Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is a valuable culinary and medicinal plant. The compound 6-gingerol is the main gingerol in ginger rhizomes and it possesses interesting pharmacological and physiological properties. Mutation breeding involved using low doses of gamma radiation (5–30 Gy) to increase the genetic variability in ginger rhizomes (M1 generation). Ginger plants selected from the next generation (M2) were characterized and subjected to quantitative analysis for 6-gingerol content using HPLC of ginger extracts. M2 offspring from a parent ginger rhizome irradiated with 20 Gy was found to have a high 6-gingerol content (38.4 ± 0.01 mg/g methanol extract in comparison to 22.1 ± 0.03 mg/g methanol extract in non-irradiated control samples). Radiation induced genetic variability was also probed and confirmed using RAPD-PCR analysis. This research demonstrates the potential for ginger improvement and to our knowledge is the first to report the use of gamma radiation in breeding ginger plants with enhanced 6-gingerol content.

生姜（姜姜罗斯科）是一种有价值的烹饪和药用植物。化合物6-姜油酚是姜根茎中的主要姜醇，具有有趣的药理和生理特性。突变育种涉及使用低剂量的γ射线（5-30 Gy）来增加生姜根茎（M1代）的遗传变异性。对选自下一代（M2）的生姜植物进行表征，并使用生姜提取物的HPLC对6-姜油含量进行定量分析。发现用20 Gy辐照的生姜根茎的M2子代具有较高的6姜油醇含量（38.4±0.01 mg / g甲醇提取物，而未辐照对照样品中的22.1±0.03 mg / g甲醇提取物）。还使用RAPD-PCR分析探测并确认了辐射诱导的遗传变异性。