Quality evaluation of different propagation methods of Pinellia ternate
Objective In order to provide scientific basis for the subsequent improvement of Pinellia ternata varieties and large-scale breeding production through biotechnology methods,the characteristics,yield,and accumulation patterns of secondary me-tabolites of regenerated plants of Pinellia ternata from artificial seeds,tissue culture seedlings,and traditional tuber self-propa-gation were evaluated.Methods The growth traits of the regenerated plants were observed,the diameters and 100-grain weights of the tubers were counted,the paraffin mounts and the powder mounts of the tubers were microscopically observed,the total or-ganic acid content of Pinellia ternata was determined by potentiometric titration,the total alkaloids of Pinellia ternata were deter-mined by UV spectrophotometry.Fenugreek alkaloids,uridine,inosine,guanosine,thymidine and adenosine were determined by high performance liquid chromatography.The obtained data were analyzed by principal component analysis.Results It showed that the artificial seeds of Pinellia ternata were more adaptable to the environment than the seedlings grown in group culture.The ap-parent traits of the tubers propagated from the artificial seeds were closer to those of the seeding of Pinellia ternata in the field.The content of secondary metabolites in the regenerated plants of the three propagation methods of Pinellia ternata varied drastical-ly during the growth process,and the trends were similar.The germplasm quality of the field tubers was better than that of the ar-tificial seed tubers than that of the histologic tubers when each evaluation object was ranked according to the combined principal component score.Conclusion It shows that the artificial seed propagation method of Pinellia ternata is more suitable to be applied to the production practice than the group cultivated seedling of Pinellia ternata,which provides a reference for developing the ex-cellent seed source and expanding the production of Pinellia ternata.