LEARN THE PROPAGATION OF DIOSCOREA TO HARVEST DIOSGENIN ESWARA REDDY.

The genus Dioscorea of family Dioscoreaceae with over 600 species is widely distributed in tropical and few in the temperate regions of the world. Some of the species like D.alata, and D.esculanta have been cultivated for a long time for their edible tubers. About 15 species steroidal constituents, chiefly Diosgenin. Diosgenin, a steroid, is the major base chemical for several steroid harmones including sex harmones, cortisone, other corticosteroids and is the active ingredient in the oral contraceptive pill. The growing need for survival drugs and the high cost of obtaining them from animal sources led to wide spread search for plant sources which ultimately led to the discovery of genus Dioscorea as the most promising one. Plants of this genus are climbing herbaceous and perennial vines with tuberous roots. are known to contain

The major diosgenin producing countries are Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, India and China and some countries in Africa and Europe are minor producers. The commercial cultivation of Dioscorea floribunda is of recent activity. A native of Mexico in Central America ,It is cultivated in several

tropical countries. It is a robust climber, twining to the left. The above ground stem is green, finely furrowed and twisted clockwise older parts are hollow. The under ground stem is a stout branching tuber. The tubers are brown on the surface and are cream colored interior. Leaves are petiolate and spirally disposed on the stem. Lamina is broadly ovate, accumulate, margin entire. The plant is dioecious. Flowers are solitary or in groups of 2-3, dark brown or green sessile; seeds are winged. Varieties: FB l: A strain of D.floribunda, vigorous and relatively free from disease. Diosgenin content 3 to 3.5%. Already under cultivation in Bangalore and Coorg (Karnataka) Goa, Assam, Meghalaya,T amilNadu, Maharastra and Andaman. Arka Upkar: High yielding clone. Plants are vigorous with a stout, robust vine, bearing broad dark green leaves, the tuber's branches are thick, broad and deep. Diosgenin content is 3.5 to 4%. Pusa - 1 : high yielding selection with higher yield of plant after 18 months 1.5 kg per

Propagation: Dioscorea can be propagated either by head tuber pieces or single

node cuttings. Commercial plantings could best be established by tuber pieces only. But the availability of sufficient tubers for large scale planting is a problem. On the other hand seed progeny is variable and it may take longer time to attain tuber yields compared with plants raised from tuber pieces. Seed Propagation: Dioscorea floribunda is a dioecious plant i.e., male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. Female plants will not set seed unless they are planted very close to the male plants for effective pollination. Under Bangalore conditions flowering starts from August and seeds mature from December to February. The seed pods should be collected when they turn brown but before they dehisce and are dried in shade. The preferred method for multiplication of D.floribunda for commercial planting is from tuber pieces. Anatomically the tuber is a swollen hypocotyle. Therefore, except for the crown where there is a growing bud and the rest of the tuber does not have any preformed buds. The tubers can be divided into three distinct parts viz., crowns (stem end) median (middle) and distal (tip end). The crown has a preformed bud but the other two parts do not have any preformed buds. Under specific conditions of storage they also develop adventitious buds. All the three

pieces can be used for propagation. Crown sprouts new shoots with in 30days of the planting since they have preformed buds. However medians and tips may take up to 100 days to sprout. For commercial planting crowns are preferred as they sprout earlier and yield higher, in comparison with medians and tips. However, if there is a shortage of material, medians and tip portions, can also be used for planting. Before planting, the tubers are cut into pieces weighing about 50-70g each. With smaller pieces the growth and yields are poor. The plants raised from bigger tuber pieces (80-100g) significantly out yield the plants raised from smaller pieces, but the increased yields are not proportional to their size. The tubers are susceptible to a number of soil borne-diseases so they are treated with proper fungicides soon after harvesting. Storage of tuber pieces: Direct planting of tuber pieces in the filed immediately after harvest is not recommended as it involves expenditure on irrigation, weeding etc in the field for about 3 or 4 months as they take 30-100days for sprouting. It is best that part of the time taken by tuber pieces for sprouting can be spent in moist sand beds (300 x 90cm). The tuber pieces are stored in a moist well aerated rooting medium (sand beds) until shoot growth commences. The sand beds consist of alternate layers of sand and tubers (4-5) and should be watered regularly and should be under shade.After 30 days the sand may be

removed and the crowns are taken out and planted in the field. The medians and tips left over are again covered with sand and watered regularly. After 90-100 days, these pieces are also removed and planted in the main field. Single node cuttings: D. floribunda can be easily propagated by single node cuttings in mist chamber (intermittant). The cuttings consist of a single leaf with petiole and about 1 cm of the stem. The cuttings should be taken in the early part of the year from non-flowering plants. The stem of the leaf cuttings should be dipped in 10 ppm solution 2, 4-D or quick dipped in 5000ppm of IBA solution. The cuttings are planted in the mist chamber in sand beds. The callus is formed in about 4 weeks time. The shoot and the roots develop subsequently. 8-10weeks old plants are transferred to plastic bags, with a planting mixture of equal amounts of sand, soil & FYM. After about 6 months of growth in the nursery they are planted in the field. This method is not commercially used as it is very slow, time consuming and costly. Dr_esreddy@yahoo.co.in 15-06-2013