Study on Balanced Fertilization for High yield and Quality of Radix Paeoniae and Chrysanthemum in Bozhou, Anhui Province
English
IPNI-2005-CHN-AH15
15 Feb 2008
2007 Annual Interpretive Summary
Balanced Fertilization for High yield and Quality of Radix Paeoniae and Chrysanthemum in Bozhou, Anhui, 2007
Bo Radix paeoniae and Bo Chrysanthemum are famous sources of traditional Chinese medicines. Anhui Province has a large area planted to these herbs, including 8,000 ha of Bo Chrysanthemum near Bozhou City. Also, the city’s total yield of Bo Radix paeoniae amounts to 75% of China’s total production. However, poor crop management has reduced yield and quality of these herbs in recent years. Heavy metal accumulation and pesticide residues have also become a serious issue for medicinal herb production, especially for products destined for export. Reliance on high rates of N fertilizer with little use of organic manures, P, K, and micronutrients has limited yields and quality. This project was established in 2007 by the Anhui Agricultural University to improve the yield and quality of medicinal herbs in this area.
Radix paeoniae field experiments found positive, linear relationships between the number of buds and roots per plant and root weight. An increase in bud numbers was associated with higher dry matter accumulation and yield. Root length and thickness are two other important components for crop yield. The highest yield of 8,867 kg/ha and benefit of US$10,932/ha was obtained with application of 300-225-150 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha. Experiments with Chrysanthemum found N to be the most important yield-limiting factor which was followed by K. The number of flowers per plant and economic benefit under recommended rates of NPK were 257/plant and US$2,714/ha, respectively. Field demonstrations for Radix paeoniae obtained a yield of 8,329 kg/ha under recommendation rates of NPK, which was 26% higher than common practice. Similarly, demonstrations for Chrysanthemum had a yield of 929 kg dry weight/ha using the NPK recommendation which was 18% higher than the common practice. The economic benefit of using the NPK recommendation in Chrysanthemum amounted to US$2,662/ha, which was 38% higher than that obtained through common practice. Anhui-15