The rhizosphere soil factors on the quality of wild-cultivated herb and its origin traceability as well as distinguishing from garden-cultivated herb: Mountainous forest cultivated ginseng for example

To explore the effect of rhizosphere soil factors on the morphological characteristics and ginsenosides of mountainous forest cultivated ginseng (MFCG) and its origin traceability as well as distinguishing from garden ginseng (GG) by the stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N), high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) technique was adopted to investigate the ginsenosides of MFCG; The contents of 25 mineral elements in MFCG and its rhizosphere soils were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectrometry and the other factors, including pH and available N, P and K were also measured; The δ13C and δ15N were determined by the elementary analyzer (EA)-Isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS). Results indicated that the rhizosphere soil factors closely affected the MFCG quality in both morphological characteristics and chemical composition. The contents of mineral elements in MFCG and its rhizosphere soils from different origins could be used for geographical origin traceability, especially Ni and Co for MFCG and Ba and Sn for its rhizosphere soils. In addition, MFCG and the GG could be completely distinguished with the δ15N/‰ and δ15N/δ13C, especially the former. It is for the first time that the effects of the rhizosphere soil minerals on the quality of MFCG and its distinguishing from GG by the stable isotope technique were explored.