Objective: To study the physicochemical properties of rhizosphere soil and their influence on appearance characters of semi-natural cultivated Codonopsis pilosula root.
Methods: The comprehensive methods by combining outdoor investigating with indoor analyzing were applied. Rhizosphere soil samples and plant materials were collected from 35 collection points, the physicochemical properties of soil and the appearance characters of plant materials were investigated.
Results: The physical property of rhizosphere soil under semi-natural cultivated condition was good, the soil texture was coarse powder of loam, slightly alkaline. The cultivated layer contained abundant nutrient components, the average organic matter content of 35 soil samples was 60.66 g/kg,and 2.99 g/kg for total nitrogen, 115.46 mg/g for available nitrogen, 0.8 g/kg for total phosphorus, 6.43 mg/kg for available phosphorus, 23.69 g/kg for total potassium and 124.48 mg/kg for available potassium, respectively. The result of correlation analysis indicated that the physicochemical properties of rhizosphere soil had significant influence on the appearance characters of Codonopsis pilosula root.
Conclusion: The semi-natural cultivated model can maintain the structure of soil and hold nutrient components, it is conducive to the growth of Codonopsis pilosula and the standardized production base establishment. To increase the yield of Codonopsis pilosula root, it is recommended to increase the application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer.