Effects Of Drought On Growth And The Accumulation Of Active Ingredients Of Salvia Miltiorrhiza

Salvia miltiorrhiza( Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge) is one of the important traditional Chinese herbal medicine. The pharmaceutical composition in it is mainly secondary metabolites which are always produced under the stress. And drought is the most important environmental stress factors, the effects of drought on the growth and yield of plants is very huge. Effects of different levels of water stress on the plants are different. The main purpose of this study is to provide the research ideas and technical reference for the use of irrigation volume control the accumulation of active ingredients at the actual production process. And provide the basal theory for the mechanism of Salvia drought.This research uses the water stress experiment with pot culture to do it. I transplanted the Salvia seeding which is about 180d old to the pot in mid-March 2010. This kind of Salvia seeding is from Shangluo city. And the water control experiment began in May. Experiments were divided into three treatments and each of them would have 35 repeat. These treatments respectively are suitable for water (field water holding capacity of 70%), moderate stress (field water holding capacity of 55%) and severe stress (field water holding capacity of 40%). Measuring the height and the length of leaf by a ruler directly each five days, sampled once every 20 days to measure the water content , protective enzymes and the main accumulation of the secondary metabolites in the part of ground and underground from May to the end of July, and sampled once every 10 days from August to the mid-October. The protective enzymes are Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT) and Peroxidase (POD).The results of this study are as follows:(1) The water stress inhibited the elongation of the aerial parts of Salvia. Water consumption in the three groups have the same trend, the highest water consumption is the suitable water treatment group, followed by moderate stress, severe stress minimum. In this study, the group of severe stress has the highest SOD activity, followed by moderate stress, suitable water treatment group minimum. So the SOD activity increased to resist damage under water stress. The activity of CAT and POD are highest for the suitable water treatment group. That tells us that the reactions of CAT and POD in Salvia miltiorrhiza are not obvious when they removal the oxygen from the water stress.(2) The results showed that severe stress is more favorable to the water-soluble components accumulate in the aerial parts of Salvia. The accumulation of Sodium danshensu, Rosmarinic acid and Protocatechuic aldehyde are higher in the aboveground of Salvia miltiorrhiza when it under the severe stress. And the accumulation of Salvianolic acid B is highest in the the aboveground of Salvia miltiorrhiza when it under the moderate stress. The accumulation of Salvianolic acid B, Sodium danshensu and Rosmarinic acid are higher in the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza when it under the moderate stress. But the accumulation of Protocatechuic aldehyde in the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza is not significant between the three groups. Those results indicated that moderate water stress is more favorable to the water-soluble components accumulate of Salvia miltiorrhiza and the accumulation of Protocatechuic aldehyde in the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza is little effected by the water stress.(3) In this study the aerial parts of Salvia failed to detect the fat-soluble components, while the roots were higher. And the accumulation of TanshinoneⅡA, Dihydro tanshinone and Tanshinone are higher in the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza when it under the suitable water stress. And Cryptotanshinone is higher when it under the moderate water stress. So overall the accumulation of the soluble components of Salvia miltiorrhiza is higher when it under the suitable water stress.