The Investigation and Utilization of Zingiberaceae Plants in Taiwan
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Chen, I-Nan
Abstract
Zingiberaceae plants, 6 genera 25 species in Taiwan as mentioned in ‘Manual of Taiwan vascular plants’, are very common in Taiwan. Academic researches for these plants are most for medicinal use and also including some economical cultivation and production. Some general and common uses of these plants are also reported. With the spreading concept of sustainability and biodiversity in agriculture, Taiwan native plants catch people’s eyes. For Zingiberaceae plants, the emphasis is spices and medical use. The aim of this study is exploiting the fully potential of Zingiberaceae plants in Taiwan on multiple ways. Plants with specialty can be used directly in landscaping. Roles of their growing characteristics, plant appearances, and ecological functions on landscaping are analyzed by surveying twenty-five successful cases using Zingiberaceae plants in design. And a large landscaped “Zun Leisure Park” was taken as a case study. After investigation, only limited species of Zingiberaceae plants such as Alpinia speciosa ‘Variegata’, Hedychium coronarium, Alpinia purpurata, and sometimes Alpinia zerumbet, are used in landscaping. Several suitable species are proposed for their potential landscaping application with good growing habits, and ecological functions. As for molecular classification of Zingiberaceae plants, this study has collected 6 genera of Zingiberaceae plants from whole Taiwan area, such as Alpinia, Costus, Curcuma, Hedychium, Zingiber and Vanoverberghia species. Based on the molecular markers of 18S, ITS, and trnL, Costus and Zingiber are close, Vanoverberghia and Curcuma are close. While Vanoverberghia and Alpinia are also close based on trnL marker, the misidentification of V. sasakiana as A. galangal is reasonable. The antioxidant and antimicrobiotic components from rhizome of Zingiberaceae plants are also studied. The results showed that the total phenol compounds of the Alpinia averaged 17 mg/g, 30 mg/g for Curcumas, and the highest 36.5 mg/g for Vanoverberghia. Antioxidant performances were best observed in Vanoverberghia and Hedychium, both 89%, and α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity followed similar trends. Zingiber oligophyllum, considered as a medicinal plant in Taiwan, exhibited low DPPH scavenging activity and reducing power. Most tested Zingiberaceae plant extracts exhibited antimicrobial activity against all four tested food microorganisms. This study also investigated the fermentation of gingers as functional drinks. The drink was made of fresh ginger juice as raw materials with/without the product of fermentation with lactic acid bacteria. The functionality of the product was evaluated with their acceptance test. Ginger juice fermented with Bifidobacterium longum has higher values on functionality of antioxidant, reducing power and free radical scavenging. The results may suggest a new way of ginger food processing with high functionality.
Subjects
Zingiberaceae
landscaping
molecular classification
antioxidation
antimicrobial
lactic fermentation
SDGs
Type
thesis
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