Effect Of Fertilization On Growth And Development Characters And The Content Of Total Flavonoids Of Schizonepeta Tenuifolia (Benth) Briq.

Schizonepeta tenuifolia (Benth) Briq. is one of the eight important medical plants in HeBei province, and it is cultivated in whole country. Recently because of increasing demand for Schizonepeta tenuifolia, gradually the growing area is becoming larger and larger, and also, its quality is paid more and more attention to. The cultivation practices of Schizonepeta tenuifolia, however, still followed the traditional way, such as fertilizer abuse and extensive management. So the yield and medical value is becoming lower greatly. The medical value Schizonepeta tenuifolia has been studying for many years, but the fertilization techniques and the absorption and distribution of nutrients have been paid little attention. In order to make clear the effect of fertilization on Schizonepeta tenuifolia, a field experiment, including three levels of organic manure, three levels of inorganic ferlilizers, and a no fertilizer control, was conducted in the years 2004 and 2005. The main results were summarized as follows:1. Through two years observation, the growing stages (phenostages) and the growing phases of Schizonepeta tenuifolia were ascertained primarily. The phenostages included emergence stage, true leaf stage, branching stage, flower-bud emergence stage, early flowering stage, full flowering stage, end flowering stage and maturity stage. The growing phase of Schizonepeta tenuifolia included seedling period, flower-budding period, flower-spike period and maturity period.2. With the growing processes, the stem of Schizonepeta tenuifolia grew slowly during seedling period, grew rapidly during flower budding period and slowed down again during flower-spike period. Schizonepeta tenuifolia reached maximum plant height during flower-spike period. Based on the experiment data, the growing curves of plant height and stem diameter coubld be described as S type. The dry weights of root, stem, leaf and spike coubld be described as S curves either. The priority sequence of dry matter accumulation was stem, leaf, spike and root.The growing curves of plant heights and stem diameters of all the treatments with fertilizers were similar to those of CK. The dry matter accumulation curves of roots, stems, leaves and spikes of Schizonepeta tenuifolia with fertilizers were also similar to those of CK. However, the effects of fertilization on the growth of Schizonepeta tenuifolia weresignificant. And all the indexs above were much higher for the treatments with fertilizers than for CK without any fertilizer. For the effect of fertilizers on growing characters, high-level fertilizer treatment was better than mid-level, and which was better than low-level.3. During the whole growing span of Schizonepeta tenuifolia, the changing dynamics of Chi a was similar to that of Chi b. The order of the average contents of Chi a and Chi b during the whole growth span was as follows: seedling period > flower budding period > flower-spike period. The maximum value of Chi a appeared at early flower bud stage. The maximum value of Chi b was at the mid-seedling stage. With leaf senescence, the contents of Chi a and Chi b reached the lowest at late growing stage. The Chr content was stable relatively in the whole growing duration, and the maximum appeared at mid-seedling period. The order of the ratio of Chi a and Chi b in the whole growth duration was as follows: flower budding period > flower-spike period > seedling period. Both the Chi a+ b content and the ratio of Chi a+b/Chr increased first and then decreased.The contents of Chi a, Chi b and Chr of fertilized treatments were higher significantly than those of CK, but the difference of the pigment contents between organic fertilizer treatments and inorganic fertilizer treatments were not significant.4. The changing dynamics of total flavonoids content in the stems of Schizonepeta tenuifolia was similar to that in leaves, but the content in leaves was 1.22-2.24 times of that in stems. In the whole growth duration, the order of the average content of total flavonoids was as follows: leaves > spikes > stems.Suitable organic manure could enhance the content of total flavonoids in leaf, spike and stem, while excessive organic manure decreased the content of total flavonoids. the content of total flavonoids in stems , leaves and spikes of Schizonepeta tenuifolia of 5250 kg/hm2chicken manure treatment is the hightest under this test. Inorganic fertilizer restrained the accumulation of total flavonoids. Organic manure was a better choice in the production of Schizonepeta tenuifolia.5. The manure or fertilizers significantly increased spike yield and total plant yield of Schizonepeta tenuifolia. Comparing with CK, the average spike yield and total plant yield increased by 99.00% and 57.21% for organic manure treatments, and 88.54% and 45.29% for inorganic fertilizer, respectively. The yields of all the treatments with fertilizers or manure were statistically significantly higher at 0.01 level than those of CK. The yields of spike and total plant of Schizonepeta tenuifolia with high level of organic manure and inorganic fertilizer, were higher than those of middle and low levels. The Spike yield of Schizonepeta tenuifolia with high organic manure and high inorganic fertilizers reached 3420.76 kg and 3225.09 kg per hectare respectively. And the total plant yield of Schizonepeta tenuifolia with high organic manure and high inorganic fertilizers reached 14238.07 kg and 12368.09 kg per hectare respectively.6. Accordint to the results of the experiment, the suitable harvest time of Schizonepeta tenuifolia was flowering period when both the content of total flavonoids and the yield of total plants reached the maximum value, and the apparent characters of Schizonepeta tenuifolia were best. Delaying harvest could decrease yield, medical quantity and economic values.7. Spike yield and total plant yield of Schizonepeta tenuifolia, and spike total flavonoids yield and upper part of plant total flavonoids yield of 15750kg per hectare chicken manure treatment is all the highest,but the content of total flavonoids of 5250 per hectare chicken manure treatment is the highest, considering factors the yield and quality of Schizonepeta tenuifolia, the most suitable quantity of chicken manure wasl5750kg per hectare chicken manure.