Current Development Status of the Chinese Medicinal Herb Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture and Countermeasures
Enshi PrefectureChinese medicinal herbsCurrent Development Status of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia and Countermeasures
The active compounds of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia have a sedative effect and show good results in treating depression. It is an important raw material for producing sleeping pills and sedative, calmative and brain-nourishing medicines [Jishan Huayao]. Its essential oil can also be used as a cigarette flavoring and cosmetic additive, and there is huge market demand in industries such as tobacco, food and beverages, medical and health care, and cosmetics. Enshi Prefecture is rich in wild Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia resources, mainly distributed on sunny slopes above 1,400 m in altitude. It prefers to grow in cooler, humid environments with little human and livestock activity, and sandy loam soil that is deep, loose and fertile is optimal. It is one of the authentic medicinal materials of Enshi Prefecture. Through investigating the development situation of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture, this paper analyzes the current development status and existing problems of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture, and proposes countermeasures for its development.
1 Development Situation
1.1 Base Situation
Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia is a perennial herbaceous plant, mainly derived from wild resources. In the counties (cities) under the jurisdiction of Enshi Prefecture, including Enshi, Jianshi, Badong, Hefeng, Xuan'en and Xianfeng, it is scattered in areas above 1,400 m in altitude [5-6]. The relatively concentrated wild Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia resources were found in the high mountain areas of Lvcongpo Town and Yesanguan Town in Badong County and Gaoping Town in Jianshi County, totaling about 333.33 ha, but if concentrated together, the scale would be less than 13.33 ha. The bases for wild-to-domesticated cultivation are mainly concentrated in Fanjiaping Village and Yehuaping Village in Lvcongpo Town, Gulou Village in Yesanguan Town of Badong County, and Guandian Town in Jianshi County, totaling about 20 ha, of which the largest is Fanjiaping Village in Lvcongpo Town, at about 13.33 ha.
1.2 Enterprise Situation
Enterprises engaged in the development of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture remain at the planting stage only. One enterprise in Lvcongpo Town, Badong County has large-scale cultivation. In March 2017, this enterprise developed wild-to-domesticated cultivation bases for Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Fanjiaping Village, the neighborhood committee area and Yehuaping Village of Lvcongpo Town, Badong County, and invested 700,000 yuan in Gaoping Town, Jianshi County to purchase a set of equipment for extracting Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia essential oil for primary processing. In addition, some medicinal material professional cooperatives in various parts of Enshi Prefecture are engaged in purchasing dried rhizomes of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia and selling them as raw materials to the Jinda Group in Badong County, Enshi Prefecture, and to large and medium-sized cities outside the prefecture such as Wuhan, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangzhou, as well as selling the extracted primary essential oil to destinations outside the prefecture on an order basis.
1.3 Science and Technology Support Situation
The administrative body engaged in medicinal material management within Enshi Prefecture is the Office of the Leading Group for the Industrialization of the Pharmaceutical Industry of Enshi Prefecture. The only professional institutions engaged in research on seeds and seedlings of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia are the Institute of Chinese Medicinal Materials of the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Jinda Group of Badong County, and they are still in the initial stage. There are currently no institutions engaged in essential oil extraction research. The seedlings of wild-to-domesticated Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in the bases are mainly dug from the wild by farmers themselves or by enterprises hiring workers at 90 yuan/day to collect and divide tillers for transplanting into fields, with a transplanting density of 30,000-120,000 plants/ha.
1.4 Benefit Situation
According to the survey, the rhizome maturation period for wild-to-domesticated tiller propagation is 1-2 years, and for seed propagation it is 3 years. For farmers, Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia yields an average of 15.0-22.5 t/ha of fresh product, equivalent to 3,000-4,500 kg/ha of dried product. The current market price of dried product is about 25 yuan/kg, giving an output value of 75,000-112,500 yuan/ha. For enterprises, the market price of valerian essential oil is 3,000-5,000 yuan/kg, and the average essential oil yield is 150-225 kg/ha (the essential oil extraction rate is about 1% for fresh product and about 5% for dried product), achieving an output value of 450,000-600,000 yuan/ha. The annual cost of applying organic fertilizer and spraying pesticides at the base is 9,000 yuan/ha, the manual transplanting cost is 7,500 yuan/ha, and the manual harvesting cost is 7,500-12,000 yuan/ha. The valerian enterprise in Lvcongpo Town, Badong County adopts a "company + base + farmers" model, providing fertilizer and pesticides and carrying out field management, while farmers hire workers to dig valerian rhizome tillers from the wild for planting. The enterprise promises to purchase at a price of 60,000 yuan/ha.
1.5 Market Situation
At present, European and American countries are in the lead in the development and utilization of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia. Domestically, valerian essential oil is mainly used as an additive, and the health product market has not yet been opened up, but research on the development of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia products is also accelerating, especially in places such as Guizhou, where there is a dedicated valerian research institute that has achieved multiple research results. In terms of valerian essential oil resources and market, China ranks among the top in the world, and there is huge market demand in domestic industries such as tobacco, food and beverages, and cosmetics. Enshi Prefecture is rich in wild valerian resources. Since 2002, experts and enterprises have come to Enshi Prefecture to investigate valerian resources, but no further development has been achieved over more than 10 years. In 2016, enterprises from Guangzhou, Sichuan, Guizhou, Wuhan, Shanghai and Zhejiang successively came to Lvcongpo Town in Badong to snap up raw materials. The development and utilization potential of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture is great.
2 Main Existing Problems
From the perspective of the resources, bases, enterprises, science and technology support, and international and domestic market conditions of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture, developing the Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia industry in Enshi Prefecture has certain economic benefits, but there are also certain problems, mainly the following.
2.1 Limited Resources
At present, the Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia traded on the market is mainly from wild resources, but wild resources are very limited. Driven by profit, excessive digging occurs, leading to severe damage to wild resources and the danger of extinction. At the same time, excessive digging can easily lead to soil erosion, mountain damage and environmental pollution.
2.2 Limited Research
To carry out industrialized development, it is necessary to follow a path of scientific and sustainable development and conduct large-scale artificial cultivation. Digging rhizome tillers from the wild and transplanting them to fields for propagation cannot achieve long-term development, and the technology for introducing seeds from the wild for artificial propagation is not mature. From 2001 to 2003, relevant technical units in Hubei Province conducted GAP experimental base construction and cultivation technology research on valerian at Dasanding in Enshi, but research progress was slow. The seed maturation period of wild valerian is extremely inconsistent, and the seeds are very small and blown away by the wind, making them very difficult to collect. At the same time, the germination rate of artificial propagation is low, at about 10%, and the germination cycle is also uncertain, generally 1-2 years. Moreover, there are currently no technical specifications for sowing, nursery management, transplanting, field management, pest and disease control, and harvesting of artificially cultivated Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia. The low level of seed propagation technology has become an important bottleneck restricting the development of the valerian industry in Enshi Prefecture.
2.3 Limited Investment
There are few relevant projects supporting the development of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia, policy support is weak, and funding input is limited, making it impossible to carry out resource surveys, scientific research and other work. In 2017, only the Badong Jinda Group successfully applied to the Provincial Department of Science and Technology for scientific and technological funding of 300,000 yuan to carry out research on seed and seedling breeding technology of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia.
3 Development Countermeasures
Through investigation and research, Enshi Prefecture should adopt market-oriented means and carry out pilot work for the industrialization of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in suitable townships with a certain foundation, so as to lay the basic conditions for the industrialized development of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture.
3.1 Strengthen Protection of Wild Resources
Through a comprehensive survey of the distribution, digging, varieties and utilization of wild Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia resources throughout the prefecture, formulate measures for resource protection and rational utilization based on the wild resource situation. Collect wild Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia varieties throughout the prefecture, establish wild resource nurseries for each Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia variety, and carry out research and protection work on wild Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia resources.
3.2 Strengthen Research on Breeding Technology
Use platforms such as Hubei University for Nationalities, the Office of the Leading Group for the Industrialization of the Pharmaceutical Industry of Enshi Prefecture, and the Institute of Chinese Medicinal Materials of the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences to actively apply for national projects, accelerate research on breeding technology of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia, carry out GAP experimental demonstration base construction, establish seedling cultivation bases, obtain technological results and vigorously promote their application [Jishan Huayao]. Carry out pilot demonstrations in key areas of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Fanjiaping Village and Yehuaping Village of Lvcongpo Town, Badong County, Gulou Village of Yesanguan Town, and Gaoping Town of Jianshi County, conducting field experiments on rhizome tiller technology for asexual propagation of wild-to-domesticated Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia, soil treatment, pest and disease control, nursery seedling raising, transplanting to fields, and rhizome harvesting, establishing wild-to-domesticated asexual propagation nursery bases, reducing the cost of wild-to-domesticated asexual propagation, and increasing the survival rate and propagation coefficient of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia.
Make full use of the resource advantages of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia in Enshi Prefecture, actively communicate and coordinate with the Provincial Department of Agriculture and the Provincial Department of Science and Technology, increase efforts to secure projects such as modern agricultural characteristic industry development, carry out experiments on seed collection and storage, sowing pretreatment, cultivation management, field management and pest and disease control for sexual propagation of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia, obtain technological results and vigorously promote their application. Focus on relying on the Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia technology research project of the Badong Jinda Group and the Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia cultivation technology project of the Institute of Chinese Medicinal Materials of the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences at the Central China Medicinal Botanical Garden to carry out research on sexual propagation technology of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia, strive to shorten the seed propagation cycle and increase the germination rate, establish a tissue culture and rapid propagation system, and form technical specifications for sexual propagation and cultivation of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia.
3.3 Cultivate Leading Enterprises with Driving Capacity
Strengthen investment promotion for the development of Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia, introduce pharmaceutical production enterprises to cooperate industrially with Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia planting cooperatives in Enshi Prefecture, establish Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia production bases and extract production workshops, and with the help of their capital, technology and market strength, determine stable production, processing and sales relationships to promote the development of the Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia industry in Enshi Prefecture.
3.4 Understand Domestic and International Market Conditions
Actively understand the international and domestic market conditions for Valeriana officinalis var. latifolia raw materials and essential oil, draw on successful domestic and international experience in seed and seedling tissue culture and scientific research and development, formulate scientific development plans, and while rationally utilizing wild resources, consider resource regeneration and open up a huge market.