Conservation Of Selected Wild Potential Ornamental Gingers In India: Domestication And Cultural Practice

Abstract

India is blessed with high diversity of economically important ornamental gingers distributed throughout India. The ornamental potential of many Indian members are yet to be exploited. The climate and soil of our country is suitable for the cultivation of these plants, Indian horticultural field has to exploit its ornamental value. Now the gingers are slowly becoming popular in the gardens in India. The main problem in their cultivation is most of them are wild and difficult to get the sufficient planting materials and ignorance among floriculturists about the ornamental aspects of them. With this objective, 3 wild species with high ornamental value had been selected. The specimens were collected from various parts of Indian forests including Andaman-Nicobar Islands and domesticated in Calicut University Botanical Garden, Kerala. A detailed study is carried over the domesticated plants about the process of domestication, nature of soil from natural and domesticated habitat, cultural practices, pathology and harvesting of these plants.