Effect of colchicine on tissue culture derived plants of Zingiber officinale Rosc. and Zingiber officinale var. rubrum Theilade.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of colchicine on the morphology and histology of gingers in view of polyploidisation. Rhizomes of ginger were treated separately with three concentrations of colchicine (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 w/v) for 30, 60 and 120 minutes. For morphology study, the fresh weight of rhizome (FWRH), length of root (RLEN) and plant height (PH) were measured. Histological analysis was done on shoot buds and rhizomes. All the parameters tested gave significant result. An increasing trend was observed with colchicine concentration up to 1.0, but decreased at 2.0. Histological analysis showed that the cell size of the shoot tip of Zingiber officinale Rose, treated with colchicine (2.0) for 120 minutes was 1.5 times larger than the control. For Zingiber officinale var. rubrum Theilade, the cell size was similar for treated and control shoot tips. Over all this study showed that polyploidisation might occur with colchicine treatment of various concentration and incubation time.