Synergistic effects of amino acid and micronutrient foliar application under substrate culture system on ginger growth and rhizome quality

Information from the abstract

Abstract Ginger is an herbaceous perennial plant and recognized as one of the most economically valuable plants globally. This study provides the first report on foliar amino acid application, both alone and synergistically with micronutrients, for ginger production within a substrate culture system designed to provide a more sustainable alternative to traditional forest-clearing methods. The objectives of this study were: (1) to evaluate the interactive effects of combining amino acid and micronutrient foliar applications on the overall growth, morphological traits, and rhizome quality of ginger cultivated in a substrate culture system; and (2) to establish an optimized nutritional strategy using foliar feeding that maximizes ginger yield and quality while supporting sustainable agricultural practices. The experiment was arranged as a 2 × 4 factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with 5 replications. The first factor was a ginger variety (Nakhon Si Thammarat: NST and Trang: TRG varieties), and the second factor was a foliar application (control, amino acid, micronutrient, and amino acid+micronutrient). The results revealed that while the TRG variety showed higher yield potential (up to 1.55 kg total rhizome weight), the NST variety was more responsive to quality enhancement, achieving a maximum individual rhizome weight of 205.07 g under micronutrient (M) application and a total phenolic content of 45.85% and fat content of 6.79% under the A + M treatment. The M treatment significantly boosted protein levels to 12.16% in NST. The findings underscore that combined foliar applications produce synergistic effects across multiple agronomic traits, specifically maximizing total phenolic content and fat content in the NST variety, supported by strong positive correlations between root development and final rhizome weight ( r ≈ 0.81–0.98). This approach offers practical guidance for improving ginger cultivation in controlled environments. Further investigation should include multi-location field trials with various genotypes and long-term assessments of sustainability, cost-benefit, and environmental impacts.

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Related topics: Ginger and Zingiberaceae research · Plant Micronutrient Interactions and Effects · Medical Research and Islamic Perspectives