American ginseng (Panex quinquefolium) is a valuable alternative medicinal root crop. The value of this shade loving crop is greatly influenced by how the crop is grown (Table 1). Wild populations are increasingly scarse, and intensively cultivated field-grown ginseng is overproduced and deemed to be of low quality. Forest farming (Woods Cultivation) of this shade loving crop in natural forest woodlots is a low input, comparatively high value alternative to intensive horticultural production and wild collection.

Ginseng quality and price has traditionally been judged by root shape, texture, age, and rate of growth. Root branching resulting in a man-like form is highly valued. Pharmacologically, the active medicinal principles of the herb are a group of triterpene saponins known as ginsenosides. Ginsenoside Rb1, shown to the right, is the most abundant of the twenty plus known ginsenosides. A correlation between quality judged by traditional criteria, and ginsenoside content is widely assumed but largely unsubstantiated. It has also been reported (Betz, 1984), but not widely confirmed, that wild ginseng is higher in ginsenoside content than cultivated root.

To test the hypothesis that ginseng from different geographic sources (presumed genotypes) differ in ginsenocide content, ginseng roots from 7 different geographic sources were grown at a single naturally forested provenance garden in Chemung County, NY (Phetteplace, Raw Furs) for several years. In June, 2000, roots were collected for ginsenoside analysis by HPLC (Figure 1).

Figure 2 shows the concentration (% dry wt.) of six common ginsenocides and the total ginsenocide content from roots originating from each of seven geographic sources, all grown for several years at a common location. Statistical analysis of the levels of individual ginsenocides showed significant variation between geographic sources, as shown for the most abundant ginsenocide, Rb1(Figure 3). In addition to variation in ginsenocide content between populations, there was considerable variation between roots within populations, as shown in Figure 4.