Background: In Korea, seeds of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer need to be stored under cold temperature and high humidity condition for months to break physiological dormancy, making storage difficult until spring-sowing. This study was conducted to test the effects of seed storage conditions and seed treatment on the emergence of seedling after spring-sowing in a nursery greenhouse. Methods and Results: After dehiscence, endocarp dried seeds in mild or completely, and wet seeds were stored in 2℃ and −3.5℃ during winter. Storage at −3.5℃ resulted in a lower emergence rate (ER) than that at 2℃, and additional cold (2℃) treatment before or after storage at −3.5℃ increased the ER. Endocarp dehydration prevented pre-germination at 2℃ storage and increased the ER of seeds stored at −3.5℃. ER was also dependent on the batch of seeds. However, seed treatments before sowing had only limited effects on ER. Root loss was the main reason for damping-off; prolonged cold storage of seeds increased damping-off, as the detection of pathogens was not high. Conclusions: This study showed that storage conditions such as temperature and moisture content of seeds, affect the ER after spring-sowing and vitality of seedlings, suggesting further attention on seed control for secure seedling stands after spring-sowing.

Background : Panax ginseng C. A. meyer is currently cultivated throughout the Korea Peninsula except for Jeju Island. We divided into 3 sectors according to latitude, north, middle, and south, and compared ginseng growth and environmental factors. Methods and Results : We surveyed 11 farms, and while temperature, plant density, sunshade material, and soil properties were varied between the farms, most north part used sunshade film and transfer-seeding, and middle-south and south part used sunshade net, and direct-seeding. From 1st to 10th of June, 2018, the temperature inside of sunshade of each farm which ranged 20.5 - 24.5℃ did not concerted with the local meteorological air temperature nor latitude. The average plant length was 66.0 ± 8.1 with a significant difference between local farms (p < 0.001). Plant length showed high correlation with stem length, stem diameter, leaf length, and leaf width, but not with chlorophyll content, thus plant length was used to compare the effects of environmental factors on plant growth. The temperature had negative correlations between plant length (r = -0.396, p = 0.056) and stem length (r = -0.420, p = 0.041), but not with others. When local farms grouped into 3 sectors, the temperature inside sunshade was lowest in south than others, and stem diameter, leaf length, and leaf width of north sector were higher than other sectors. Conclusion : The temperature of local farm might affected by micro environment such as sunshade and geometrical properties, and partially devote on the growth difference between the local farms.

Background: Saline soil has negative effects on the growth of most crops. Sodium is the main element that causes salt accumulation in soil. Organic materials such as cow and poultry manure, are frequently used during the preparation stage, which causes an increase in the rate of salt accumulation in the soil. Methods and Results: To investigate the influences of sodium on ginseng, NaH2PO4, Na2SO4, and NaCl were used to adjust the sodium concentrations at 0, 12.5, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mM in nutrient solution. In a 2-year-old ginseng, toxic symptoms appeared when the sodium treatment exceeded 50 mM. The sodium concentration in the leaves was 3.33%, which is more than twice as high as that of the control treated at 50 mM. As the sodium concentration increased, the root weight significantly decreased. In the 100 mM treatment, the weight decreased by 28% when compared to that of the control. The Amount of ginsenoside significantly increased with an increase in sodium concentrations. Conclusions: These results suggest that the growth of 2-year-old ginseng is negatively affected when sodium exceeds 50 mM. This result can be used for a as basis in diagnosing the physiological disorders of ginseng.

Background: Since the revised Ginseng Industrial Act was passed, ginseng sprouts have become a new medicinal vegetable for which there is high consumer demand. However, the existing amount of research and data on ginseng production has not kept pace with this changed reality. Methods and Results: In this study we analyzed the changes in the amounts of ginsenosides in different parts of growing ginseng sprouts during the period from when organic seedlings were planted in nursery soil until 8 weeks of cultivation had elapsed, which was when the leaves hardened. In the leaves, ginsenoside content increased 1.62 times with the panaxadiol (PD) system and 1.31 - 1.56 times with the panaxatriol (PT) system from 7 to 56 days after transplantation. During the same period, the total ginsenoside content of the stems decreased by 0.66 - 0.91 times, and those of the roots increased until the 21st day, and then underwent steep declines. The effect of fermented press cake extract (FPCE) and tap water (TP) on the total amount of ginsenoside per plant were similar, and could be represented with the equations y = 1.4330 + 0.2262x - 0.0008x2 and y = 0.9555 + 0.2997x - 0.0031x2 in which y = ginsenoside content x = amount of and on the total amounts of FPCE or TP, respectively after 26.4 days, however, the difference between ginsenoside content with FPCE and TP widened. Conclusions: These results suggested that the amounts of ginsenosides in different parts of ginseng varied with the cultivation period and nutrient supply. These findings also provide fundamental data on the distribution of ginsenosides among plant parts for 2- year-old ginseng plants in the early- growth stage.

Background: The cultivation of ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) in greenhouses could reduce the use of pesticides and result in higher yield; however, construction costs are problematic. The adaptation of direct-sowing culture in greenhouses could reduce the cost of ginseng production. Methods and Results: To improve seedling establishment in direct-sowing culture, effects of sowing density (SD), number of seeds sown per hole (SN), and thinning (TH) treatment on the root yield were investigated after 3 years of seeding. The emergence rate was significantly influenced by SD, but not by SN or TH. Damping-off and rusty roots increased with an increase in SN with diminishing effects of SN on seedling establishment. Root weight and diameter were affected by SD, SN, and TH, however, there were no statistical significances. The total number of roots harvested per unit area increased with increasing SD and SN, and the weight of roots was affected by SD, but not by SN or TH. Conclusions: Multi-seed sowing per hole and/or thinning might not be an efficient method for the direct-sowing culture of ginseng. The SD for direct seeding culture in greenhouses should be approximately 33 - 42 seeds/㎡ for an optimum yield of 3-year-old ginseng.

Background: Dehisced ginseng seeds need to be stored at cold temperatures for around 3 months to break their physiological dormancy, and thus, to aid in gemination. In the presence of high moisture in such an environment, seed spoilage and pre-germination may lower seed quality and productivity. To improve seed quality during cold-stratification, the effects of seed dehydration and temperature were tested. Methods and Results: In early December, dehisced ginseng seeds were dehydrated at 4 different levels and stored at 2℃- 2℃, and –20℃ for 3 months. Germination was carried out on the filter papers moistened with distilled water; emergence of root, shoot, and seed spoilage were assessed. Seed viability was examined by the tetrazolium test. More than 90% of the seeds stored at 2℃ and –2 ℃ without drying or endocarp dehydration germinated, but seeds that were dehydrated to have a moisture content (MC) below 31% showed poor germination and lost their viability. In addition, the seeds stored at –20℃ failed to show effective germination. Conclusions: Seed storage after endocarp dehydration might help to improve seed quality and increase seedling's ability to stand during the spring-sowing of ginseng.

Background: Ginseng is a perennial crop grown for more than four years in the same place. Therefore, it is highly affected by the soil environment, especially nutrients in the soil. The present study was carried out to investigate to the influence of boron and iron concentrations on the physiological status, growth, and mineral uptake of ginseng to obtain the basic information for diagnosing a physiological disorder in ginseng plants. Methods and Results: The boron and iron concentrations were controlled at 3, 30, 150, 300 and 2, 20, 100, 200㎎/ℓ, respectively. When treated with 150㎎/ℓ of boron, the ginseng plants showed yellowing or necrosis symptoms at the edge or end of their leaves. Compared with the 3㎎/ℓ treatment, the root weight decreased by 13 and 24% in the 150 and 300㎎/ℓ treatments, respectively. When treated with 20㎎/ℓ of iron, the ginseng plants showed yellowing between the veins of the leaves followed by the formation of brown spots. The root weight gradually decreased with increasing iron concentration. Approximately 55% decrease in root weight was observed upon treatment with 200㎎/ℓ of iron. Conclusions: The boron toxicity occurs in the leaves of ginseng at the boron concentration of approximately 1,900㎎/㎏ or more. The iron toxicity occurs at the iron concentration of approximately 120㎎/㎏ for leaves and 270㎎/㎏ for roots.

Background : Upon harvest in the summer, seeds of Panax ginseng are unmatured and need further maturation, dehiscence and cold-stratification, for germination. For the cold-stratification, the seeds should be stored in the cold temperature for 90-100 days, however no further description about the storage condition have been described even though there have been many problems in emergence rate and quality of ginseng in the spring-sowed filed. Methods and Results : Thus here we tested 3 different storage temperature(2℃, -2℃, and – 20℃) in combination of 4 different seed water content(59%, 54%, 31%, and 7%) as cold-stratification condition. After 100 days of storage, seeds were placed on the filter paper after watering with distilled water in the petri dish and incubated at 10℃. Fifty percent of seeds stored at 2℃ with 59% water content had already germinated even in the storage room before germination test. Seeds with 59% and 54% water content stored at 2℃ and –2℃ germinated in a similar rate, but emergence of above ground part was higher in the seeds with 54% water content. Seeds with 31% and 7% water content stored at 2℃ and –2℃ showed low germination rate, because of fail in stratification or death. Seeds stored at –20℃ scored even lower germination rate and fail in emergence of above ground part. Conclusion : Seed water content and temperature during the cold-stratification period of ginseng seeds affected on the seed viability and germination rate, thus control of seed water content and storage temperature might improve the emergence rate of spring-sowed ginseng filed.

Background : Recently, some ginseng has been greenhouse production within the purse of fresh vegetables. The chemical of bed soil is very important because this leads to the stabilization of production in ginseng cultivation. The objective was to investigate the effects of composition of bed soil type on the growth. Methods and Results : Bed soil was commercial bed soil to the control and compared bed soil in 5 types. Culture nutrient solution was modified from Korea Wonshi nutrient solutions. Nutrient solution supply system has been applied to sub-irrigation system. Light intensity and photoperiod were 100 μmol⋅m-2⋅s-1 and 16 h, respectively; and air temperature was maintained at 25 ± 5℃. Nutrient solution was supplied after transplantation 20 days. Soil sampling was investigated every 30 days, and shoot growth were investigated from 60 to 150 days. Bed soil analysis result, the content of NO3 and P2O5 were significantly changed after 60 days in all types soil. The quantity of NO3 and P2O5 decreased with increase growth period. Also, Growth of roots showed a large influence of the soil pH. Conclusion : Results for ginseng hydroponic culture will enable the production of stable soil environment and efficient ginseng fresh vegetables.

Background: The photosynthetic efficiency cool-season, semi-shade ginseng is normal at low morning temperatures, but drops at high afternoon temperatures. Therefore, optimal plant performance would be ensured if it were possible to control daily light transmission rates (LTR). Methods and Results: Plants were grown in a controlled light environment that replicated 11 AM conditions and comparatively analyzed against plant grown under normal conditions. Growth in the controlled light environment resulted in a 2.81 fold increase in photosynthetic efficiency with no change in chlorophyll content, although LTR were high due to low morning temperatures. Increased aerial plant growth was observed in the ginseng plants adapted to the controlled light environment, which in turn influenced root weight. An 81% increase in fresh root weight (33.3 g per plant on average) was observed in 4-year-old ginseng plants grown in controlled light environment compared to the plants grown following conventional practices (18.4 g per plant on average). With regard to the inorganic composition of leaves of 4-year-old ginseng plants grown in controlled light environment, an increased in Fe content was observed, while Mn and Zn content decreased, and total ginsenoside content of roots increased 2.37 fold. Conclusions: Growth of ginseng under a favorable light environment, such as the condition which exist naturally at 11 AM and are suitable for the plant's photosynthetic activity creates the possibility of large scale production, excellent-quality ginseng.

Background : Green house hydroponic ginseng in the production cycle is shorter than the open field cultivation growers and attention. In particular, this part of the Aerial is a study on the active ingredients and contents. Ginseng has been focused on the past producing soil cultivation, producing hydroponic ginseng aerial part is known to have a high content of ginsenosides, and the active ingredient. Irrigation method, the culture soil and nutrient management are the impacts associated with the product's performance on ginseng growth. Ginseng growth stage is divided into five stages: emergence, foliation, root elongation, root enlargement and defoliation. because ginseng requires a water adjustment for each growth stage. It has been trying to control bottom surface irrigation and nutrient concentrations. Methods and Results : Ginseng seedling has been used for experiments to screen a healthy seedling of around 0.8g. Each of the seedling transplanted box was water supplied to the timer and the individual nozzle was 4ℓ amount per hour. All growth measures and sampling was carried out four times a seedling transplantation from 30 to 120 days. Soil sampling each time was a chemical analysis. In addition, the plant was used to analyze the ginsenosides. Conclusion : 12 of total ginsenosides ingredients were highest in the aerial part is 90 days, total ginsenosides of the 10 components in the root part was the highest in 30 days. The results were different this ginsenosides content from time to time, there were differences with previous reports. Results are shown to be due to the difference in the cultivation method and environment.

Background : An important feature of the nutrient solution is that they affect not only the growth but also quality of crops by changing nutrient uptake, especially due to changes of EC in nutrient solution. This study was carried out to investigate effect of EC in nutrient solution on growth and ginsenoside of ginseng. Methods and Results : EC in nutrient solution was controlled with 0.68, 0.84, 1.23, 1.41 dS/m. The root weight of ginseng treated by low EC levels in nutrient solution was higher during the initial of growth. However, the higher EC levels, the more increased the change rate of root weight from the initial to the middle of growth. The highest amount of ginsenoside was changed by growth period. Although the total amount of ginsenoside in root is highest treated by EC 0.68 dS/m at 45 days after treatment. the total amount of ginsenoside in root is highest treated by EC 1.23 dS/m at 135 days after treatment. Conclusions : EC in nutrient solution should to be controlled depending on the stage of growth and the part of use, i.e. root and leaves, when ginseng is cultivated through nutri-culture.

Background : Boron (B) is an essential element required for the growth of plant. It has a narrow range of optimal concentration from minimum to maximum thresholds than other micro-elements. The study was carried out to investigate to the influence of B excess concentrations on physiological disorder of leaf, growth and mineral concentration of ginseng to obtain basic information for physiological disorder diagnose. Methods and Results : The ginseng cultivar ‘Gumpoong’ was cultivated by hydroponic system for 2 months. The toxicity symptoms which ginseng leaves were curved downwardly and induced to chlorosis after beginning to dry the edge appeared on leaves more than 30 ppm compared to the control(3 ppm). The growth of ginseng was more decreased with higher B concentration. Mn uptake was also decreased as B concentration increased. It was found that B excess hindered the growth of ginseng and was reversely related to Mn uptake. Conclusions : More than B 30 ppm can negatively affect growth and mineral uptake. Consequently, B excess can occur physiological disorder of ginseng.

Background : The ginseng cool-season and semi-shade plant undergoes photosynthesis smoothly at low temperature in the morning but its efficiency falls at high temperature in the afternoon. Therefore, if it is possible to control light transmission rates (LTR) every day, it will be able to draw an ideal result in the ginseng growth by attracting a lot of lights before 11am and attracting few lights after 11am which is the affect point of the photosynthetic efficiency. Methods and Results : While installing the sun shading facility that could control the light environment based on 11am and surveying the ginseng's growth and photosynthetic characteristics. The photosynthetic efficiency increased 2.81 times compared to conventional practices without the change of the chlorophyll content although LTR was high because of the low temperature in the morning. The aboveground part growth of the ginseng which adapted to the light environment increased to influence the root weight, when the ginseng was 4 years old, the fresh root weight was averagely 33.3g per plant which increased by 81% than 18.4g of conventional practices. Conclusion : If the light environment management according with the photosynthetic nature of the ginseng is conducted based on 11am, it will be possible to produce a large capacity and excellent-quality ginseng.

Background : Ginseng is a semi-shade plant which prefers cool temperature and mild lighting, and artificially installed shading facility is required from preventing photo-oxidation occurrence when ginseng is exposed to direct sunlight. High temperature damages are commonly noticed due to recent global warming although more farmers are using aluminum foil and blue light-proof screen instead of 4-layered polyethylene shade net (blue 3 + black 1) to prevent the rise in temperature and influx of rainwater, there are insufficient research conducted. Methods and Results : In mid-March, 2015, we have installed steel A type shading facility after transplanting 2-year-old domestic variety ginseng in 7 lines, 10 rows per 3.3㎡. We have prevented the excessive influx of direct light by fixing 4-layered shade net, aluminum foil and blue light-proof screen as shading materials on facilities and adding 2-layered black polyethylene shade net. During July and August with high temperature, light transmission rates have shown varying according to shading materials used: blue light-proof screen (8.4%) > aluminum foil (5.9%) > 4-layered shade net (3.3%). In case of the highest temperature reached, the order followed blue light-proof screen (42.3℃) > 4-layered shade net (40.8℃) > aluminum foil (38.3℃), and in case of average temperature it followed blue light-proof screen (48.7%) > 4-layered shade net (37.6%) > aluminum foil (33.2%). Although there were no difference about leaf area among the shading materials, ginseng leaf grown in aluminum foil has lower chlorophyll content than the other two treatment plot because of photooxidation by light damage. The 3-yr-old ginseng root weight harvested in end of October increased as follows light-proof screen (14.4g) > 4-layered shade net (11.9g) > aluminum foil (9.8g). Conclusion : Aluminum foil showed greater influx of light but lower temperature than 4-layered shade net due to its materialistic character. However the front side of foil can reflect light and cause photo-oxidation of rear-planted ginseng leaves, so it is a need for improvement. In case of blue light-proof screen, although it had higher inside temperature, the root weight of ginseng was the heaviest because of less influx of light and destruction of chlorophyll.

Background : Most ginseng seedlings are cultivated in conventional shading facility. However, due to recent climate changes and soil-related bacterial issues, the production of healthy ginseng seedling with its rhizome weigh more than 0.8g has greatly dwindled. Hence, growing seedling system that raises ginseng on nursery soil in greenhouse is being more highlighted. Nevertheless, there are no sufficient researches conducted to study the growth stability after transplantation of ginseng seedling grown at nursery (GSGN). Methods and Results : After categorizing GSGN produced in 2014 according to individual weight (0.5-0.6g, 0.6-0.7g, 0.7-0.8g, 0.8-0.9g), those GSGN with 0.8-0.9g conventional ginseng seedling (CGS) have been transplanted on preparation field in 17, March of the following year. It has turned out that there were no significant differences about seedling emergence rate and weights between GSGN and CGS both same seedling weight of 0.8-0.9g in 25, June after 100 days transplantation. The 2-year-old ginseng growth of transplanted GSGN according to weight has shown strongly positive correlation between the weight of ginseng seedling and their growth. Especially the leaf area and weight have shown significant correlations represented as Y=212.15-567.32X+499.5X2(R2=0.9988) and Y=4.9-12.9X+11.17X2(R2=0.9788), respectively. Meanwhile, there was no significant correlation noticed treatment plot in relationship between seedling emergence rate and chlorophyll content. Conclusion : With the same root weight of GSGN and CGS, it can be judged that the growth of the 2-year-old GSGN is stable.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) control virtually every aspect of plant growth and development. BRs act alone or with other exogenous and endogenous signals including auxin and light. To screen for the novel player involved in BR signaling in Arabidopsis, we employed cDNA overexpression strategy. We created a cDNA library to be expressed under the 35S overexpression promoter, and introduced into a weak brassinosteroid insensitive 1 (bri1) mutant. The mutant dubbed bri1-5 with long petiole (blp) was identified to display bigger stature especially in hypocotyl and petiole length relative to bri1-5. Sequence analysis of the rescued transgene revealed that blp consisted of a chimeric DNA consisting of a 3’ half of PHYB, 2 bp insertion, and a part of a chloroplast ribosomal RNA. Re-introduction of chimeric DNA into bri1-5 recapitulated blp phenotype. The blp phenotypes being similar to phyB mutants led us to examine both the PHYB transcript and protein levels in the blp 35Spro:PHYB doubly homozygous line. Lower levels of both transcripts and proteins of PHYB suggested that introduction of the chimeric gene interfered with the stability of PHYB transcripts. Our results highlight that overexpression mutagenesis facilitates functional genomics to decipher a function of Arabidopsis genome.