Quality Evaluation On Salvia Miltiorrhiza Of Different Varieties From Zhongjiang, Sichuan Province

Chinese herbal DanShen comes from dried rhizomes and roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza, which belongs to Salvia Linn. in Labiaceae, according to the pharmacopoeia of The People's Republic of China (ChP). It was widely used for its good treatments to many diseases and was cultivated in Sichuan, Henan, Shandong and other provinces. Because of its red skin, thick flesh and high content of active components, DanShen cultivated in Sichuan was better than others. Accordingly, Sichuan province was considered as the authentic production area of DanShen, which was mainly cultivated at Zhongjiang County, where there were six varieties of S.miltiorrhiza named XY, ZX, BY, GD, AD and ZD. The different varieties of DanShen were planted in mixed way, thus making the yield and the content of active components instable. In order to provide basic data for distinguishing different varieties and establishing a system of excellent varieties, this paper made a study on the morphological characteristics, agronomic traits, appearance, photosynthetic characteristics, content of active components as well as biomass of the six major varieties, and then evaluated their comprehensive quality based on the analytic hierarchy process(AHP). The main results were as follows:1. The morphological characteristics of all varieties were observed. The leaf of BY was light green and the top leaflet was acuminate while the others were dark green and acute. The anthers of ZD and AD were purple or yellow-white while the others were only purple. The corollas of ZD, GD and AD were purple and the top leaflet was large. The fertile stamens of ZD were jointed while those of GD and AD were separated. The top leaflets of XY and ZX were small and the corollas were purple or blue-purple. The flowers of ZX were less than others or even blossomless.2. Agronomic traits of six varieties were observed and analyzed. The fresh and dry yield of ZX and ZD was higher than that of others. Their fresh yield could be up to 350 g per plant and their dry yield could be up to 100 g. The drying rate of ZD was highest (27.7%) and the lowest was in GD (14.9%). The highest grate rate was in ZX (42%) while the minimum was in BY (14.9%).3. The appearance of their dried roots was observed and analyzed. Results indicated that the skin of dried roots from BY was dark red or gray and the section of most roots from BY was yellow-white and the xylem was obvious. But the skin of dried roots from other varieties was dark red or fresh red and the section was purple and the xylem was not obvious. It was widely accepted that DanShen whose skin was red, section was purple and with degradation xylem was better than others. Thus, the appearance of BY was poorest while the others were good.4. When the light was at the range of 0 to 400μmol·m-2·s-1, the net photosynthetic rate of all varieties had the same trend with the light intensity changing, but the trend of intercellular CO2 concentration was the opposite. When the light was between 400 to 2000μmol·m-2·s-1, the changes of net photosynthetic rate and intercellular CO2 concentration were smooth with the light intensity increasing. As the light increases, the stomatal conductance and transpiration rate showed a linear increase in all varieties. The apparent quantum efficiency of every strain was high, which means high capability in using low light intensity. The light saturation point and the maximum photosynthetic rate of ZX and GD were higher than others, so the ability to use glare and photosynthetic potential were higher than others. The determination of chlorophyll content showed that chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid content in all varieties were nearly same in quantity. The content in ZX was higher than in others.5. The content of active components and biomass were tested. The results showed that the content of salianic acid B was more than what the ChP required in all varieties, but the content of tanshinoneⅡA was less than what the ChP required in ZD, ZX and BY. The content of tanshinoneⅡA, cryptotanshinone and tanshinonⅠin XY was higher than others while the biomass of them was highest in AD. But the content of protocatechuic aldehyde, salianic acid B, salvianolic acid A was highest in AD while the biomass of them was highest in ZD. Correlation analysis showed that only the content of tanshinoneⅡA was significantly in positive relation to that of tanshinonⅠand salianic acid B.6. The results of quality evaluation showed that the content of active components had greatest impact on the quality of DanShen and the agronomic traits came second. The appearance had minimum impact on its quality. The contents of tanshinoneⅡA and salianic acid B were the most important factors affecting the quality of DanShen. The results of AHP indicated the comprehensive quality of AD was best while that of BY was worst.