213-217
Research Article

The Effects of Seed Rhizome Size on the Growth, Yield and Economic Return of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.)

Girma Hailemichael
Tepi Agricultural Research Sub-Center, P.O. Box 34, Tepi, Ethiopia
Kindie Tesfaye
Haramaya University, P.O. Box 134, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
An experiment was conducted to study the influence of seed rhizome size on the growth, yield and economic return of ginger to determine an optimum seed rhizome size. The experiment was conducted for three years (1995-1997) at Tepi Agricultural Research Sub-center using a locally grown ginger cultivar. It consisted of four different weight and sizes of seed rhizomes which were grouped as small (R-4 g), medium (R-8 g), large (R-16 g) and very large (R-32 g). The treatments were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. An increase in seed rhizome size significantly increased the major growth and yield component parameters of ginger. Seed rhizome size also significantly affected dry rhizome yield in all the 3 years that the largest seed rhizome size (R-32 g) had significantly higher rhizome yield than the other treatments in 1995 and 1996 and the small and medium size treatments in 1997. The R-32 g treatment increased rhizome yield by 124, 152 and 55% over the R-4 g treatment in 1995, 1996 (low rainfall year) and 1997 (high rainfall year), respectively suggesting the importance of using larger seed rhizomes under relatively lower than higher rainfall conditions. The R-32 g treatment gave a Marginal Rate of Return (MRR) of 235% with the highest residual indicating that using 32 g (>9.1 cm long) seed rhizomes is economically profitable for ginger production in South Western Ethiopia.
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