Influence Of Plant Growth Regulator Zhuanggenling On Quality Of Codonopsis Radix(Tangshen)

Codonopsis Radix(Tangshen in Chinese)is a kind of rhizomatous crop.In the process of agricultural production,the plant growth regulator,is usually used to enhance the biological yield.However,its effect on the quality and food safety of Tangshen is still unknown.In the present study,target analysis,GC-MS,amino acid analyzer and non-target analysis based on UPLC-TOFMS techniques were employed to characterize comprehensive profile of Tangshen exposed to Zhuanggenling(a kind of plant growth regulator)treatment.Functional components,free amino acids,volatile components and other unknown metabolites of Tangshen were studied so as to evaluate the effects of Zhuanggenling on the quality of Tangshen.Results were as follow:(1)There were no significant effects(p>0.05)on the water,ash,leach,lobetyolin and atractylenolide III of Tangshen exposed to Zhuanggenling.However,it could obviously reduce 30% of polysaccharide content of Tangshen(p<0.05).(2)Great influence of free amino acids and volatile components of Tangshen exposed to Zhuanggenling were found.The contents of a variety of free amino acids increased significantly,in which 6 times increased in glutamic acid,4 times in both asparagine and alpha aminoadipic acid,1 timesin ornithine.39 kinds of volatile components of Tangshen were detected,including acid,alcohol,aldehyde,ester,olefin,aromatic and alkanes.The relative contents of squalene and pentadecanoic acid were higher and they were the main volatile components of Tangshen.Compared with the control group,the content of 2-ethylhexanol increased significantly by 10 times,and the contents of 14 kinds of volatile compounds decreased significantly by 24%-81% in Zhuanggenling group.(3)24 unknown differential metabolites were identified between the control group and the Zhuanggenling group.For the Tangshen exposed to Zhuanggenling,the contents of 14 kinds of differential metabolites increased in varying degrees,in which 6 kinds of differential metabolites were reported to have immune activities.Meanwhile,the contents of 10 kinds of differential metabolites visibly decreased(p<0.01),in which mainly were alkaloids and their derivatives and esters.The physiological activity or toxicity of these metabolites had not been reported.According to the structure of these alkaloids,however,it were presumed that they might be the Synthetic intermediates of macromolecules such as amino acids and purines.In summary,Zhuanggenling fertilizer could effectively improve the synthesis of amino acids in Tangshen.However,it might affect the smell of Tangshen and reduce its content of polysaccharides.In addition,the contents of some specific immune active fatty acids or carbohydrates metabolites of Tangshen obviously increased,suggesting that it might enhance the immune activity of Tangshen.No increase in the risk of toxicity or safety was found at present.