In vitro conservation of commercial and threatened members of Zingiberaceae: an Indian scenario

The family Zingiberaceae, commonly known as the ginger family, is economically sound due to their huge consumption as medicine, spices, dyes, perfumeries, etc. Gingers are widely distributed throughout the world, and India is one of the richest places with significant biodiversity of ginger plants. India is having 22 genera and about 176 species of gingers on which the maximum diversity of the ginger family is observed in Northeast India containing 19 genera and about 88 species. The wide occurrence of this family in the heterogeneous eco-geographical regions promotes natural genetic variations in intra- and interspecific level that constitutes the enormous genetic resources of gingers in India. The increasing demand for gingers leads to overexploitation and extensive cannibalism from natural habitats. Furthermore, habitat destruction and land crisis are also principal concerns imposing threats to the wild gingers. Some of the members in this family even became rare, endangered, and critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Plant tissue culture is now indispensable for the large-scale production of genetically identical rare plant genotypes that have remarkable commercial applications. Different approaches to in vitro propagation are the best alternatives for the mass production and conservation of Indian gingers. The primary aim of the article focused mainly on different in vitro aspects including updated micropropagation status of medicinally important Indian gingers, a threatened status that ultimately helps in the conservation of indigenous germplasm.