Plant nutrition one of the most important factors that increase plant production. Thus, the present study was carried out to investigate the effects of NPK (three main macro elements of fertilizer) and their interactions on morphological and biochemical contents of Deodeok (Codonopsis lanceolata). Results exhibited that application of different fertilization treatments had a considerable effect on the different vegetative growth characteristics of C. lanceolata compared to the non fertilizer control. Plant height showed significant results towards all fertilization group compared to non fertilizer group, and the highest value (266.8 cm) for plant height was observed from the N+P+K group. The growth of internode was converted to vine after node 5, no fertilizer effects were found on internode elongation. Chlorophyll content showed a high amount in the range of 42.8 to 46.6 against all fertilization treatment groups, except P+K group. The highest values (57.0 g) for the fresh weight of roots were obtained from the N+P+K groups compared to non fertilizer group. The mineral nutrient content of Na, Mg, Cu and Al of the roots of C. lanceolata showed the lowest amount from in P+K groups compared to other groups. In addition, P from N+K group, Mn from N+P group and Ca, Fe, Zn from N+P+K group also exhibited the lowest mineral content compared to other groups respectively.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of medium composition on organogenesis towards in-vitro cultured diploid and tetraploid Codonopsis lanceolata and obtain in-vitro mass propagation of superior species of C. lanceolata. Regarding MS medium composition for each concentration, diploid C. lanceolata was found to be declined. However, shoot and adventitious root formation were suppressed with higher mineral salt concentration, and active growth of shootand adventitious root was exhibited as 4.9 cm and 3.2 cm respectively in 1/2 MS medium. While in tetraploid C. lanceolata, it showed 2.9 cm and 3.2 cm respectively in 1/4 MS medium. In the case of sucrose concentration, no consistent decrease was observed for growth of shoot and adventitious root of diploid both at high and low concentration. The growth of shoot (at 3% concentration) and adventitious root (at 7% concentration) was 2.3 cm and 2.0 cm respectively. Although there was no difference in shoot formation of tetraploid C. lanceolata in all concentrations with the range of 1.7 ~ 1.8, there was a slight decrease in shoot growth at high concentration. Results revealed that the adventitious root formation was suppressed at high concentration. Concentration of agar exhibited no significant difference in shoot formation of diploid C. lanceolata at all concentrations. The highest result of adventitious growth (4.1 cm) was observed at 0.8% concentration. Slight inhibition of shoot formation and root formation of tetraploid C. lanceolata was observed at higher concentration. Shoot formation of diploid C. lanceolata also exhibited inhibition at higher concentration. Shoot formation of diploid C. lanceolata was increased at lower pH and shoot growth was the highest (2.3 cm) at pH 3.8. Adventitious root formation was higher at lower pH. Although there was no difference in shoot formation of tetraploid C. lanceolata presenting 1.7 ~ 1.8 regardless of high and low pH, growth inhibition was showed at higher pH. Adventitious root formation and growth showed a little higher result at pH 5.8.

Platycodon grandiflorum (Bell flower) is an important plant that has traditionally been used as herbal medicine for the treatment of cough, phlegm, sore throats, lung abscesses, chest pains, dysuria, and dysentery. The present study was initiated to investigate the feasibility of inducing shoot and root organogenesis in cultured explants of P. grandiflorum in a range of culture media and through use of various plant growth regulators (PGRs). The plantlets (Stem containing one node) were isolated and cultured on different concentrations of Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with PGRs. We found that proliferation and elongation of shoots and roots could be achieved on ¼ MS for P. grandiflorum with wild and green petals and on ⅛ MS for P. grandiflorum with double petals. The highest levels of development and elongation of adventitious shoots and roots were observed when petal explants were cultured on ¼ MS (pH 3.8) supplemented with 5% sucrose. Increasing the agar concentration reduced shoot growth and rooting potential; nevertheless, the highest number of shoots and roots was observed on 0.6% agar. In the case of growth regulators, ¼ MS supplemented with 1 mg L-1 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) was found to be best for shooting, although higher concentrations of BA tended to reduce shoot and root elongation. The highest number of shoots was achieved on 0.5 mg ․ L-1 thidiazuron (TDZ) from double petal explants grown on ⅛ MS. However, root and shoot elongation were found to decrease when TDZ concentrations were increased. Low concentrations of kinetin, naphthalene acetic acid, indole acetic acid, and 3-indole butyric acid induced shoot and root proliferation and elongation. Taken together, our study showed that low concentrations of PGRs induced the greatest root formation and elongation, showing that the optimal concentration of PGRs for shoot proliferation was species-dependent.

Background : The roots of Codonopsis lanceolata have been used as a tonic crude drug and an edible plant in Korea. The plant mainly contains triterpenoid saponins, including codonolaside, codonolasideⅠ-Ⅴ, lancemaside A-G. Their saponins have shown anti-inflammatory effects such as bronchitis and cough, insomnia and hypomnesia. C. lanceolata is well known to affect various pharmacological effects for human health, and its consumption is increasing. Recently, plant and plant-derived products were treated a part of the healthcare system by applying the bioactive phytochemicals. Antioxidant and immune activity substances in food play an important role as a health-protecting factor. This study was designed to investigate the in vitro immune cell growth and xanthine oxidase Inhibitory activity of different storage period and storage temperature of C. lanceolata. Methods and Results : The plant materials were used the roots of C. lanceolata cultivated in Jeju area, Korea. Immune enhancing effect was conducted using T cell and B cell of human immune cells. Each cell incubated for 8 days with the sample extracts compared to the control group, and the immune activation was measured according to the growth of immune cells. The xanthine oxidase Inhibitory activity was measured by modifying the method of Noro(1983). In different storage period and storage temperature conditions, the immune cell growth of C. lanceolata extract promoted a concentration-dependent manner in both human T cell and B cell, and did not show a significant difference. The xanthine oxidase Inhibitory activity of C. lanceolata extract tended to decrease more, depending on the longer the storage period or the higher the storage temperature. Conclusion : These results of this study suggested that the root of C. lanceolata may assist in the potential biological activities, and can be used as a source of human health products.

This study was performed to investigate the growth characteristics and inorganic components of Codonopsis lanceolata regarding regional differences. The plant height of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata was 373.6 cm, so it’s revealed that it has more vigorous growth than Korean won. The flowering time of Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was 2 weeks faster than Japanese one. Total fresh weight of root was 41.0 g and 39.0 g for Korean and Japanese respectively, thus, no significance difference was found. However, regarding fresh weight, Korean one had a more fresh weight (35.4 g) of main root parts, but Japanese one had a more fresh weight (9.6 g) of the lateral root part. Each inorganic component was found more in the aboveground parts, regardless of the region and the content of K was the largest. Regarding the content of macroelements for each part of Codonopsis lanceolata, the content of Na, Mg, P, S, and Ca in Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was found the highest on the leaf, followed by stem and root. In the case of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata, same result was found on the content of Mg and Ca, however, the highest content of Na and P was found in the stem.

This study was conducted to compare the growth, inorganic components, and proximate components of Codonopsis lanceolata grown in 10 regions of Korea for selecting superior species and breeding by crossing. Among the all tested lines, the shortest plant height (217.12 cm) was observed from the Ulleungdo region line (No. 4) while the longest (273.9 cm) was observed from Hwasun region line (No. 9). In addition, the lines of central and northern region (No. 1~No. 7) tend to have shorter plant height than those of southern region (No. 8~No. 9) except Jejudo region line (No. 10). Flowering tends to be late towards southern region, and lines in central and northern regions were started flowering about 2 weeks earlier than those in southern regions. However, the heaviest root weight was 13.1 g, found in only Jejudo line (No. 10) whereas there was no significant difference found in the other regions which have a range of 8.3~11.0 g. The inorganic components were varied in each line, however, proportion of macroelements, such as K, Ca, and P, was the largest for every line. Especially for Heongseong region line (No. 2), had larger proportion of macroelements than the others. There was a difference of proximate compositions of Codonopsis lanceolata, except the moisture content, among all regions, however, it was generally shown that the content of crude protein (1.31~3.76%) and crude fiber (2.18~3.12%) was the highest.