Study On Amino Acids, The Major Elements And Some Trace Elements Of Panax Ginseng At Different Altitudes

In this paper, content of amino acid, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper of 4 years old and 5 year old ginseng at different altitudes in Changbai Mountain area was determined and analyzed.Determination of amino acids content: The 16 amino acids content of 4 years and 5 years old ginseng at 127m-1410m altitude in Changbai Mountain area was determined by using the amino acid analyzer. The results showed that:the 16 amino acids content of ginseng at different altitudes, arginine content was the highest, followed by glutamic acid and aspartic acid, methionine content was the lowest; total amino acid content of 4-year old ginseng was 9.39% at altitude of 1410m, total amino acid content of 5-year old ginseng was 9.45% at altitude of 127m; total amino acid content of 4-year old of ginseng was 6.87% at altitude of 800m; total amino acid content of 5-year old ginseng was 5.66% at altitude of 952m. Overall, with the increase of altitude, total amino acid content has lower and increased, the content difference is not large.Determination of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content:With the growth of years, the nitrogen content of ginseng has decreased. With the increases of altitude, the nitrogen content of ginseng is also decreased, but did not change significantly. At altitude of 127m, nitrogen content of the 4-year old and 5-year old ginseng were 2.146% and 2.126%, respectively; at altitude of 1134m, nitrogen content of the 4-year-old ginseng was 1.672%, at altitude of 1410m, nitrogen content of the 5-year old ginseng was 1.267%. Therefore, the nitrogen content of ginseng at 4 years old and low- altitude areas are higher than 5-year old ginseng and high-altitude areas. The phosphorus content was measured by using vanadium molybdenum yellow spectrophotometry, at altitude of 600m, phosphorus content of the 4-year-old ginseng was 0.2665%, at altitude of 800m, phosphorus content of 5-year old ginseng was 0.2755%; at altitude of 305m, phosphorus content of the 4-year-old ginseng was 0.0687%, at altitude of 500m, phosphorus content of the 5-year ginseng was 0.086%. With the increases of altitude, phosphorus content has lower and increased. Potassium content were measured by using flame photometer, at altitude of 400m, potassium content of the 4-year-old ginseng was 1.933%, at altitude of 305m, potassium content of 5 year old ginseng was 2.026%; at altitude of 800m, potassium content of the 4-year-old ginseng was 0.468%, at altitude of 1134m, potassium content of the 5-year old ginseng was 0.618%. With the altitude increases, potassium content has lower and increased, as a whole, potassium content at altitude of 700m to 1410m was significantly lower than at altitude of 127m to 600m, so potassium content was higher at low altitude than high altitude.Determination of trace elements content: The content of the trace elements iron, manganese, zinc and copper of 4 years and 5 years old ginseng at altitude of 127m-1410m in Changbai Mountain area were determined by using flame atomic absorption spectrometry.4 regions including Hunchun, Ji'an, Fusong and Changbai, in the same area, iron, manganese, zinc and copper levels were increased as the altitude increases.At the altitude of 1410m, iron, manganese, zinc, copper contents of 4-year old and 5-year old ginseng were higher, while at the altitude of 400m, iron, manganese, zinc and copper contents the 4-year old and 5-year old ginseng were lower. With the increase of years, iron content has little change, zinc content has increased, manganese and copper content has lower and increased. In addition to iron, at the same altitude of 500m-600m and the same years, manganese, zinc, copper contents of Fusong region ginseng were lower than Ji'an region ginseng.