Industries · Horticulture
Ginger
Tissue-cultured Zingiber officinale for clean seed programmes in the Australian ginger industry. Pathogen-free planting material for growers managing Fusarium wilt and soft rot.
Research basis. The Australian ginger industry is supported by Hort Innovation through a levied industry fund. See Hort Innovation Ginger Fund.
Why tissue culture
Ginger is vegetatively propagated from rhizomes, which readily transmit soil-borne pathogens between plantings. Tissue-cultured planting material breaks this disease cycle, producing rhizome pieces free of systemic pathogens and suitable for seed-ginger multiplication.
- Clean starting material for multi-generation seed ginger programmes
- Elimination of systemic bacterial and fungal pathogens
- Recovery of clean cultivars from virus-affected lines
References
- Hort Innovation. Ginger Fund.