• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.229-233
• /
• 2006

Comparison of the grade of raw ginseng and that of red ginseng was investigated. The materials used in this study were Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) and American ginseng(Panax quinquefolium L.) Coefficient of body term, length of main stem and weight of raw ginseng were used as the classifying criteria of the root size and grades. Korean ginseng distinguished the distribution of weight size from that of American ginseng. Korean ginseng distributed largely in middle and large root size, and American ginseng distributed largely in middle and small root size. American ginseng had shorter length of main root, bigger diameter of main root and more number of adventitious roots than Korean ginseng. The quality of Korean ginseng was better than that of American ginseng. In Korean ginseng, high quality of red ginseng above second grade (Jisam) was obtained, but low quality of red ginseng under third grade (Yangsam) in American ginseng. In Korean raw ginseng, the coefficients of body form of middle weight and large weight size were under 0.5, but those of American ginseng was over 0.5. So American ginseng were not adequate to produce good red ginseng. Those factors as length of main root and weight of main root were not significantly influenced on the qualify of red ginseng in both Korean ginseng and American ginseng. Coefficient of body form was leading factor affecting the quality of red ginseng. To improve the quality of red ginseng, coefficient of body form, weight of main root and length of main root were controlled adequately in both Korean ginseng and American ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
• /
• v.1
• /
• pp.57-66
• /
• 2019

Ginseng has been recognized as a lifespan extending medicine which has been regarded as one of the medicines classified as top medicines, as the Boncho (medical herbs) study which is influenced by the idea of guidance's costume and food concept mainly in China is gaining its bona fide form. As the demand for ginseng has been expanded to other levels, the demand for ginseng has been increasing. Ginseng from the nature reached its supply chain limit due to its extinction and difficulty of picking, so it translated into ginseng cultivation of economy rather than harvesting in nature. After the start of ginseng cultivation, the ginseng cultivation was further enhanced by the rapid development of processing methods such as white-ginseng and red-ginseng, and the surge of consumption due to the traditional belief in ginseng drug efficacy and support of scientific research. In the Joseon Dynasty, the name Gasam (cultivated ginseng) had been created as ginseng was cultivated on farmland after the stage of SanYang (wild cultivated ginseng), the purpose of the new name Gasam is to differentiate from natural ginseng, and natural ginseng lost its firm position as the genuine ginseng as the Gasam replaced the genuine ginseng, and the natural ginseng got a new name of SanSam (wild ginseng). Because the real ginseng substance concept dissipated, and as Gasam is being called ginseng, the name Gasam was also disappeared. As a result, it was possible to grow large quantities according to the arrival of the Gasam era, and it was possible to supply the demand for ginseng, and it could become one agricultural industry. In this ginseng cultivation, in Japan where ginseng did not grow naturally, it was difficult to obtain ginseng from Joseon and faced with a shortage of ginseng at all times. Therefore, the shogun cultivated the Gasam systematically at the national level by the inside of the shogunate. However, since the natural ginseng is native to China and Korea, there is a concern about the deterioration of the quality of natural ginseng due to the incorporation of cultivated ginseng (Gasam). To protect the interests, the cultivation of ginseng was subject to control. For this reason, the lack of historical information on Gasam cultivation, which had to be started secretly, would be a natural result. In this paper, althouh not sufficient enough, the historical informations were used to summarize the history of ginseng cultivation in China, Japan and Korea.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.183-187
• /
• 2006

This study carried out to analize quality in the evaluation based on the grades such as raw ginseng and red ginseng between Korean (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) and American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium L). American ginseng was small in root length, root diameter and root weight and emergence many secondary root from rhizome and main root. Therefore body form was bad compared with Korean ginseng. As for yield of dry, Korean ginseng was 30.4 % and American ginseng was 33.8% but as for yield, Korean ginseng was 80.4% and American ginseng was 72.2%. There were as many Korean ginseng in raw ginseng first grade by about twice compared with American ginseng. However there were many American ginseng in second grade. On the other hand, Korean ginseng producted high Chunsam compared with American ginseng. The cause of decreasing quality was inside cavity and inside white in Korean and American ginseng. Especially, the inside white occurrence about 3 times compared with inside cavity in American ginseng. In the case of distribution of weight size, Korean ginseng was much above 20Ji but American ginseng was much under 20Ji.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.775-783
• /
• 2020

Background: The reports about valuable oligosaccharides in ginseng are quite limited. There is an urgent need to develop a practical procedure to detect and analyze ginseng oligosaccharides. Methods: The oligosaccharide extracts from ginseng were permethylated by solid-phase methylation method and then were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-Q-Orbitrap/MS. The sequence, linkage, and configuration information of oligosaccharides were determined by using accurate m/z value and tandem mass information. Several standard references were used to further confirm the identification. The oligosaccharide composition in white ginseng and red ginseng was compared using a multivariate statistical analysis method. Results: The nonreducing oligosaccharide erlose among 12 oligosaccharides identified was reported for the first time in ginseng. In the comparison of the oligosaccharide extracts from white ginseng and red ginseng, a clear separation was observed in the partial least squares-discriminate analysis score plot, indicating the sugar differences in these two kinds of ginseng samples. The glycans with variable importance in the projection value large than 1.0 were considered to contribute most to the classification. The contents of oligosaccharides in red ginseng were lower than those in white ginseng, and the contents of maltose, maltotriose, maltotetraose, maltopentaose, maltohexaose, maltoheptaose, maltooctaose, maltononaose, sucrose, and erlose decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in red ginseng. Conclusion: A solid-phase methylation method combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was successfully applied to analyze the oligosaccharides in ginseng extracts, which provides the possibility for holistic evaluation of ginseng oligosaccharides. The comparison of oligosaccharide composition of white ginseng and red ginseng could help understand the differences in pharmacological activities between these two kinds of ginseng samples from the perspective of glycans.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.227-247
• /
• 2013

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of recently discovered non-coding small RNA molecules, on average approximately 21 nucleotides in length, which underlie numerous important biological roles in gene regulation in various organisms. The miRNA database (release 18) has 18,226 miRNAs, which have been deposited from different species. Although miRNAs have been identified and validated in many plant species, no studies have been reported on discovering miRNAs in Panax ginseng Meyer, which is a traditionally known medicinal plant in oriental medicine, also known as Korean ginseng. It has triterpene ginseng saponins called ginsenosides, which are responsible for its various pharmacological activities. Predicting conserved miRNAs by homology-based analysis with available expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences can be powerful, if the species lacks whole genome sequence information. In this study by using the EST based computational approach, 69 conserved miRNAs belonging to 44 miRNA families were identified in Korean ginseng. The digital gene expression patterns of predicted conserved miRNAs were analyzed by deep sequencing using small RNA sequences of flower buds, leaves, and lateral roots. We have found that many of the identified miRNAs showed tissue specific expressions. Using the insilico method, 346 potential targets were identified for the predicted 69 conserved miRNAs by searching the ginseng EST database, and the predicted targets were mainly involved in secondary metabolic processes, responses to biotic and abiotic stress, and transcription regulator activities, as well as a variety of other metabolic processes.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
• /
• v.4
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2022

Ginseng and ginseng products are distributed in approximately 190 countries around the world. The size of the ginseng market varies by country and there are no accurate statistics on production and distribution amounts per country. Therefore, it is difficult to make predictions about the global ginseng market. Governments and ginseng trading companies are in need of comprehensive data that shows the current status of the ginseng market to help them establish effective import, export, and sales and marketing policies. To addressthis need, this study examines the approximate size of the world ginseng market based on estimates of recent quantities of ginseng distributed in specific country as well as production by major ginseng producing countries. In 2018, global ginseng production was about 86,223 tons based on fresh ginseng. China produced 50,164 tons, South Korea 23,265 tons, Canada 11,367 tons, the US 1,285 tons, Japan 30 tons, and other countries a combined 112 tons. The value of global ginseng production is estimated to be approximately $5,900 million, with $2,870 million (48.6%) in China, $2,489 million (42.2%) in South Korea, $478 million (8.1%) in Canada, $54 million (0.9%) in the USA, $4 million (0.1%) in Japan, and $5 million (0.1%) in other countries. The value of ginseng products consumed for the last five yearsin South Korea was $1,162 million in 2014, $1,280 million in 2015, $1,548 million in 2016, $1,638 million in 2017, and $1,762 million in 2018, showing that the market has been increasing in recent years. In particular, the Korea Ginseng Corporation (KGC), the biggest global ginseng company in South Korea, recorded sales of $1,207 million in 2018. This represents about 69% of the South Korean ginseng market, and about 20% of global production. Since interest in alternative medicine and health food among consumers is increasing globally, the market for ginseng is expected to expand into the future.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.187-195
• /
• 1997

The Chinese ginseng roots were collected at twelve places of Jilin Province and two places of Liaoning Province in China and their appearances were compared with those of the Korean ginseng roots. The color of the most of the Chinese red ginseng was brown or dark brown and the color of many of the Chinese dried ginseng was pale yellow and the root-age of the most of the Chinese red ginseng as well as the Chinese dried ginseng was evaluated five or six year regardless of the collection places, so it cannot be easily concluded that the color and the root-age of the Chinese ginseng roots are different from those of the Korean ginseng roots. However the rhizomes and the lateral roots of the Chinese ginseng roots were poorly developed and many of them did not have either rhizome or lateral roots. Moreover the rhizomes of the Chinese red ginseng as well as the Chinese dried ginseng were much more easily removed than those of the Korean red ginseng and the Korean white ginseng. Therefore it is thought that the development status of the rhizome and the lateral roots of the Chinese ginseng roots are quite different from those of the Korean ginseng roots.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.436-441
• /
• 2011

The principal objective of this study was to assess the instrumental and sensory characteristics of ginseng coffee with different ratios of the ingredients: type of coffee bean (Colombia, Brazil, and Indonesia), type of ginseng extract (white ginseng, red ginseng, and America ginseng) and concentration of ginseng extract (3, 6, and 9 w/v %). The sensory optimal condition of white ginseng coffee, red ginseng coffee and America ginseng coffee were as follows: 3% Indonesian coffee bean coated with 3% white ginseng extract, Colombian coffee bean coated with 6% red ginseng extract and Colombian coffee bean coated with 3% American ginseng extract, respectively. In particular, the Colombian coffee bean coated with 6% red ginseng extract had significantly higher scores than other samples in terms of flavor, taste, and overall preference. Additionally, the contents of total ginsenoside and total sugar and total phenolic compounds were also highest in the Colombian coffee bean coated with 6% red ginseng extract.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.82-88
• /
• 2001

This study was carried out to investigate a point of difference between normal and inferior Korean red ginseng (Naeback red ginseng = red ginseng with white part of clear boundary in phloem and/or xylem of ginseng body, saengnaeback red ginseng red ginseng with white part of indistinct boundary). White part with clear or indistinct boundary in center of ginseng body was observed in inferior red ginseng (naeback and saengnaeback red ginseng), and the differences in the internal color intensity was also found with naked eye. In hunter color values of normal and inferior parts of red ginseng in accordance with particle size, L value was increased with a diminishment in particle size, while a and b value were decreased. Absorbance at visible spectrum did not differ from water and 70% ethanol extract from normal and inferior parts of red ginseng, but absorbance in UV spectrum of extract from naeback part showed higher than those of normal and saengnaeback part. In comparison of intrastructure by electron microscope, the horizontal and vertical section of cortex and pith layer from normal part showed the very dense state, but small holes were found in naeback part of red ginseng by naked eye and electron microscope. The specific surface area of normal, naeback and saengnaeback part appeared 3.02, 3.33 and 6.55 ㎡/g, respectively. From above results, we consider saengnaeback red ginseng is red ginseng in the intermediate process which normal red ginseng changes to naeback red ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.178-182
• /
• 2015

Background: Fermentation technology is widely used to alter the effective components of ginseng. This study was carried out to analyze the characteristics and antioxidant activity of ginseng seeds fermented by Bacillus, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus strains. Methods: For ginseng seed fermentation, 1% of each strainwas inoculated on sterilized ginseng seeds and then incubated at $30^{\circ}C$ for 24 h in an incubator. Results: The total sugar content, acidic polysaccharides, and phenolic compounds, including p-coumaric acid, were higher in extracts of fermented ginseng seeds compared to a nonfermented control, and highest in extracts fermented with B. subtilis KFRI 1127. Fermentation led to higher antioxidant activity. The 2,2'-azine-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activity was higher in ginseng seeds fermented by Bacillus subtilis than by Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, but Superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity was higher in ginseng seeds fermented by Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. Conclusion: Antioxidant activities measured by ABTS and SOD were higher in fermented ginseng seeds compared to nonfermented ginseng seeds. These results may contribute to improving the antioxidant activity and quality of ginseng subjected to fermentation treatments.