FOR RELEASE: Feb. 24, 1997
Contact: Blaine P. Friedlander, Jr.
Office: (607) 255-3290
Internet: [email protected]
Compuserve: Larry Bernard 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Could an ancient plant rooted in thousands of years of
Chinese tradition provide an economic boost to New York forest owners?
A new cooperative team of researchers at Cornell University and the
North American Ginseng Association is going to find out. Ginseng, the
herbal remedy used by Chinese healers for more than 4,000 years, grows
wild in New York, where growers are beginning to see a blossoming
industry.
This ancient plant has been gaining new agricultural product importance
over the past few years. Marketers are adding ginseng or its extract
to such items as tea, cold beverages and dietary supplements as a
medicinal aid or flavorant. This new research is an effort to learn
more about wild American ginseng's micronutrient needs, how to increase
its resistance to fungal attack and to find out more about whether the
conditions in which it is grown affect its content of active
ingredients, known as ginsenocides.
Funding comes from a three-year $45,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture
Hatch grant, "Advancing Knowledge and Practice of Woods-Cultivated
American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) in New York and the Northeast."
Used as an herbal medicine for four millennia in Chinese culture, the
wild American version grows well in forested sections of New York.
While ginseng has a reputation for its medicinal properties, growers
beware: This gnarly, human-appearing root will not get you rich quick.
It takes many years to cultivate. Patience, however, could pay off as
wild American ginseng can fetch as much as $450 a pound.
"While there is lots of potential, there are associated risks," said
Louise Buck, senior extension associate in the Department of Natural
Resources and the coordinator of the Cornell Agroforestry Working
Group. "Poachers and disease to the plant are two of the biggest
threats to ginseng growers. Growers have to grow ginseng in total
secrecy. Those who are successful are adding a high-value understory
component to a managed forest system. Essentially, it's forest
farming."
Artificially cultivated ginseng, which is grown under shade cloth in
densely planted beds, fetches about $25 a pound, while woods-cultivated
ginseng can sell for between $250 and $400 a pound. The wild-simulated
approach to woods cultivation is more likely to produce the dark,
gnarly, natural-looking roots that are so prized by ginseng aficionados
and can fetch the highest commodity prices.
Buck said that the main factor in selling ginseng is its looks. The
gnarlier the better, and New York's climate is suited for some of the
best ginseng in North America, she said.
Cornell's venture into studying New York-grown wild American ginseng is
rooted in history. At the turn of the this century, it was one of the
state's most lucrative crops. Scientists at Cornell who will be
joining Buck in studying this plant include: James Lassoie, Cornell
professor of forest science and chair of Cornell's Department of
Natural Resources; Todd E. Dawson, Cornell associate professor of
ecological science; and Kenneth W. Mudge, Cornell associate professor
of floriculture and ornamental horticulture. The group is cooperating
closely with the North American Ginseng Association through its
president, Steven Roth, and with Robert Beyfuss, Greene County
cooperative extension agent.
"Ginseng has come into great prominence in this state. We are just
beginning to learn how to grow it well," wrote Liberty Hyde Bailey in
May 1904, when he was Cornell's director of the Agricultural Experiment
Station in Ithaca. "Considering that the value of the New York product
and the attention given to the plant, it is not improbable that New
York leads the states. The interest in the plant is growing rapidly."
Bailey was right, only he was just 93 years ahead of his time, because
fungal disaster struck a few years later.
Around 1910, fungal disease all but obliterated the burgeoning
agroforest production of ginseng in New York. Soil scientists and
plant pathologists are just learning to grapple with the natural
problems this plant faces. For example, Alternaria panax and root rot
are two of the most devastating fungal blights that can afflict
ginseng. It is also prone to "damping-off," which is a fungal disease
usually caused by A. panax or Phytopthora cactorum.
It is the reputed health benefits and expanding demand for wild
American ginseng worldwide that has caught the agroforesters' interest.
Ginseng contains complex carbohydrates, called ginsenocides, that can,
it is thought, help the central nervous system, balance metabolism,
decrease blood sugar, increase body tone, stimulate the endocrine
system and maintain hormone levels. It contains B-vitamins, folic
acid, amino acids and certain minerals, like iron and zinc. Buck's
research will lay the groundwork for establishing relationships between
the potency of the ginsenosides that provide these benefits and the
growing conditions of the plant. The study aims to help verify or
disprove claims that wild ginseng is more beneficial than artificially
cultivated, and that New York wild is among the most potent available.
To make this determination, the study will examine roots from
throughout ginseng's native range.
Wild American ginseng most often occurs on the northern faces of
hardwood forests, from the Northeastern United States through the
Midwest and as far south as Arkansas. The gnarly root produces a
deciduous plant that can grow from 6 to 16 inches, flowering in the
summer. The average wild ginseng plant lasts between eight and 15
years, and the root is harvested in its prime.
Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is hoping to boost
agroforest production in New York, and this high-value understory crop
offers tremendous potential for doing so, Buck said.
"Because wild ginseng is severely threatened by over-harvesting, future
demand will be met increasingly from cultivated plants," she said. "By
learning more about where and how to grow the most natural-looking and
potent roots, New York forest owners stand to profit, while the quality
of our forests are improved through more active management."
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