Effects of rhizome storage and handling on growth and development of Curcuma hybrid 'Great Reign'

Abstract

Generally, the rhizome of Krajeaw (Subgenus Eucurcuma) has attached long storage roots. The attached roots are trimmed at harvest before the rhizome is kept in a cold room. Water loss generally occurs during storage and the dry rhizome limits its germination. This study is to determine the effects of rhizome storage and handling on plant growth and flowering. The rhizomes of Curcuma hybrid 'Great Reign' were used as plant material. The experimental design was a factorial in completely randomized design, consisting of 3 factors: 1) four levels of rhizome sizes (>3, 3.0-2.5, 2.5-1.5 and <1.5 cm diameter), 2) four levels of root trimming (0, 1, 3 and 5 cm trimmed root), and 3) two types of storage media (presence or absent of storage media). Rhizomes were kept at 15°C, 60% RH for two months before planting. At flowering, the results showed the larger rhizome size with 5 cm roots produced the tallest plants. Furthermore, the smallest rhizome gave the lowest photosynthetic rate of 4.83 μmol m-2 s-1 during the flowering stage. From this study, the appropriate postharvest handling of Curcuma hybrid 'Great Reign' rhizome to achieve the best plant growth and flowering was, using a combination of>3 cm rhizome size with 5 cm trimmed root length and stored in coconut dust.