SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF Codonopsis javanica (A MEDICINAL PLANT) IN DIFFERENT FERTILIZATIONS

Codonopsis javanica is a medicinal plant, which has been widely used in China, India, Laos, Japan, and Vietnam. It can be used to treat diabetes and other diseases. The leaf oil compounds consist of mainly β-pinene and α-pinene. While C. javanica root extracts could attenuate fructose-induced hyperinsulinemia and associated oxidative stress. Because of such importance, C. javanica has been overharvested in nature. Therefore, recently growing C. javanica has been receiving attention, which can contribute to poverty reduction to ethnic communities in mountainous areas of Vietnam. This work aimed at investigating the effects of fertilization on the survival and growth of C. javanica in Dien Bien province, northern Vietnam. There were three treatments of fertilization including (1) manure with 5 tones/ha named as F2, (2) NPK (5:10:3) with 500 kg/ha named as F3 and (3) compost with 1 tone/ha named as F4, and control/no fertilization named as F1. After planting 14 months F1 and F2 showed the best in survival rate and growths as 72.2% in F1 and 66.7% in F2 and 2.02 shoots/stump and 42.9 cm height in F1. While the difference of stump diameter, and leaf length and width was not different among treatments, which was 0.3 cm, 5.9-6.1 cm, and 4.0-4.1 cm, respectively. It is concluded that fertilization at planting is generally not required, while using natural shading as living trees is necessary for planting C. javanica.