Physiological and biochemical response of ginger varieties to virus infection

Plant species are endowed with innate resistant machinery presumably operated through broad spectrum of defense enzymes, the products of intricate network of biochemical pathways playing vital roles in imparting resistance against numerous biotic and abiotic entities. The present study attempted to analyze physiological and biochemical alterations due to virus infection in ginger varieties viz., IISR Mahima, IISR Varada and IISR Rejatha. The results indicated that, ascorbate peroxidase and catalase activities, total protein as well as internal carbon dioxide concentration were low in healthy and high in infected plants. Whereas, acid phosphatase activity, chlorophyll (a and b), stomatal conductance, photosynthetic and transpiration rates were low in infected and high in healthy plants. Based on the observations on disease incidence in conjunction with analyses of biochemical components, it is inferred that, among the varieties studied, IISR Rejatha possess certain degree of resistance towards virus infection.