Studies On The Seeds (Seedlings) Quality Standards And Monomeric Saponins In Farmland Panax Quinquefolius

The shortage of seed sources and instability quality of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) has become the "bottleneck" restricting its cultivation industrial development. The significant of establishing the quality standards of American ginseng seeds and enhancing the economic benefits of its farming was truly important, while the seeds quality classification of American ginseng has not been reported as yet. Therefore, the research on establishing quality grading standards of American ginseng seeds has been carried out by our group, providing system guarantee and scientific basis for the standardized management and cultivation in American ginseng seeds (seedlings). Deforestation cultivation was the main mode of cropping system of American ginseng. After30years of large-scale deforestation, remaining available forest land has shown a small surplus in China, which resulted in a great damage of forest vegetation, biodiversity and ecological environment. Continuous cropping barrier has been also getting worse, followed by the declining of seedling number and economic benefits with years, which is difficult to satisfy the demand. Yet, field culture has provided a new way to solve the issue of deforestation cultivation, with its unknown efficacy ingredients to be studied. Ginsenoside, as the main active ingredient of ginseng, is an important indicator of its quality evaluation. Therefore, the measurement of8monomer saponins would provide a reference for the quality control of farmland American ginseng. The main content is as follows.Quality analysis has been carried out on50batches of American ginseng samples collected from Jilin, Jingyu, Panshi, Ji’an, Changbai, Fusong, Huadian and Yongji by2010. Based on the principle of average linkage cluster analysis, seed purity,1000-gain weight, water content, germination ratio and mean vitality were measured and clarified into different natural classes. These classes were then sorted from big to small, and calculated the distance between them by cluster analysis method. After that, the small distanced factors were merged step-by-step to the desired class number, with the same leveled seed near general and the other ones closed to the decimal side belonging to a substandard level. Lastly, the primary and secondary indicators of American ginseng seed grading standards were judged by the affection of the5indicators to the seed quality for3grades, with seed purity≥98.28%,1000-gain weight>40.08g, water content≥9.60%, germination ratio≥98.27%, viability≥98.42%classified as grade I seeds, seed purity between95.30%to98.28%,1000-grain weight36.70g to40.08g, water content of7.71%to9.60%, germination rate between91.90%and98.27%, the life force of between95.92%and98.42%classified as grade Ⅱ seed, seed purity≥94.20%,1000-grain weight≥ 34.43g, water content≥7.09%, germination rate≥84.79%, mean vitality≥95.25%classified as grade Ⅲ seeds; the rest was substandard seed.The American ginseng seedling grading standards was laid down on the indicators of root weight and root length of36American ginseng seedlings, with weight≥1.61g and length≥4.04cm of1-year-aged root, weight≥3.26g and length≥9.64cm of2-year-aged root, weight≥10.13g and length≥20.25cm of3-year-aged root classified as grade Ⅰ seeds; weight between1.47g and1.61g, length between3.66cm and4.04cm of1-year-aged root, weight of2.97g to3.26g, length between8.76cm and9.64cm of2-year-aged root, weight between8.31g and10.13g, root length between17.76cm to20.25cm of3-year-aged classified as grade Ⅱ seed; weight≥1.33g and length≥3.36cm of1-year-aged root, weight≥2.69g and length≥8.03cm of2-year-aged root, weight≥6.61g and length≥15.72cm of3-year-aged root classified as grade Ⅲ seedlings; the rest was substandard seedling.Quality evaluation of Panax quinquefolius was determined to monomer saponin content of4-6years old and8kinds of monomers of the5-year-old farmland American ginseng by HPLC and ensured that its monomer saponin content has exceeded the requirements of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The5-year-aged farmland American ginseng has significantly higher monomer saponin content of Rg1, Re, Rb1with both separated and total saponin amount than deforestation-garden cultured ones. However, the saponin content of Rc, Rb1and Rb3in5-year-aged farmland American ginseng was significantly lower than the5-year-old deforestation cultivated American ginseng. While, monomer saponin content of Rg1, Rd and3kinds of monomer saponin Rg1, Re and Rb1in5-year-old farmland American ginseng was significantly higher than4-year-old and6-year-old farmland American ginseng. On the other hand,5-year-aged farmland American ginseng has significantly higher monomer saponin content of Rg1, Rd2and total amount of Rg1、Re and Rb1than4-year-aged farmland American ginseng and6-year-aged deforestation cultured ones, thus monomer saponin content of Re, Rc, Rb2and Rb3in4-year-aged farmland American ginseng was significantly lower than the5-year-old and6-year-old farmland American ginseng.