Relationship between Asian ginseng decline and soil chemical property

Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is commonly used as a medicinal plant and as a functional vegetable in the world.
Cultivation of Asian ginseng requires around 4-6 years, but before reaching the peak production stage, marketable yields decrease due to stunted seedlings, rotting roots, stem discoloration, wilting, and death.
This phenomenon is known as ginseng decline.
Some biotic (diseases) and abiotic (allelopathy) factors cause decline symptoms and replant problems.
In this study, the relationship between Asian ginseng growth and soil chemical properties of the field was surveyed.
Allelochemicals in the field soils (1-6 year-cultivated) were estimated by in vitro testing method using lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. ‘Great Lakes’) seedlings, susceptible to allelochemicals.
The dry weight of roots and root length of the indicator plant decreased in the long-cultivated soil plots compared to the short one.
In this case, soil chemical properties such as mineral elements (NO₃^–, PO₄^3-, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺) and pH had no consistent association with growth suppression.
UPLC-MS analysis showed a specific peak in the long-cultivated field soils.
These results, raise the possibility that allelochemicals suppressing the growth of plant roots exist in the field soils with long-term cultivation.

IV Asian Horticultural Congress – AHC2023

Md.A.A. Mahmud, Y. Matsubara, T. Ikezawa

allelopathy, in vitro bioassay, Panax ginseng, mineral elements

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1404.195