Effects of water stress on berberine, jatrorrhizine and palmatine contents in amur corktree seedlings

Amur corktree (Phellodendron amurense) is one of the important associated species in broadleaved-Korean pine forests, and in the pharmaceutical resource plants of famous Chinese traditional medicine, named cortex phellodendri. Berberine, jatrorrhizine and palmatine are the main alkaloids to which high attention is paid by the researchers. In the present study, water stress treatments with four conditions, that is, mild drought, severe drought, waterlogging, and control (soil water potentials were controlled in the ranges of-40—-20 KPa,-80—-60 KPa, <-80 KPa and-20—0 KPa), were performed using the technique of root-sphere osmotic irrigation in a soil pond. The changes in the main medicinal compositions of berberine, jatrorrhizine and palmatine contents under different water conditions were discussed. As for the annual growing of amur corktree seedlings, mild drought was generally beneficial to the synthesis and accumulation of the three above-mentioned alkaloid contents. The three alkaloid contents did not show great changes under severe drought whereas those contents had significantly reduced under waterlogging compared with controls. Meanwhile, the growth of amur corktree seedlings was inhibited by the treatments of drought and waterlogging. The height, diameter and biomass of amur corktree seedlings were significantly lower than those of the control seedlings, which meant that the three alkaloid contents in a single seedling still kept the highest in control seedlings. Stem cortex was the medical part in Chinese traditional medicine and also kept the most abundant of the three alkaloid contents in amur corktree. Results indicated that short periods of mild drought could improve the berberine contents in the stem cortex, which might have reference value for the cultivation of amur corktree seedlings to obtain alkaloids.