Effects of deficit irrigation and organic fertilizer on yield, saponin and disease incidence in Panax notoginseng under shaded conditions

Jie Li, Qiliang Yang, Zhengtao Shi, Zhennan Zang and Xiaogang Liu

Agricultural Water Management, 2021, vol. 256, issue C

Abstract: Panax notoginseng (Burk) F. H. Chen, called Sanqi, is a valuable herbal plant and is widely used in Chinese medicine. However, the yield and saponin content cannot be guaranteed due to irrational irrigation and fertilizer management in low-latitude regions in southwestern China. To obtain suitable irrigation and organic fertilizer modes for improving the yield and saponin content of the plant, a shelter experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement of treatments with three replications. Three irrigation regimes, DL, DM and DS (irrigation upper/lower limit: 65–50% θf, 50–35% θf, and 35–20% θf, respectively, where θf is the field capacity), three organic fertilizer levels, FL, FM and FH (33, 48 and 63 t ha−1, respectively), and a control group, CK (65–50% θf and 3 t ha−1), were applied in the two-year and eight-month growth cycles. With the paired comparison design, the results indicated that the flower dry yield, root dry yield and Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) were significantly affected by different water deficit irrigation and organic fertilizer treatments, and they first increased and then decreased with increased water deficit or organic fertilizer. Compared with DLFH, DMFM reduced water use by 42.39% and fertilizer use by 23.81%, and the flower dry yield, root dry yield, PNS, water use efficiency and partial factor productivity of fertilizer increased by 19.67%, 22.52%, 54.33%, 149.72% and 91.83%, respectively. Under the DMFM treatment, the dry root yield and saponin content for 3-year-old P. notoginseng were 3039.19 kg ha−1 and 10.85%, respectively, which were higher than those resulting from other treatments. Additionally, the PNS resulting from DMFM exhibited the highest comprehensive score and comprehensive index based on principal component analysis and the TOPSIS model. This combination could create a higher yield of flowers and roots, provide a scientific management for planting, and improve the economic benefits for planters and the local government.

Keywords: Water deficit; Panax notoginseng; Yield; Saponin content; Water use efficiency; Principal component analysis; TOPSIS model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377421003218
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:256:y:2021:i:c:s0378377421003218

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107056

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().