Selection of artificial medium for cultivation of ginseng seedling

It is well known that yield of ginseng is closely related to the quality of ginseng seedling, and production of high quality ginseng seedling has been recognized to be important in the cultivation of ginseng. This study was carried out to evaluate the availability of artificial medium as a material for production of ginseng seedling by analyzing growth characteristics of ginseng seedling grown on artificial medium. pH values of soil, peatmoss medium, mixed media of peatmoss and perlite were 7.56, 6.4 and 6.61, and EC values were 0.4, 1.4 and 0.6 ds/m, respectively. Germination percents of ginseng seedling grown on each artificial medium were not different from ginseng seedling grown on soil. The root length, root diameter and root weight of ginseng seedling grown on soil were 12.5 cm, 0.38 cm and 0.53 g, and those of characteristics grown on mixed media consisted peatmoss and perlite were 13.2 cm, 0.41 cm and 0.49 g, respectively (Table I). These results suggested that mixed media consisted peatmoss and perlite might be a soil-replacing medium for cultivation of ginseng seedling.

Tab. 1: Growth charateristics of root grown on mixed media consisted peatmoss and perlite.

Root chracteristic	peatmoss	mixed media	soil
Length (cm)	10.4	13.2	12.5
Diameter (cm)	0.39	0.41	0.38
Weight (g)	0.48	0.49	0.53