Panax ginseng is a well-known herbal plant originated from North-east asia for its various tonic effects. However, production of ginseng roots takes long time in field condition, usually five through six years until harvest. Additionally, ginseng is very susceptible to many kinds of biotic and abiotic stresses, for example, Rhizoctonia solani, which causes damping-off, or high temperature. To overcome these limits, induction of adventitious roots has been studied for more than 10 years and also adventitious roots are widely used materials for genetic research of P.ginseng. In this study, we induced adventitious roots from registered Korean ginseng cultivars and cultured them in bioreactor condition. Induction rate of adventitious roots from nine Korean ginseng cultivars was evaluated and growth pattern of four cultivars in bioreactor scale was also studied. Furthermore, genes that are related to biosynthesis of saponins in ginseng, ginsenoside, were discovered in ginseng whole-genome shotgun sequences for genetic research.

“Hwanggeumchal”, a new covered waxy cultivar derived from the cross between “Chalssalbori” and “Milyang 65” with waxy endosperm and early maturing cultivars, respectively was developed at Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA, 2006. The origin of “Hwanggeumchal” is “Suwon 403” (SB942090-B-B-B-42-1). The initial cross was made in 1994 and the selected line showed a high yield and good quality characteristics under yield trial test in 2003. “Suwon 403” consistently performed well for three years (2004-2006) from the four locations of regional yield trial (RYT) in Korea and released as “Hwanggeumchal”. The characteristics of “Hwanggeumchal” were the following: rate I growth habit, green leaf and stem, compact spike and with long rough awns. The heading date was April 30 in upland and April 28 in paddy field, which was 1 and 4 days later than that with check cultivar, “Seodunchalbori”. The culm length was 81 cm which was 3 cm shorter than those with check cultivar. It showed spike length of 4.5 cm and 633 spikes per m2, 64 grains per spike, 27.6 g of 1,000-grain weight and 632 g of test weight. It showed stronger winter hardiness and higher resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) than those with check cultivar. It had yellow aleurone and showed higher water absorption, expansion rate and total phenol content than those of check cultivar, but lower protein, β-glucan content and pearling rate. The average yield of the pearled grain in the RYT was 4.04 ton ha-1 in upland and 4.12 ton ha-1 in paddy field, which was 10% higher and 4% lower than that of the check cultivar, respectively. This cultivar would be suitable for the area above the daily minimum mean temperature of -8℃ in January in Korean peninsula.

“Hyemi”, a new covered cultivar derived from the crosses between “Suwon 298” and “Milyang 34/Albori//Dongbori” developed at the Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA in 2006. The origin of “Hyemi” is “Suwon 400” (SB951032-B-B-B-28). The initial cross was made in 1995 and the selected line showed a high yield and good quality characteristics under yield trial test in 2003. “Suwon 400” consistently performed well for three years (2004-2006) from the four locations of regional yield trial (RYT) in Korea and released as “Hyemi”. The characteristics of “Hyemi” were the following: rate Ⅳ growth habit, green leaf and stem, compact spike and with long rough awns. The heading date was April 29 in upland and April 23 in paddy field, which was similar and 2 days earlier than that with check cultivar, “Olbori”. The culm length was 81 cm which was 4 cm shorter than those with check cultivar. It showed spike length of 4.1 cm and 646 spikes per m2, 52 grains per spike, 33.4 g of 1,000-grain weight and 672 g of test weight. It showed similar winter hardiness and higher resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) than those with check cultivar. It showed higher protein content, whiteness and total phenol content than those of the check cultivar, but lower β-glucan content and pearling rate. The average yield of the pearled grain in the RYT was 3.95 ton ha-1 in upland and 4.38 ton ha-1 in paddy field, which was 13% and 16% higher than that of the check cultivar, respectively. This cultivar would be suitable for the area above the daily minimum mean temperature of -8℃ in January in Korean peninsula.