This study was conducted to investigate the effects of sowing density, number of seeds sown per hole, andthinning treatment on growth characteristics and disease occurrence in Panax ginseng under direct sowing cultivation in ablue plastic greenhouse. Seedling were grown from 2 or 3 seeds sown, and the healthiest was only retained, while the restwere thinned out at the foliation stage. NO3-N, P2O5, and organic matter content differed significantly between growthconditions in the plastic greenhouse and in conventional shade in the soil. Disease also tended to be higher in the conven-tional shade than in the plastic greenhouse. Plant height and stem length showed an increasing trend with increasing sowingdensity and number of seeds sown per hole. However, these measures noticeably decreased when thinning treatment wasconducted. Growth of the subterranean part of ginseng was not markedly influenced by sowing density, the number of seedssown per hole, or thinning treatment. Root weight, which is an important factor in yield, was significantly affected by thenumber of seeds sown and thinning treatment. Interestingly, root weight tended to be higher in the thinning treatment plotthan the untreated control plot. Damping-off and root rot increased noticeably as the number of seeds sown increased. Dis-ease also tended to be substantially higher in the thinning treatment plot than the untreated control. However, physiologicaldisorder of the plants did not vary with sowing density, the number of seeds sown, or thinning treatment.

Shading and soil environment are the main factors of growth and yield in ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A.Meyer). Ginseng yield is directly related to survival rate because of increased missing plant for their growing period. Underfield conditions, diseases and pests significantly affect plant survival rate. We evaluated the seedling establishment, growthand ginsenoside of the ginseng plants, under controlled management conditions in a plastic greenhouse, when their treatedwith different types of organic matter. Ginseng seeds were sown at a rate of three seeds per hole, and the seeding space mea-sured 10㎝×15㎝. Compared to the control, treatment of cattle manure vermicompost (CMV) was shown to increaseseedling establishment and decrease ginsenoside content. Root weights of plants treated with CMV were higher than those ofplants treated with other types of organic matter. In addition, seedling establishment of 2-year-old ginseng plants wasdecreased when it was compared to that of 1-year-old ginseng plants. Our results indicated that organic matter type and ratewere associated with seedling establishment, growth characteristic and ginsenoside content in greenhouse of ginseng direct-sowing culture.

This study was performed to investigate the effects of sowing density and number of seeds sown on the emergence rate and growth characters of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer under direct sowing cultivation in a blue plastic greenhouse. Ginseng seedlings, derived from seeds sown directly at different densities (90, 108, 135, and 162 seeds per 162m2), were cultivated in sandy loam soil within a blue plastic greenhouse. In contrast to the emergence rate, which decreased with an increase of sowing density, number of survival plant showed an increasing trend. Interestingly, the emergence and number of survival plant were significantly enhanced when 2 or 3 seeds were sown per hole compared with when one seed was sown per hole. Growth of the aerial parts of ginseng were not markedly influenced by sowing density or the number of seeds sown. However, chlorophyll content (SPAD values) increased with an increase in sowing density. Root parameters, such as root length, diameter, and weight, and the number of lateral roots decreased with an increase in sowing density, but were not noticeably influenced by the number of seeds sown. Total saponin content was the highest in the treatment plot containing 135 seeds. Similarly, the content of each ginsenoside was also tended to be higher in this treatment than in other treatment plots. On the basis of the results obtained in this study, it was possible to determine the optimal sowing density and seed number for the direct sowing cultivation of ginseng in blue plastic greenhouse.

This study describes the efficient method for the discrimination of 'Cheonryang' in Panax ginseng Meyer using a STS primer. A total of 208 STS primers were applied to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification for discriminating Korean ginseng cultivars. Co-dominant polymorphic band patterns were generated with two primers, MFGp 0019, MFGp 0248, and successful identification of 'Cheonryang' was achieved from out of 11 Korean ginseng cultivars. Two different sizes of DNA band patterns were detected with MFGp 0019 primer. Ten Korean ginseng cultivars shared the same size of amplified DNAs (389 bp), but 'Cheonryang' showed a different size. Thus 'Cheonryang' can be efficiently distinguished from the other ten ginseng cultivars by using the MFGp 0019 primer. In the case of MFGp 0248, two different sizes of DNA band patterns were detected in the eleven ginseng cultivars. Same sized amplified DNA bands (307 bp) were shown in five cultivars (Chunpoong, Gopoong, Kumpoong, Cheongsun, Sunhyang) and 254 bp sized DNA bands were identified in the other 6 cultivars (Yunpoong, Sunpoong, Sunun, Sunone, Cheonryang, K-1). In conclusion, the two STS primers, MFGp 0019, and MFGp 0248, provide a rapid and reliable method for the specific identification of 'Cheonryang' cultivar from a large number of samples.

This study was conducted to find out the optimum composition of nursery soil for raising seedling of ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer). Total 9 kinds of raw materials were used such as peat-moss, perlite, leaf mould, rice bran, gull's guano, castor-oil plant bark, palm bark, cow manure and chicken manure for optimum composition of nursery soil in ginseng. Occurrence of damping-off in ginseng was lowered about 50% in nursery soil type 1, 2 and 4 than in other types nursery soil in June, and occurrence rate of rusty root also lowest in nursery soil type 1. As the salinity of nursery soil increased, so did the occurrence of physiological disorder in ginseng seedling. The cause of salinity increasing in nursery soil has closely relation to NO3-N, P2O5 and Na+ content. Plant height, root length, diameter and weight were longer and heavier in nursery soil type 1 (mixing ratio of peat-moss, perlite and leaf mould was 50 : 20 : 30 based in volume) than in other types of nursery soil. So nursery soil type 1 was selected for raising seedling of ginseng. pH and electric conductivity (EC) of selected nursery soil type 1 was 5.55 and 0.13 dS/m. Contents of NO3-N and P2O5 were 21.0 and 40.0 mg/L, and K+ 0.36, Ca2+ 3.38, Mg2+ 2.01 and Na+ 0.09cmol+/L, respectively.

This study was carried out to investigate the difference of the content of soil chemical components and growthcharacteristics in six years old ginseng affected by application of decomposing plant residues in paddy-converted field. Theresults show that aerial parts of ginseng are no difference between press cake (PC) 200㎏/10a and control but subterraneanparts of ginseng PC 200㎏/10a, especially quantity related root fresh weight and tap root diameter, are statically about 1.6times heavier and about 1.2 times thicker than the ginseng control. Furthermore, the survival rate of PC 200㎏/10a is67.1% rise significantly compare with the control 50.7%. But compared with the PC 200㎏/10a and the PC 400㎏/10a,ginseng root growth and survival rate of PC 400㎏/10a get worse and that increase physiological disorder occurrence ratethan PC 200㎏/10a. Even though there are no significant differences between the ginseng of decomposing plant residuesexcept press cake treatment and the ginseng of control in growth characteristics, it does tend to increase the survival rateand decrease the physiological disorder occurrence rate in most fertilizer treatment except for RSC 2ton/10a, RSC 4ton/10a and RH 4kL/10a. Noted that EC is highly increased and exceeded 1.7ds/m in RSC 2ton/10a, RSC 4ton/10a and RH4kL/10a. It would be caused physiological disorder in many ways and affected ginseng growth characteristics, survival rate.

‘천량’은 생리장해 저항성 품종 육성을 목적으로 1999년도 경기도 여주 농가 포장에서 수집해 2002년에 개체를 선발하 였고, 2003년부터 2006년까지 특성검정과 2007년도부터 2009년도까지 생산력검정시험을 실시하였다. ‘음성1호’의 계 통명을 부여한 후 2010년부터 2011년까지 지역적응시험을 실시한 결과, 다수성이면서 염류저항성이 강한 품종으로 인정 되었고, 2011년에 직무육성 신품종 선정위원회에서 신규 등 재 품종으로 선정되어 ‘천량’으로 명명하였다. ‘천량’의 잎색 은 녹색이며, 소엽 가로 자른면의 모양이 볼록형으로 대조품 종인 ‘천풍’의 오목형과 비교된다. 줄기의 색깔은 전체가 연 두색이나 엽병 주위와 기부에 연한 자색을 나타낸다. ‘천량’ 의 열매색과 잎노화색은 적색을 나타내나 대조품종에서 등황 색, 황색을 나타내어 확연히 구분이 되었다. ‘천량’은 ‘천풍’ 보다 출아기는 2일, 개화기는 3일 그리고 과육성숙기는 5일 빨랐다. 4년생에서 ‘천량’의 경장은 41.3 cm로 ‘천풍’에 비해 짧았으며, 경직경은 6.4 cm로 ‘천풍’에 비해 더 굵었고, 엽장, 엽폭, 엽병장도 ‘천풍’보다 더 길었다. ‘천량’의 근장과 동체 장은 대조품종과 비슷하며, 동직경은 대조품종보다 5.3 mm 굵었고, 주당 생근중은 57.0 g으로 ‘천풍’보다 더 무거웠다. ‘천량’의 주당 열매수는 ‘천풍’보다 더 적게 맺혔으나 천립중 은 53.1 g으로 ‘천풍’보다 무거웠고 개갑률은 ‘천풍’보다 5.4% 높게 나타나 우량 묘삼 생산에 유리할 것으로 생각되었 다. ‘천량’의 수량은 생산력검정을 한 결과 평균 수량이 536 kg/10 a로 ‘천풍’보다 12% 증수되었다. ‘천량’은 모잘록병과 탄저병에 대해서는 저항성을 나타내었으며, 점무늬병에서는 중도 저항성을 나타내었다. 역병과 뿌리썩음병은 거의 발생되 지 않았고 가루깍지벌레와 선충 등 충해에 대해서는 저항성 을 나타내었다. ‘천량’은 염류 과다로 발생되는 지상부의 황 증 현상과 지하부 적변삼 증상은 거의 나타나지 않았으며, 고 온에는 중도 저항성을 나타내어 천풍보다 강하게 나타났다. 인삼의 주요 성분인 ginsenoside 함량 중 total 함량은 22.18 mg/g으로 ‘천풍’과 비슷하게 나타났으며, 조사한 ginsenoside 8종류 중 Rb1과 Rf를 제외한 6종류의 함량은 ‘천량’이 높게 나타났다.

The development of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and expressed sequence tag-derivedsimple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs) provided a useful tool for investigating Korean ginseng genetic diversity. In this study,18 polymorphic markers (7 RAPD and 11 EST-SSR) selected to assess the genetic diversity in 31 ginseng accessions (11Korean ginseng cultivars and 20 breeding lines). In RAPD analysis, a total of 53 unique polymorphic bands were obtainedfrom ginseng accessions and number of amplicons ranged from 4 to 11 with a mean of 7.5 bands. Pair-wise genetic similaritycoefficient (Nei) among all pairs of ginseng accessions varied from 0.01 to 0.32, with a mean of 0.11. On the basis of theresulting data, the 31 ginseng accessions were grouped into six clusters. As a result of EST-SSR analysis, 11 EST-SSR mark-ers detected polymorphisms among the 31 ginseng accessions and revealed 49 alleles with a mean of 4.45 alleles per primer.The polymorphism information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.06 to 0.31, with an average of 0.198. The 31 ginsengaccessions were classified into five groups by cluster analysis based on Nei’s genetic distances. Consequently, the results ofginseng-specific RAPD and EST-SSR markers may prove useful for the evaluation of genetic diversity and discrimination ofKorean ginseng cultivars and breeding lines.

This study was carried out to investigate the difference of the content of soil chemical components and growth characteristics in five years old ginseng affected by application of manure in paddy-converted field. As all livestock manure regardless of kinds increased along with the whole soil chemical component, including the pH and EC in 2008. Change in the EC of control plot was slightly increased but not exceeded 1 ds/m over the years. However, the changes in the EC of livestock manure regardless of kinds and amounts were highly increased and irregularly exceeded 1.5 ds/m in 2012. The 5 years old ginseng root fresh weight, treatment of fertilizing pig manure compost 4 ton per 10 areas (PMC 4t on/10a) and fowl manure compost 4 ton per 10 areas (FMC 4 ton/10a), were superior to the others. But there were no difference between PMC 4 ton/10a, FMC 4 ton/10a and control. The standing crop rate 39.6%, treatment of fertilizing cattle manure compost 4 ton per 10 areas (CMC 4 ton/10a), was best in all livestock manure. However that was relatively lower than control. Physiological disorder occurrence rates of livestock manure related with leaf and root of ginseng were also higher than that of control. If excessively using non-decomposed livestock manure, It would be caused physiological disorder in many ways. It is a big problem to be producing the quality ginseng. More research is needed to find out the economic and effective fertilizer.

The present study was investigated the effect of planting density on plant growth and yield of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer. Sowing density is one of the most important factors affecting yield. The value of roots have affected by shape, color, weight and degree of disease injury in ginseng. Also, it needed to minimize elapsed time for 5 years including pre-planting field management and cultivation period. We were conducted to evaluate that planting densities and varieties on the growth, yield and missing rate. The direct sowing was treated seeds density as a four levels (seeds; 72, 90, 120, 144) and 10 different varieties with 3 years old ginseng roots. Root weight was significantly affected by planting density and variety, but the number of lateral root and yield were affected by only planting density. Growth index was related to variety and planting density. Also, Root shape index was affected by both varieties and planting densities. Suitable planting density and variety were 120 plant per 1.62 m2 and Gopoong, respectively. Results showed that it was also a significant difference (p=5%) in variety of planting density on growth.

Korean ginseng (P. ginseng C. A. Meyer) is one of the most important medicinal plant in the world. Understanding genetic variability among the assortment of Korean ginseng is important for breeding. The aim of this study was to molecularly characterize Korean ginseng cultivar and breeding lines through the use of eight previously reported STS markers (MFGp183, MFGp130, MFGp110, UFGp74, UFGp163, MFGp108, MFGp81 and UFGp156). All STS markers produced interpretable electropherograms from 31 accessions consisting of 11 Korean ginseng cultivars and 20 breeding lines. When eight STS markers were combined, we identified to total 19 genetic patterns; in particular, nine cultivars (Chunpoong, Yunpoong, Gopoong, Gumpoong, Sunpoong, Sunone, Cheongseon, Sunhyang, Cheonryang) and 5 breeding lines (G08012, G04079, G04075, G08036, G04110) in ginseng samples can be discriminated from the others. Together with other available markers, these STS markers will contribute to the management of ginseng genetic resources and the protection of breeders' rights.