Characteristics of Growth and Yield by Planting Density and Mulching Materials in Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge

*Department of Herbal Crop Research, NIHHS, RDA, Eumseong 369-873, Korea.**Jeollanamdo Development Institute for Korean Traditional Medicine, Jangheung 529-851, Korea.ABSTRACT : This study was carried out to investigate the variation of growth and yield using different planting densitiesand vinyl mulching in S. miltiorrhiza cultivation. Top plant growth was observed in the 30 × 30 ㎝ planting density of S. mil-tiorrhiza;, plant height, leaves and branches were larger than in the other treatments. Root length, root diameter, and sup-porting roots of underground part were increased as planting density was wide, and dry root weight was increased in30 × 30 ㎝. However, yield was highest at 294㎏/10a in the planting density of 30× 10 ㎝. The use of 30-31㎝ white andblack vinyl mulching had no significant effect on the plant height of S. miltiorrhiza, as compared to non-mulching. However,the highest volume of leaves and plant weight was observed in plants using 24.7 black vinyl mulching. Dry underground rootweight was highest in black vinyl mulching at 21.7 g compared to 17.0 g for non-mulching. Yield per 10a increased by 28%using black vinyl mulching compared to non-mulching. Based on the results of this study, planting density of 30 × 10 ㎝ andblack vinyl mulching are the most suitable in the cultivation of S. miltiorrhiza.Key Words : Salvia miltiorrhiza , Planting Density, Mulching Materials, Root Yield