Study On The Effects Of Mineral Nutrition And Its Mechanism In The Growth, Secondary Metabolism And Quality Of The Medicinal Plant Chrysanthemum Morifolium (Ramat.)

The flower of Chrysanthemum morifolium (Ramat.), perennial herbages plant in composite family,has been popularly used as a traditional medicine and tea in China. It was also appointed as atraditional medicine and healthy food at the same time by the State Ministry of Health of China. Butthe yield and quality of C.morifolium was still on a low side for a long time, because the cultivationand fertilization techniques remained quite backward in production bases. It also restricted theprogress of C.morifolium medicinal industry deeply. In this research, in order to ascertain the rightapplication level and proportion of N, P and K and provide directions of scientific fertilization on itsgood agricultural practice (GAP), the effects of fertilizer supply on the growth, secondary metabolismand quality of C.rnorifolium have been studied adopted field experiment and pot experimentrespectively. And the UV spectral and HPLC chromatographic fingerprint of C.morifoliurn were alsodeveloped respectively to discuss the fertilization effect on its quality. The results are as follows:1. The dry matter accumulation of Cmorifoliurn plants was tiptop in the stage of flowerdifferentiation. In different part of plant, the proportion of leaf and stem in whole dry matter was most,and the flower was the second. In the vegetative period, the mineral nutrient of N, P, K, Ca and Mgwere mostly distributed in the leaf and stem of C.morifolium plant. When the growth central changedfrom vegetative growth to reproductive growth, those mineral nutrients would be transfered anddistributed into bud, flower and root shoot. The stage of flower differentiation of C.morifolium was themaximum efficiency of N, P and K nutrition, which the absorption ratio of N, P and K was 39%, 70%and 42% in the whole absorption capacity. It would absorb and take 8.45 kg N, 0.74 kg P, 10.05 kg K,6.06 kg Ca and 1.61 kg Mg from the soil, when the yield of C.morifolium dry flower attain 200kg/667m². The inverse proportion of them was 1:0.09:1.19:0.72:0.19.2. The yield, quality and production value of Cmorifolium flower would be the best inFutianhe town of Macheng City, Hubei Province, when it was fertilized with organic manure and N, P,K, B and Zn compounds. The manure having high N content could remarkably increase the yield ofCmorifolium flower in Futianhe region, but it would lower the quality. The total flavonoids andchlorogenic acid contents of Cmorifolium flower in Futianhe region would be remarkably improvedfertilized with the manure having high K content. The harvesting time of Cmorifolium covered withfilm could be ahead, and the yield also be increased. In the planting of C.morifolium in Futianhe region,it was recommended to be covered with film and fertilized with the compound manure having high Kcontent, low amount of N, potassium sulfate and organic manure.3. Nitrogen deficiency would result in significant decrease on the flower yield of C morifolium,even harvestless, and the flowering period of plant would be postponed. N supply could stronglyincrease the flower yield of C.morifolium. When the rate of N supply was 5.0-5.5 gram per pot, theyield of C.morifolium flower would reach the highest level. But the abilities of plant fighting againstdrought, disease and pests would be lowered with a high N supply. With the increase of N, the contentsof N, Mg in C.morifolium flower increased, but the contents of P, K and Ca decreased. There weresignificant negative correlations between the Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity of plant andsoluble sugar content of flower with the N application rates on Cmorifolium, and positive correlationbetween the soluble amino acid content of flower with the N application rates. On a low N supply(≤1.5 g/pot), it promoted the total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid and total phenolics accumulation ofCmorifolium flower, and enhanced its antioxidant activity. When N application rate was above 1.Sgper pot, the total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid and total phenolics contents and the antioxidant activity of C.morifolium flower all decreased linearly with increased N levels. The cumulant of total flavonoids,chlorogenic acid and total phenolics were on the tiptop when N application rate was on moderate level.4. Phosphorus supply promoted the growth and flower bud differentiation of C.morifolium, andincreased the flower amount, weight and yield. It also hastened the plant to blossom normally, andraised the proportion of earlier stage flower yield in total yield. But, it was not propitious to raise theflower yield of C.morifolium when the P application rate was superfluous. When the P application ratewas 2.5 gram per pot, the flower yield of C.morifolium was on tiptop. On a low P supply (≤2.0 g/pot),the P and Mg contents of C.morifolium flower increased with the increase of P, but the N and Kcontents decreased. And on a high P supply (≥2.0 g/pot), the P and K contents leveled off with theincrease of P, but the N and Mg contents had a minor decrease. The content of Ca changed very littlewith the increase of P. The effects of P supply were relatively minor on the total flavonoids,chlorogenic acid and total phenolics contents, PAL activity and antioxidant activity of C.morifoliumflower. When the P application rate was on moderate level, those ingredients contents, cumulant andactivities spoken of earlier were relatively higher.It was also having an evident increase on thoseingredients contents, cumulant and activities of C.morifolium flower when the P deficiency was verysevere, and it may be one of the mechanism to relieve the P deficiency of C.morifolium. In planting ofC. morifolium, the optimal amount of P was 2.5 g per pot.5. To supply KCl too much had a negative effect on the growth and flower bud differentiationof C.morifolium. It also caused premature senility of plant, and decreased the yield, total flavonoids,chlorogenic acid and total phenolics contents, and the antioxidant activity of C.morifolium flower,significantly. In planting of C. morifolium, it was recommended to select K₂SO₄ as the resource of Kfertilizer.6. Chrysanthemum morifolium was the plant which needed enough K to grow. K deficiencyrestrained the growth and flower development of plant, and caused the gradual dying of plant leaves,starting at the bottom, as a result of the potassium-deficient leaf blight. It also resulted in significantdecrease on the flower yield of C.morifolium, and decline on the ratio of dry weight to fresh weight offlower. K supply could increase the flower yield and enhance the plant physiological resistance. Whenthe K application rate was above 4.0 g per pot, the number and yield of C.morifolium flower wouldalso decrease. With increase of K level, the K content of C.morifolium flower increased, the N and Mgcontents decreased, but the content of P changed very little. On a low K supply (≤4.0 g/pot), the Cacontent increased with the increase of K. On a high K supply (≥4.0 g/pot), the Ca content decreasedwith the increase of K. Positive correlation was frequently found between the PAL activity ofC.morifolium flower with K application rates, but negative correlations was found between the solubleamino acid content of flower with K application rates. When K application rate was on moderate level,the soluble sugar content of flower was on the tiptop. In the range of 0 to 4.0 g K₂O application per pot,the contents and cumulant of total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid and total phenolics and the antioxidantactivity of C.morifolium flower significantly increased with increased K levels. When the Kapplication rate was above 4.0 g per pot, those ingredients contents spoken of earlier did not continueto increase with increased K levels, even they had a small extent fall, and the cumulant of thoseingredients significantly declined with increased K levels. Moreover the antioxidant activity ofC.morifolium flower also had a slightly decline. In planting of C. morifolium, the optimal amount of Kfertilizer was 4.0 g per pot.7. There were significant interaction effects between N and K fertilizer on the flower amount,yield, ratio of flower dry weight to fresh weight, PAL activity and mineral nutrient contents of C. morifolium flower. But the interaction effects were not evident between N and K fertilizer on the totalflavonoids and chlorogenic acid contents and the antioxidant activity of C.morifolium flower. Theeffects of N supply were more than K supply on the yield, PAL activity, the total flavonoids andchlorogenic acid contents and the PAL activity andantioxidant activity of C.morifolium flower. Inplanting of C. morifolium, moderate level N fertilizer and moderate or a littler high level K fertilizerwere recommended, and the optimal proportion between N and K fertilizer was 1 to 1～2.8. Positive correlations were frequently found between total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid andtotal phenolics contents or PAL activity and antioxidant activity of C. morifolium flower with K or Cacontent, but it were negative correlations with N or Mg content and the N/K, N/K or N/Ca ratio.9. There were significant negative correlations between total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid andtotal phenolics contents or PAL activity and antioxidant activity of C. morifolium flower with thetop-leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD value) or soluble amino acid contents, and positive correlationswith soluble sugar content of flower respectively. And significant positive correlation was found eachother between total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid or total phenolics contents and PAL activity orantioxidant activity of C. morifolium flower.10. With the progress of collection period, the total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid and totalphenolics contents of C. morifolium flower would gradually decline, but the soluble sugar and solubleamino acid contents would gradually rise. The total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid and soluble sugarcontents of C. morifolium flower were 70% harvest maturity of flower higher than 50%, but thesoluble amino acid content were 50% higher than 70%.11. There was a vale at 260 nm and a peak at 326 nm on the UV absorption fingerprint of C.morifolium flower, which represented the UV absorption spectra of phenylpropionic acids compoundof C. morifolium flower. Fertilization had few effects on the peak shape and peak polition of UVabsorption fingerprint, but had an evident effect on the peak height. The UV absorption fingerprint ofC. morifolium flower was simple, convenient and cheap to be mensurated and it suit to evaluate thequality and determine the chlorogenic acid of C. morifolium flower in production fleetly.12. There were mainly 16 characteristic peaks on the HPLC fingerprint of C. morifoliumflower, of which the 2nd, 3rd and 14th peaks were identified as chlorogenic acid, rutin andluteolin by comparison with the reference sample. Fertilization had a significant effect on thearea of each peak and changed the ratio of each peak area to the sum of peak areas (of all 16 peaks ) onthe HPLC fingerprint of C. morifolium flower. It indicated that fertilization had significant effect onthe content and ratio of different compounds of C. morifolium flower, but it was inconsistent indifferent fertilizers.