FARMER'S NOTEBOOK
Propagating black pepper through serpentine method
M.J. PRABU
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About sixty cuttings can be harvested from a single plant in a year
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PHOTO: IISR
READY FOR PLANTING: As the plants grow and produce one or two nodes, small polythene bags filled with potting mixture are kept under each young node.
BLACK PEPPER, popularly known as `black gold' in agriculture, is one of the oldest and the most popular spices, holding a prime position in the world of spice trade.
Black pepper is known as Karumilagu in Tamil, Kalimirch in Hindi, Kurumulaku in Malayalam, Kare menasu in Kannada and Miriyale tige in Telugu.
As black pepper is in great demand all over the world, researchers at the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), Kozhikode have developed a `rapid method of propagation' also known as the `bamboo method'.
Further studies at the Institute resulted in a cheaper and better propagation technique called the serpentine method.
In India, it is commonly cultivated as a homestead crop mainly in Kerala where it is trailed on coconut, areca nut, jackfruit, mango or other avenue trees.
Black pepper is also predominantly grown as a mixed crop in coffee and tea plantations where it is grown on shade trees.
Quality material
It is also possible to grow it as an intercrop in coconut and areca nut plantations. Use of quality planting material is always an important aspect of black pepper production, according to a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), Kozhikode, Kerala.
The normal way of producing planting material of black pepper is by the use of three node-rooted cuttings of runner shoots or climbing shoots obtained from proven good yielding vines.
In a nursery shed covered with roofing sheet or shade net, rooted black pepper cuttings of any desired variety are planted in polythene bags containing about 550 grams of potting mixture, which serve as source plants. As the plants grow and produce one or two nodes, small polythene bags of 20 x10 cm size are filled with potting mixture and kept under each young node.
Making full contact
Irrigation can be done daily through sprinklers. The node is gently pressed into the mixture to make full contact with the potting mixture with the help of a flexible twig such as a mid rib of a coconut leaflet shaped into an inverted `V', which is kept above the node and pressed downward to enable rooting at that junction, according to the researchers.
The roots start growing from the nodes and the vine keeps on growing horizontally and extends like a serpent. The procedure of keeping polythene bags filled with potting mixture at every node to induce rooting is repeated. In about three months, the first 10 to 12 nodes (from the source plants) would have rooted profusely and would be ready for separation.
By this time, the cuttings would have grown a number of nodes. After separation of the first ten nodes with bags, the remaining plants grow further to produce several new nodes and the oldest ten bags should be separated, the researchers explained.
Inducing more roots
Each node in the polythene bag is cut just behind the roots and the cut end is buried into the mixture by pressing with fingers to induce more roots, they explained. The rooted nodes will produce new sprouts in a week's time and will be ready for planting in about 2-3 months.
About 60 cuttings can be harvested from a single plant in a year by this method, according to the research team.
Application of biocontrol agents such as Trichoderma, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM) can be done to the plants in polythene bags to obtain disease-free rooted cuttings, they said.
By adopting this technique a number of plants can be developed and the pests and disease kept under control.
Readers can contact the Indian Institute of Spices Research, P.O. Marikunnu, Calicut, 673012, phone: 0495 - 2731410 and Dr. P.A. Mathew, Scientist-in-Charge, IISR Experimental Farm, Peruvannamuzhi,Kozhikode, 673528, Ph: 0496-2249371
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