Evaluation of Different Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea L.) Accessions for High Rhizome Yield with Good Quality and Starch Content

Aim: Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea L) is an underutilized tuber crop belonging to the family marantaceae. This study mainly aims to evaluate different arrowroot accessions for quality starch and best yield.

Study of Design: The field experiment was conducted in randomized block design with total ten accessions and three replications.

Place and Duration of Research: The present investigation was undertaken at the College Orchard, Department of Vegetable Science, Horticultural College & Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore during the year 2022-2023.

Methodology: In this study, ten arrowroot accessions viz.,TAr18-01, TAr18-02,TAr18-04,TAr18-05,TAr18-10, TAr18-11, TAr18-12, TAr18-13, TAr18-14 and Local were evaluated for their growth, yield and quality parameters.

Results: The statistical results revealed that all the accessions significantly differ from each other. Results obtained as maximum height in the accession TAr18-14(132.01cm), maximum number of leaves in TAr18-10 (109.33), number of tillers in TAr18-14 (8.45) and biggest rhizome weight in TAr18-14(198.81g) respectively. The yield traits like rhizome length (25.49 cm), diameter (9.46cm) and number of rhizome per plant (30.00), rhizome yield per plant (1.49kg) were maximum in TAr18-10. The quality parameters viz., dry matter (%) was highest for TAr18-10(56.76%),TSS in TAr18-12 (27.83%), ash contents in TAr18-10 (3.88%). These parameters mainly decide the quality and nutritive value of Arrowroot. There is a significant variation in the quality parameters like starch, TSS, dry matter, protein, crude fiber. Among various accessions TAr18-04 recorded the highest starch (54.62%) and TAr18-14recorded highest protein content (6.194%). Amylose content (21.88%) was maximum in TAr18-01.

Conclusion: It can be concluded from the following study that TAr18-10 recorded highest rhizome yield, dry matter content with quality starch and can be selected for further evaluation and exploitation in industrial applications.