Study On Biological Characteristics Of Gentianae Macrophylla Pall

In the present study, biological characters, growth dynamics and dynamic accumulationof constituents of Gentianae macrophylla Pall. were researched in order to offer theoreticalbasis for standard cultivation. Seed germination and storage conditions of the plant were alsoexplored. The main results are as follows:1. Phonological period of G. macrophylla Pall.: Seeds of G. macrophylla Pall. cultivatedin Liupanshan region of Ningxia were sowed in early April, sprouted after30~40days. Thefirst pair of euphylla of the plant grown in early June, and the second came out in late July.After several months of development, the overground parts of the plant withered in November,then bud again in mid-March of the following year. The growth of G. macrophylla Pall. in thefirst two years is only vegetative growth, and the reproductive growth began in the third years.The triennial plant of G. macrophylla Pall. bolted in mid-May, began to bud in mid-June andlate started to blossom. Nearly20to30%of the flower buds were blossom in early July andup to70to80%in late July. In mid-August, flowers began to wither, seeds began to mature inSeptember, with the color changed from light brown to dark brown thereafter.2. Growth dynamics of G. macrophylla Pall.: During in the first year, growth of theplants showed a slow-growing, while in the second year growth of the plants showed growthaccelerating trend, and with the phenomenon that the growth of the underground parts weremore quick than the aboveground parts. The4-year-old G. macrophylla Pall. root dry weightincreased most significantly and is the optimum harvesting time. The growth dynamics of G.macrophylla Pall. were in line with the “S” type curve, which showed the plants grow rapidlyduring April to July and then slow during October to November. Because of the decrease inwater content of overground parts, plant height, leaf length and leaf width declined.3. Dynamic accumulation of constituents of G. macrophylla Pall.: Studying on thedynamics of effective components in different organs of different growth period of G.macrophylla Pall. showed that accumulation of constituents in roots of2-year-old plants werefaster than others. And the effective components content in roots of3-year-old and4-year-old G. macrophylla Pall plants changed little. Results showed that the underground parts of G.macrophylla Pall.(roots) were the major parts where gentiopicroside and loganic acidaccumulated and could be up to9.43%. However, overground parts contained with lowergentiopicroside and loganic acid, which showed that floral organ (4.90%)＞leaf (3.96%)＞stem (3.84%).4. Data of seeds germination test showed that the optimal temperature of seedsgermination is25℃. Below15℃or above30℃will cause great influence to the seedgermination. Seeds germination in the dark were more conducive to seeds germination in thelight. Ultrasonic technique, GA3soaking and PEG soaking were also used in the present study,which showed that GA3soaking method improved the germination rate and shortened thegermination period of G. macrophylla Pall. significantly.5. Results of seed storage showed that the newly harvested seeds germination rate is low(38%), the germination rate increased to86%after one month of storage. However, thegermination potential and germination rate showed a decline trend after7and12months ofstorage, respectively. After preserved under4℃and-20℃,respectively, seeds have a longerlife span than those preserved under room temperature. We also found that the germinationrate of preserved seeds treated with GA3solution improved significantly.