wild dendrobium growing on the stone .
Dendrobium tied to the tree
Dendrobium blooms
In order to cultivate new varieties of Dendrobium officinale , researchers need to collect wild Dendrobium officinale resources. At the end of 2011, they went to search on the Wuzhishi mountain in Pingyuan County, Meizhou City. "As the sun went down, we discovered a small Dendrobium officinale growing on top of an almost dry Selaginella cypress (locally called 'immortal grass')." Duan Jun recalled that there was almost no way up and down the mountain. It was already dark when he returned to the accommodation after collecting. Although it was hard work, it felt very worthwhile.
5 licorice new varieties
Researchers are conducting research work in licorice.
comes from wolfberry with different genetic backgrounds
red wolfberry and black wolfberry interspecific hybrid offspring - purple wolfberry
Text/Photo by Guangzhou Daily All-Media Reporter Huang Lan/Provided by South China Botanical Garden
from " Huang Di Nei Jing " As of " Shen Nong's Materia Medica ", medicinal and edible homologous substances have a long history of development in our country. In November 2021, my country's medicinal and food homologous substances officially entered the stage of legal management, which also marked that the industry related to my country's medicinal and food homologous substances has officially become an indispensable part of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. In recent years, the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made breakthrough progress in the research fields of medicinal and edible plants, such as wolfberry, licorice, and dendrobium, and has also promoted the development of their industries.
Progress 1
Fresh wolfberry is eaten as fruit
In recent years, South China Botanical Garden has screened economic plants that are widely used for ornamental and medicinal purposes. Among and other plants, two "star plants" were screened and evaluated for large-scale production and application, and wolfberry is one of the "stars". In 2011, the South China Botanical Garden successfully bred the first nationally approved wolfberry variety "Zhongke Lvchuan No. 1", which was also the first fruit-type wolfberry variety with sweet taste. It has been demonstrated and promoted in Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Gansu and other places. Planting.
According to Wang Ying, director and researcher of the Horticulture Center of the South China Botanical Garden, after nearly 18 years of efforts, the research team has established multiple germplasm resource gardens of Lycium barbarum species in Ningxia, laying the foundation for the genetic breeding of wolfberry. Through the innovation of wolfberry germplasm resources, excellent strains with different colors such as yellow fruit have been cultivated. According to reports, the improved fresh wolfberry not only increases fruit size and taste, but also increases storage, transportation and shelf life. The research on
provides a solid theoretical basis for the development direction of different industries such as wolfberry medicinal, vegetable, fresh fruit, and processed wolfberry. It proposes the development goals of specialized variety cultivation for the development of wolfberry industry, and innovatively proposes wolfberry as the key to the development of wolfberry industry in the 21st century. New industrial targets for new functional fruits. In due time, Guangzhou citizens may be able to eat fresh wolfberry fruit as big as a cherry tomato, and wolfberry will no longer be used only for making soup.
In order to study wolfberry, Wang Ying’s research team has visited more than ten provinces and regions including Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Tibet to inspect and collect wild plant resources of the genus Lycium barbarum, and has successively established experimental bases in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and other places.
"Although we have to travel to the base frequently, the teachers and students of the team have persisted in the cause we love for many years." Wang Ying told reporters that her family is also very supportive of her scientific research work. When her child was 4 years old, she hung a banner at home saying, " I want to go to Ningxia with my mother." He also accompanied his mother and senior sister to conduct experiments at the experimental field. "The team members stayed in Ningxia for ten months, eating and living at the base. In order to prevent the wolfberry fruit bags from being blown off after pollination, they took great pains to build windproof sheds for the trees in the experimental field, and in order to collect and transport experimental materials , drove more than 2,000 kilometers non-stop to return to the laboratory. "
In November last year, my country's medicinal and food homologous substances officially entered the stage of legal management. Wang Ying said that this system marks that my country has clearly distinguished the clear boundaries between Chinese medicinal materials being used as food, health products and medicines.“Through the legal management of medicinal and food homologous substances, the legality of medicinal and food homologous substances being used in food is guaranteed, and it also clarifies the direction of species and future industrial development for the further development and utilization of medicinal and food homologous Chinese medicinal materials.”
Progress 2
Dendrobium is tied to a tree in the shed and planted
Dendrobium, which enjoys the reputation of "the first of the nine immortal grasses", has high medicinal value and health value. However, before 2007, my country's dendrobium industry mainly relied on the natural supply of wild raw materials, with small scale and low output.
In recent years, the South China Botanical Garden has introduced the "elevated seedbed cultivation" technology into the Dendrobium officinale cultivation industry for the first time, and has achieved great success. The selected varieties such as "Zhongke No. 1 Dendrobium officinale", "Zhongke Congdu No. 2 Dendrobium officinale" and "Zhongke Congdu No. 2 Dendrobium officinale" have high quality, high yield and strong disease resistance, and their promotion area ranks first in the country among Dendrobium officinale varieties. . These achievements all started when his research team entered the field of dendrobium.
In 2007, some medicinal plant companies approached researcher Duan Jun of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, wondering about the cultivation of medicinal dendrobium such as Dendrobium officinale. "At that time, I was still wondering. We have been doing research on dendrobium planting and cultivation for a long time, and there are no difficulties in the cultivation process. Why can't companies grow it well?" Through in-depth research, Duan Jun found that there was a big problem with the planting methods of farmers at that time. Dendrobium officinale grown in the "ground planting method" is seriously affected by diseases and insect pests. The planting substrate has poor air permeability and is prone to water accumulation. If it is watered too much, it will easily cause root rot. So he took the right medicine and introduced the "seedbed overhead cultivation" technology into the Dendrobium officinale planting industry for the first time, which greatly increased the output of Dendrobium officinale planted by the company per unit area and rapidly expanded its production capacity.
Duan Jun told reporters that because consumers are more interested in wild varieties, wild Chinese medicinal products are usually much more expensive than artificially cultivated products. "Based on the needs of consumers, we started with the imitation of wild planting of medicinal dendrobium, so that the growth environment of artificially planted dendrobium is as consistent as the wild environment. Wild dendrobium usually grows on stones or tree trunks, so we try to plant the dendrobium in the shed Dendrobium is tied to trees and rocks," he said. After this planting method was popularized, some companies used this cultivation model to delay sales and increase added value. They transplanted medicinal dendrobium such as Dendrobium officinale and Dendrobium Huoshan in greenhouses to mountains and forests to survive. Increase profits during market troughs.
The planting method of planting dendrobium on tree trunks or stones not only brings freshness to the public, but the spectacular sight of dendrobium planted in patches in the forest when it blooms has also become a new tourism resource.
Progress 3
Let licorice be integrated into beauty and skin care products
Have you heard of "Nine Grasses from Ten Directions"? Why are some candied fruits so sweet without sugar? As early as two thousand years ago, China's "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" listed it as the best medicine. As a traditional Chinese medicinal material, licorice is also a plant with the same origin as medicine and food. Although it has a low-key personality, it is full of treasures. According to Li Yongqing, a researcher at the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the South China Botanical Garden has been studying licorice for more than 20 years. "We have established standardized licorice resource nurseries in Ningxia and Xinjiang, and have systematically collected wild licorice resources in China and some foreign licorice resources. Through systematic tracking of these resources for many years, we have analyzed their active ingredient content, growth and other important traits. Through systematic evaluation, a batch of licorice core germplasm resources with important application value were obtained. "
In response to the development needs of the licorice industry, the South China Botanical Garden has currently established tissue culture rapid propagation, lateral root propagation and other seedling propagation of 5 new licorice varieties. technology system and carried out large-scale demonstration cultivation. In addition, a series of in-depth studies have been carried out on licorice, an ancient medicinal material. The research team is currently focusing on the important active ingredients in medicinal licorice, including licorice flavonoids , which are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and , which is known as whitening gold. Glycyrrhizin was studied. According to reports, glabridin extracted from licorice can directly combine with tyrosinase to inhibit its activity, making it unable to produce dopa and release melanin. Therefore, glabridin is called "whitening gold" ".Because of its rich chemical compounds and physiological activity, licorice has been widely used in skin care products in recent years.
Li Yongqing said that from "how to plant" to "no planting", it is necessary to analyze the metabolic pathways of important active ingredients and their regulatory mechanisms, so as to obtain high-yield, stable and high-quality licorice. By analyzing metabolic pathways, we can further construct these metabolic pathways in microorganisms and use "microbial factories" to synthesize these high-value active ingredients, so that we don't have to rely on nature for food and figure out how to obtain these ingredients "without planting".
Although licorice is a bulk Chinese medicinal material, it is difficult to study because it is a perennial plant with a long growth cycle and complex genetics. "Currently, most research focuses on analyzing the medicinal functions of active ingredients. There are very few studies on how active ingredients are synthesized and how these synthesis pathways are regulated. It can be said that every step of our research is not easy, and every result must be obtained by overcoming various obstacles. difficulty".
The application of licorice is worldwide, so the research on licorice is also worldwide. Li Yongqing said that in recent years, the South China Botanical Garden has taken advantage of its existing advantages and used multi-omics methods combined with modern molecular biology and biochemistry technologies to analyze the metabolic pathways and synthetic regulation of flavonoids such as licorice chalcone. Mechanism, it is expected that overtaking in corners can be achieved in the future, further enhancing my country’s international influence in the field of licorice.
Establish a world-class medicinal plant garden
Traditional Chinese medicine knowledge is widely spread among the people, but many users are easily misled by self-media and advertisements. Therefore, the development of medicine and food industry needs scientific guidance.
"It is only reliable for professional researchers to do science popularization, and science popularization should also be one of the responsibilities of professional researchers." Li Yongqing said that how to do a good job in science popularization is also a science.
With the development of the field of medicine and food homologous research, Wang Ying told reporters that the South China Botanical Garden will establish a world-class medicinal plant garden, in which a special area for medicinal and food homologous plants will be established for the display and popularization of plants. Display of knowledge. Promote the dissemination of scientific and correct information and knowledge through reasonable channels through scientist lectures, volunteer participation, popularization of science into campuses, and popularization of science into communities, etc., and carry out different plant knowledge and chemical compositions to different audiences such as primary school students, parent-child families, and elderly groups. Dissemination of knowledge and efficacy knowledge. What is the origin of medicine and food in
?
The homology of medicine and food means that medicinal materials and food materials originate at the same time, and many foods are medicines. Last year, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation formulated the "Regulations on the Management of the Catalog of Substances that are Traditionally Both Food and Chinese Herbal Medicines."
The application of medicinal and food homologous substances is common around the world, and many widely popular health foods fall into this category, such as maca, echinacea, cranberry, etc. Many countries have products that are similar to medicinal and edible homologous substances and have both edible and medicinal values.
