Proper planting density for direct seedling of 5 years old ginseng in rain shelter house

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is widely cultivated in Korea as a medicinal herb. Gangwon-do(Province), especially in the northern part state of South Korea, has a favorable environment for ginseng cultivation due to its cool climate. So, the area of ginseng cultivation in Gangwon-do is Steadily increasing. Conventional ginseng cultivation uses an inclined shading facility. In order to improve productivity and reduce workforce, it is necessary to cultivate using rain shelter house and direct seedling. It is possible to reduce the number of pesticide spraying (12~15 times → 2~4 times). Therefore, ginseng production also increases more than twice as much as conventional cultivation. Direct seedling in ginseng cultivation using the rain shelter house is expected to reduce the labor, improve growth and promote eco-friendly cultivation. In this study, we conducted to determine the proper planting density of 5-year-old ginseng in the rain shelter house. We conducted the study through four treatments; 63, 72, 108, 180 root/m². 1~2 lips of dehisced ginseng seed had a hill dropping, covered with it 2~3 times thicker than the seeds and then covered with it and fully watered.

We concluded that the 72root/m² could be a proper planting density of the rain shelter house in northern region of Korea.

Tab. 1

Growth characteristics and yield of 5-year-old ginseng according to the planting density.

Trt. (root/m2)	Root length (cm)	Tap root diameter (mm)	Fresh weight (g/root)	Red coloration (%)	Postharvest root rots of ginseng (%)	Yield (kg/1.6m2)
63	28.6±3.6	23.8±0.1	82.1±9.0	10.1	0.4	3.8
72	28.9±2.4	22.5±1.3	98.5±6.1	5.6	0.2	4.2
108	28.2±1.0	23.9±0.8	65.6±2.2	8.7	1.3	3.2
180	28.0±2.6	21.9±1.8	83.6±1.5	2.3	0.1	3.1