The Effect of Germanium Treatment on Rain Shelter House Cultivation of Korean Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer)

Ginseng (Panax Ginseng C. A. Meyer) is a perennial shade plant cultivated in Korea, China, U.S.A, Canada, and Germany. Ginseng is known to be effective in improving liver function, hypertension, diabetes, strengthening immunity, preventing aging, and improving memory. In general, Korean ginseng is cultivated in shading facilities covered with shade net. However, climate characteristics in Korea that include rainy season in the summer could lead to increase disease and pest in ginseng cultivation, and decrease production yield due to excess moisture injury. Therefore, cultivation technique using rain shelter house was developed as an alternative. Rain shelter house fundamentally can protect ginseng from rainwater which is the cause of disease and water injury resulting in increase of ginseng yield. We treated water-soluble germanium, which is known to enhance functionality of ginseng, to 3-years-old ginseng grown in rain shelter house at a concentration of 500ppm and 1000ppm. The weight of ginseng root treated with 500ppm and 1000ppm germanium solution were 26.7 g and 29.2 g, respectively, while that of untreated group was 19.6 g. The amounts of ginsenosides in Korean ginseng were higher in germanium treated group than untreated group. The contents of Rg1, Re, Rf, Rb1, Rc and Rb2 were 2.26 mg, 4.10 mg, 1.18 mg, 3.83 mg/Rc 1.74 mg, and 1.53 mg, respectively(Figure). Total saponin contents were also higher in germanium treated groups, which show an increase of 44% and 40%, respectively. These results represent that water soluble germanium might be a material to improve ginseng yield and saponin content in ginseng cultivation.

Fig. 1: Comparison of saponin| content in 3-year-old ginseng by treatment of germanium