Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2021, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (11): 1263-1274.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2020.0401

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Differences in soil nutrients and phenolic acid metabolites contents in American ginseng cultivated soils with different restoration years

LI Chong-Wei1, BAI Xin-Fu1, CHEN Guo-Zhong1, ZHU Ping1, ZHANG Shu-Ting2, HOU Yu-Ping1,*(), ZHANG Xing-Xiao1,*()   

  1. 1College of Life Sciences, Ludong University, Yantai, Shandong 264025, China
    2College of Ecology and Environment, Yunnan University, Kunming 650504, China
  • Received:2020-12-04 Accepted:2021-07-05 Online:2021-11-20 Published:2021-08-26
  • Contact: HOU Yu-Ping,ZHANG Xing-Xiao
  • Supported by:
    Major Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shandong Province(2017GGH5129);National Natural Science Foundation of China(31770581);Shandong Province Higher Educational Science and Technology Program(J17KA128);Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Project for college students in Shandong Province(201810451021)

Abstract:

Aims The cultivation of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is of high economic benefits, but the continuous cropping has begun to limit the sustainable development of its industry. At present, the research on the problems of continuous cropping is limiting. In this study, the changes in soil nutrients and phenolic acid metabolites were measured and analyzed to investigate the key nutrient and allelopathic factors that may cause problems under continuous cropping of American ginseng, using the restoration plots for 1, 10, and 20 years after the long-term use of American ginseng cultivation (A1, A10, A20, respectively) and the control plot (CK) without cultivation of American ginseng.
Methods Soil nutrients contents were determined by conventional chemical methods and the gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Phenolic acid metabolites contents in soil were determined by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Important findings The results showed that soil pH in the three groups of restoration plots was significantly lower than the CK plots. The contents of 25 organic nutrients (amino acids, sugars and alcohols) in A1 were significantly decreased, and the contents of N-acetylornithine, 5-aminovaleric acid, serine, leucine, glycerin and sophora in all restoration plots were significantly decreased compared to those in CK and had not returned to the control level even after 20 years of restoration. Simultaneously, contrary to expectations, the contents of coumaric acid, protocatechuic acid, ferulic acid and benzoic acid in A1 were significantly lower than those in CK, but could return to the control level after 10 years of restoration. In addition, the contents of p-coumaric acid and syringic acid in A1, A10 and A20 were significantly lower than those in CK, and even after 20 years of restoration, it had not returned to the control level. Attention should be paid to the positive effects of phenolic acid metabolites on the growth of American ginseng. The correlation analysis showed that most of the above organic nutrients contents, pH and phenolic acid metabolites contents showed significantly positive correlations among each other, indicating that there was a significant interaction between soil characteristics. In conclusion, soil acidification, decreases of organic nutrients contents and phenolic acids contents and synergistic effect of soil properties caused by cultivation of American ginseng may be the key factors leading to the problems of continuous cropping.

Key words: Panax quinquefolius, continuous cropping obstacle, organic nutrients, phenolic acid metabolites, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)