A perspective on the in vitro tissue culture of red ginger and its impact on antioxidant activity

Red ginger (Zingiber officinale var. rubrum) is one of the ginger varieties grown in Indonesia and Malaysia. Like other varieties of ginger, red ginger has been widely used as a traditional herbal medicine in Indonesia. The antioxidant activity of red ginger is suggested to be higher than other ginger varieties due to anthocyanin, which provide a red -coloured rhizome. The amount of red ginger bioactive compounds is different due to its cultivation place, cultivation method, and processing method. Difficulties of conventional vegetative propagation of red ginger have to be overcome with other appropriate techniques. One of the potential techniques as suitable methods for red ginger cultivation is in vitro tissue culture. This technique may produce pathogen-free ginger plantlets with a variation of bioactive compounds. In vitro tissue culture also provides higher total phenolic content related to higher antioxidant activity in elicited ginger callus. The best elicitor that yielded the highest antioxidant activity in ginger callus is yeast extract 100 mg/L. With that condition, in vitro tissue culture is still promising as an alternative cultivation method for red ginger to promote uniform, sterile and controlled plantlet with targeted bioactive compounds as the researcher urges.