Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in rainfall, frequent drought and floods, etc., may bring about changes in
disease incidence, population dynamics of pests, minor pests becoming
major pests,etc.which ultimately affects productivity.
11.2.6 CLIMATE CHANGE AND QUALITY OF BLACK PEPPER
Quality in black pepper refers to physical quality constituents viz., grade
of berries, bulk density, test weight, fiber, starch and protein content of the
berries and intrinsic quality constituents viz., oil, oleoresin, piperine and
oil constituents. Dry black pepper berries collected from low (10-200 m
above MSL) and high elevation (400-1200 m above MSL) were analyzed
for both physical and intrinsic quality to test if the elevation groups dif-
fer in quality constituents. But none of the physical quality constituents
showed variation between high and low elevation. Intrinsic quality param-
eters viz., piperine, oleoresin and oil also did not show variation between
elevation groups. But oil components limonene and sabinene + myrcene
showed positive correlation while β-caryophyllene showed negative cor-
relation with elevation. This indicates that climate change in terms eleva-
tion (differences in temperature and associated climatic parameters) may
alter the proportion of quality constituents, thus affecting quality.
Higher β-caryophyllene and lower limonene and sabinene + myrcene
were observed under low elevation (warmer climate) in black pepper. Tel-
ci et al. (2010) also observed higher transβ-caryophyllene and germacrene
D, in warmer climate and higher d-limonene and β-phellandrene in tem-
perate climate in spearmint. Llusià et al. (2006) reported that maximum
concentration of foliar volatile terpenes in four Mediterranean woody
species were found in the coldest periods and minimum concentrations
in the summer. In general, concentrations increased when soil moisture
increased and decreased when air temperature increased. These studies
reveal that volatile oil constituents are vulnerable to change in climate,
could be light, temperature, moisture stress,etc.
11.3
SMALL CARDAMOM (
ELETTERIA CARDAMOMUM MATON
)
Small cardamom, commonly known as queen of spices has a prominent
place in global market. It is grown for its spicy seeds. This is one of the
oldest spices and is a native to the evergreen forests of Western Ghats
