Characterisation of cultivars of Jamaican ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) by HPTLC and HPLC

In this study, a novel high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) technique for fingerprinting of Jamaican ginger was developed and its application to the chemo-profiling of four cultivars of Jamaican ginger illustrated. Applications of the method to maturation and storage studies involving ginger oleoresins are also presented. The method showed good resolution of the pungent compounds characteristic of ginger: 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol and 6-shogaol, with five other discrete zones being described as additional references. HPTLC fingerprints of the ginger cultivars showed chemical homogeneity with small qualitatively observed differences in the intensities of the gingerol and shogaol zones. Quantification of these compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed significant differences in total pungency among the cultivars. Essential oil yields from the cultivars also varied significantly. The described characterisations will prove useful in the authentication of Jamaican ginger.