NOTICE: Hard copies of the Australian New Crops Newsletter are available from the publisher, Dr Rob Fletcher. Details of availability are included in the
Advice on Publications Available.Tony Sadler
Australian Ginseng Research Program
Ginseng Crop Establishment Project
Primary Options Pty Ltd
12 Coolibah Court
Mount Crosby Queensland 4306
Background
Australians seem very keen about new rural industries and in particular about the potential of ginseng as a small-scale commercial crop.
At recent Emerging Opportunities in Agriculture Information Days at Pittsworth, Queensland (1996) and Tamworth, New South Wales (1998), ginseng received much attention from farmers with the level of interest expressed in the crop being very high.
It has been estimated that there are currently over 1,000 ginseng growers in Australia (Werner, 1998).
This is an amazing number considering the estimated number of growers in South Korea is 1,200 (Kim, personal communication, 1998), and in Canada 760 (Brown, personal communication, 1998).
The production from these two countries is over 1,600t per annum and 110t per annum respectively. Australian production has not yet been recorded.
Why is it that the number of growers in Australia is so high and yet production is so low?
It is this last point that provided the impetus for the establishment of the Australian Ginseng Research Program and in particular the Crop Establishment Project.
Numerous enquiries have been made to those in the Australian ginseng industry over the last few years by potential growers from areas beyond where the crop is thought to grow.
However, neither the limits of potential cultivation nor the factors that control those limits have been established. Until they are, many attempts to grow ginseng will fail.
Ginseng - the plant
Ginseng (Genus Panax, Family Araliaceae) is a slow-growing perennial herbaceous plant that grows to about a half metre tall.
The seed may take two or three years to germinate and the plant three to four years to produce seed. The root takes at least three to four years before it is ready to harvest.
Five to seven-year-old roots command higher prices.
Ginseng roots are viable for hundreds of years and become more valuable with age.
Ginseng is one of the most valuable legal agricultural crops in the world.
In Eastern medicine, it serves a role in protecting and prolonging life, through its ability to assist the body in the combat of disease and stress.
Ginseng is used as a source of vitalising and stimulating agents and in the treatment of a range of ailments including anaemia, diabetes, gastritis and various conditions arising from ageing.
In recent years, it has also become a popular tonic and health food in Western countries, resulting in the demand for the plant increasing dramatically worldwide.
Western medicine (albeit performed largely in South Korea) has isolated and studied a range of the chemical components of ginseng. The medicinal activity appears to reside in a number of saponins, termed ginsenosides.
There are many ginseng species (as indicated in Table 1). Two species comprise most of the commercial trade:
The two species are similar in their growing requirements.
In addition to these species other plants have also been called 'ginseng'.
These include Eleutherococcus senticosus (Siberian ginseng), Pfaffia paniculata (Brazilian ginseng), Angelica sinensis (women's ginseng) and Acanthopanax sessiliflorus.
There is growing disquiet, particularly in South Korea, about the commercial use of the name 'ginseng'.
Clearly plants which are not members of the genus Panax should not be attributed the name.
However, the South Koreans argue that not only should the name be restricted to Panax ginseng but also to those grown only in Korea.
There is the potential that the South Koreans may take a legal stand on this point in a way similar to the French and the use of the word 'champagne'.
Market
Commercial trade in ginseng is about 5,000 years old with the first cultivation traced back 2,000 years.
In 1997 world production was recorded at 5,132 tonnes (Follett, personal communication, 1998) with:
Hong Kong acts as the world's clearing-house for ginseng. Apart from a substantial consumption within Hong Kong there is significant redistribution to China, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, North America and Europe.
Total imports for Hong Kong were recorded at 3,895t in 1990 (at approximately AUD95/kg).
The market has expanded sharply in the latter half of this century. Hong Kong has recorded a doubling of trade each decade from 1952 to 1982 and a tripling from 1982 to 1993.
China sent 422t to Hong Kong in 1985 rising to 2,220t in 1991, while imports from Hong Kong were 102t in 1983, rising to 1,005t in 1993.
Imports into Taiwan have increased from 37t in 1983 to 1,887t in 1992.
Ginseng imports to Australia have shown a similar increase. The imports into Australia recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have been 4.11 t (1989), 6.01 t (1990), 6.52 t (1991), 10.81 t (1992), 10.11 (1993) and 16.72 t (1994).
Unfortunately, the ABS records ginseng imports under only two categories, amounts greater than 1kg and amounts less than 1kg.
As a result, significant amounts of packaging, goods with questionable levels of active ginseng, and ginseng seed for the rapidly growing ginseng production industry are all likely to be included.
It is therefore highly unlikely that these figures are at all representative of actual ginseng consumption in Australia.
For potential growers coming fresh to the industry, the most difficult market concept to grasp is the range of prices on offer for the breadth of products handled by the market.
It is difficult to get accurate ginseng prices and to project such figures into a realistic business plan for Australian growers.
The price of ginseng root in the open market varies according to a range of factors such as size, shape, ginsenoside content, method of growing, presence of chemical contaminants, etc.
The prices paid for wild-grown and artificially cultivated Panax quinquefolius at the farm gate in the US for the period 1985/86 to 1992/93 differed greatly (Table 2).
In the Hong Kong market in 1991, wild ginseng root from North America was sold under 50 different categories.
These categories ranged in price from about A$5,864/kg for 'excellent upper bubble root' to A$416/kg for '#3 red trunk root' (Guo et al. (1994) North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium L.) root grading. In Proceedings of the International Ginseng Conference, Vancouver, pp380-9).
In the same market, cultivated Canadian-grown root sold for A$959/kg for 'thick #4 round bubble root' down to A$127/kg.
In 1995, US artificial shade-grown three- to four-year-old roots with chemical residue were selling for a farm gate price of $65/kg.
Woods-cultivated roots with some chemical residue at five- to six-year-old were bringing $300/kg.
Wild and wild-simulated roots with no chemical residue at six-year-old were bringing $950/kg.
In Australia, seven-year-old woods-cultivated organically-grown roots have sold for about $1000/kg. It needs to appreciated that such roots are likely to be rare.
With the recent economic troubles of eastern and south-eastern Asia there has been a marked decrease in prices.
For example, Ontario farmers have been offered farm gate prices as low as A$SO/kg for three-year-old roots with chemical residue - a price many have rejected (Proctor, personal communication, 1998).
In the US this year, early prices on offer have ranged from A$620/kg for four-year-old wild-grown roots to A$1,064 for older wild-grown roots (Hosemans (1998) World news in brief. In Australian Ginseng Gazette 4(2/3): 4).
All of the prices quoted here are for Panax quinquefolius. It is difficult to obtain prices for Panax ginseng but there is every indication is that the prices are generally similar or lower, except for roots of the very highest quality.
Most ginseng growers in Australia appear to be growing for the upper end of the market in terms of value. Chemical free, older roots that are semi-wild or woods-grown are the main features of this market.
Agronomy
Ginseng has been grown in Australia continuously for 15 years.
The method of cultivation has been to plant the seeds directly into beds in which the plants remain until maturation six to seven years later.
This method has been copied from North American growers, who have been the source of most seed grown in Australia and most information as well.
The traditional method of growing ginseng in China and Korea is different from that adopted in North America.
In the east, seeds are sown into intensive nursery beds for one or two years.
Rootlets are then removed and planted into permanent beds for the last four to five years.
This method is used only to a minor extent in North America, possibly because the direct sowing of seeds is more compatible with large-scale production and mechanisation, as practised in that region.
In Australia, the production of rootlets has only begun in the last few years.
Ginseng requires very high levels of shade for successful commercial production.
Figures of 70-80% shade have often been quoted but these levels of shade would be a minimum for sites at higher latitudes.
The Korean growers use more shade than their North American counterparts.
In a typical Korean garden, 100% shade would be provided, enabling the plants only indirect light.
Direct light is restricted to less than 90 minutes early, in the morning.
Ginseng requires distinctly cold winters, to meet its dormancy requirement so the plant can shoot again after winter.
A period of 100 days of temperatures less than 10 C is the best available estimate.
A number of sources suggest the best growing temperatures to be 18 C to 22 C.
Higher temperatures appear not to adversely affect the plant.
Ginseng appears tolerant of a range of soil types. A well-drained soil seems important and a pH of about 5.8 produces good results.
Ginseng is not a heavy user of nutrients.
There is growing evidence that ginseng has a high dependency on a symbiotic association with vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM).
Ginseng requires the soil to remain moist most of the time. A summer rainfall climate with annual precipitation of 600-900mm is adequate without the need for irrigation.
Issues for Australia
There can be a viable ginseng industry in Australia.
It has the potential to rival Canada and the US in size. What then are the key issues for the industry to establish itself on a viable footing?
The first step is to have a critical mass of growers producing a substantial quantity of root. This would establish the credibility of the industry both here and abroad.
Growers need to move from testing the crop over a few square metres to establishing plots of a hectare or more each year. This requires a belief that their local climate is suitable, along with a substantial capital investment.
The first part of the Australian Ginseng Research Program: Crop Establishment Project (as described below) was aimed at providing an objective measure of the limits to successful ginseng cultivation by establishing experimentally-based climate limitation criteria.
The second part of the Project was aimed at finding a commercially viable means of breaking seed dormancy.
By so doing, the roots could be marketed earlier.
By shortening the production cycle by one year, returns to growers could increase by 20%.
These two parts of the Project, now completed, will reduce the risk associated with growing ginseng in Australia and will increase the potential returns available.
The result should logically be an increased number of growers moving to a commercially-sized plantation quicker.
Australia has a reputation overseas as a leader in many fields of crop improvement.
With major crops such as wheat, our scientists have led the world in the development and introduction of new and improved varieties.
Ginseng stands out as a crop with great potential in this area.
A minor part of this Project was aimed at determining the potential of tissue culture and crop improvement to impact on the world ginseng industry, for the commercial benefit of Australia.
This Project has examined a number of areas of interest to commercial growers of ginseng. Whilst these areas appear on the surface to have little in common, they are closely related and once combined, the findings have the potential to be a major contributing factor in establishing the Australian ginseng industry on a commercially viable footing.
The two computer software programs PLANTGRO and CLIMEX, designed to assist in the prediction of suitable growing areas for new crops, were tested for applicability to ginseng.
Each of these programs uses information about the plant' s growing requirements to predict where the plant should grow and identifies which, if any, criteria limit its distribution.
PLANTGRO was found wanting, possibly because it requires a greater level of knowledge of the plant's physical and environmental tolerances than is currently available.
CLIMEX can rely on knowledge of current distribution in other countries. Using this application, maps have been drawn for a potential Australian distribution of both Panax ginseng and Panax quinquefolius.
In addition, two limitation criteria have been identified.
The winter-extended- cold criterion appears to limit the northern distribution of both species and dry stress appears to limit the western distribution - at least in the eastern states of Australia.
Two mathematical models have been developed in this study to provide greater local accuracy in predicting suitability of the winter extended cold criterion.
The models have been linked to a computer program with mapping ability and a map drawn of the eastern states, identifying the boundary to successful ginseng cultivation.
The successful use of these models relies on an understanding of the temperature requirements of the dormant root.
This Project revealed that further investigation on this character is warranted.
The Project also assessed seed dormancy with a view to establishing a protocol for reducing the time to germination and increasing the success rate of germination.
Dormancy has been identified as a two-stage process. Ginseng seed requires warming followed by chilling. This is at odds with the current belief in a three-stage requirement of cold-warm-cold.
Australian growers purchase seed from overseas on the understanding that the seed has received a particular stratification.
During the current investigation it became apparent that this applied to Panax quinquefolius but apparently not to Panax ginseng.
Several chemicals were investigated to determine their effect on germination.
Bleach is commonly used by ginseng growers as a surface fungicide prior to storage, transport and before planting. Soaking ginseng seed in bleach was found to have no effect on germination.
The plant growth hormone gibberellic acid, which is endogenous to ginseng, has been shown to have an effect on reducing the need for the cold phase of dormancy. This was achieved at a high concentration, 3,000mg/l. The use of this hormone on a commercial scale could reduce the production cycle for ginseng by at least one year.
This would result in increased returns of about 20% for those producers growing roots for six to seven years.
Before gibberellic acid can be used commercially in this context it needs to be registered. This will require further research to identify an appropriate protocol for its use, including an appropriate withholding period etc.
The Project also investigated the time and temperature relationships required to overcome the annual winter dormancy of the ginseng root (of both species).
Experiments were performed on one-year-old roots but contamination of roots in storage has prevented longer term studies at present.
A time/temperature relationship was found, which suggested that, provided a critical temperature was reached, the temperature and period of treatment at that temperature had little effect on the total time in dormancy.
There was, however, a marked difference in the proportion of roots emerging from dormancy. This Project cannot confirm the industry belief that a ginseng root requires a minimum of 100 days at a soil temperature of less than 10 C. Experimental results of this Project have not confirmed the accuracy of this claim. However, such a treatment remains the most probable extended cold requirement.
The Project assessed the effect of a range of physical and chemical treatments on ginseng root dormancy.
Gibberellic acid (at a concentration of 300mg/l) reduced the length of dormancy.
Gibberellic acid can be recommended for commercial use by growers in areas where winter dormancy requirements are not met.
The hormone could also play a significant role in the development of new cultivars by reducing the time needed in dormancy, thus shortening the generation cycle.
As with the seed, gibberellic acid warrants government accreditation so it can be used commercially.
This will require further research to identify an appropriate protocol and to establish a withholding period.
The chemical potassium nitrate was also found to reduce the dormancy requirement of the root.
However, the effect with potassium nitrate was not as marked as that of gibberellic acid.
The Project aimed to identify varieties of the two main commercial species of ginseng and to establish the representatives in cultivation in Australia.
Although some researchers in South Korea claim to have developed varieties, there is doubt about the authenticity of such lines.
As a result, no germplasm was brought into Australia for this purpose.
It was, however, discovered that both Canada and South Korea have major research programs that aim to identify new lines of commercial advantage.
This area of research has significant potential for economic return through the sale of intellectual property.
Australia, too, could profit from such a research program.
Tissue culture was assessed as a mechanism for commercial ginseng production.
The establishment of an effective and efficient tissue culture protocol will be vital in the rapid development of new cultivars.
Experiments in this Project established aseptic cultures from a range of ex-plant sources and for both species.
During the Project, success was achieved at callus production, shoot and root initiation, shoot multiplication and de-flasking of ginseng.
Also, criteria to determine the success of future experiments have been identified.
Clones of over 200 individuals of each species have been established in vitro.
These materials could form the basis of an extended research program.
Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au[
New Crops Home Page] [New Crops Program] [Australian New Crops Newsletter] [New Crops Publications] [Order Form] [People] [Crop Profiles] [Other Resources]originally created by:
GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF