Abstract:
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) belongs to the family
Zingiberaceae. Chinese, Rangoon and Local are
the commonly cultivated ginger types in Sri
Lanka. Local ginger is rich in fiber, uses in
Indigenous and Ayurveda medicinal purposes,
and amount of yield is comparatively low. Chinese
and Rangoon are moderately in pungency,
amount of yield is comparatively high and use in
beverage industry likes for production of ginger
beer and for culinary purposes also. Ginger can
be grown either as a mono-crop or inter-crop
under coconut plantation. This research was
carried out at Inter-cropping and Betel Research
Station, Narammala where the area belongs to
Kurunegala district is under the coconut triangle.
Coconut plants are generally spaced in 26 ft x 26
ft, hence 75% of area under the coconut plants are
remaining unproductively. Underutilized area is
high when the age of the coconut plants is below
5 years and over 20 years. Climatic conditions in
Kurunegala district is more favourable for ginger
cultivation. After the three years field experiment,
the highest fresh yield of rhizome per clump for
Chinese ginger accessions was given by the
accession of G33 (949.2 g/clump) in Low Country
Intermediate Zone under coconut cultivation. The
highest fresh yield of rhizome per clump for
Rangoon ginger accessions was given by the
accession of G28 (754.2 g/clump) in low country
Intermediate zone under coconut cultivation. The
G28 and G33 accessions can be used to cultivate
under coconut plantation as an intercrop to
increase the productivity of coconut lands.
