Recently Panax ginseng has been grown as a secondary crop under a pine tree canopy in New Zealand (NZ). The aim of the study is to compare the average content of ginsenosides from NZ-grown ginseng and its original native locations (China and Korea) grown ginseng. Ten batches of NZ-grown ginseng were extracted using 70% methanol and analyzed using LC-MS/MS. The average content of ginsenosides from China and Korea grown ginseng were obtained by collecting data from 30 and 17 publications featuring China and Korea grown ginseng, respectively. The average content of total ginsenosides in NZ-grown ginseng was 40.06 ± 3.21 mg/g (n = 14), which showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher concentration than that of China grown ginseng (16.48 ± 1.24 mg/g, n = 113) and Korea grown ginseng (21.05 ± 1.57 mg/g, n = 106). For the individual ginsenosides, except for the ginsenosides Rb2, Rc, and Rd, ginsenosides Rb1, Re, Rf, and Rg1 from NZ-grown ginseng were 2.22, 2.91, 1.65, and 1.27 times higher than that of ginseng grown in China, respectively. Ginsenosides Re and Rg1 in NZ-grown ginseng were also 2.14 and 1.63 times higher than ginseng grown in Korea. From the accumulation of ginsenosides, New Zealand volcanic pumice soil may be more suitable for ginseng growth than its place of origin.
Keywords: China; Korea; New Zealand; Panax ginseng; ginsenosides.