1. Ginger rhizome yields: In four out of the five ginger cultivars tested, TC ginger produced a higher yield than conventionally seed-sprouted ginger.
2. Health benefit compounds comparison: In four of the five ginger cultivars tested, TC ginger had higher health-beneficial compounds than conventionally seed-sprouted ginger.
3. Ginger plant growth: Overall, we have observed that TC ginger plants have much healthier and more vigorous growth and produce higher rhizome (edible and marketable ginger root) yields with higher health-beneficial phytochemical contents.

Typically, ginger is propagated by "seeds," the ginger roots, and often requires a large quantity for commercial production. Ginger roots are susceptible to diseases, such as ginger rhizome soft rot (Pythium myriotylum) and dry rot (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Zingiberi), that can cause severe yield losses (de Lange et al., 1987; Hossain et al., 2010; Meenu & Jebasingh, 2019; Nair, 2019; FAO, 2020). High-quality, disease-free plant material ensures successful ginger production (Lincy & Sasikumar, 2010; Sathyagowri & Seran, 2011). Micropropagation is a proven effective means for the mass production of disease-free plants (Murashige, 1966 & 1974; Archana et al., 2013; Solanki et al., 2014). We have developed a micropropagation protocol using two ginger cultivars, which can be modified for other cultivars (Yang et al., 2024). In 2020, we conducted a pilot study comparing micropropagated ginger with traditionally seed-sprouted ginger in a high tunnel. Our team observed that micropropagated ginger produced a significantly higher yield than traditionally seed-sprouted ginger after a 5.5-month growth (Table 1; Yang, 2021, unpublished).

Our collaborator, Ray Tuegel from Plum Granny Farm (Stokes County, NC), also tested our micropropagated ginger and harvested baby ginger at a much earlier stage (only 3-month growth) and observed that the micropropagated ginger produced comparable marketable yields to traditionally seed-sprouted ginger (Table 1). He stated that our tissue culture techniques could potentially reduce the cost of seeding materials, which could help solve the seed ginger sourcing issue currently dependent on Hawaii (Tuegel, 2021, personal communication). In the 2023 growing season, our tissue culture ginger plants produced an average of about three pounds of ginger roots per plant.

Min et al. (2017) reported that micropropagated ginger had high phytochemical contents. There is a correlation between antioxidant activity and 6-gingerol content comparing in vitro ginger cultures with conventionally grown ginger (Pawar et al., 2015). Our pilot study in 2020 used two ginger cultivars and compared the gingerols' contents with those of micro-propagated and traditionally seed-sprouted ginger. Data in Table 2 (Yang, 2021, unpublished) indicated that the micropropagated ginger had significantly higher contents of gingerols. Therefore, micropropagated ginger may have higher bioactivities and health benefits than traditionally seed-sprouted ginger.