MURFREESBORO — Middle
Tennessee State University will immediately begin the exploration and study of
growing ginseng at the university’s Experiential Learning and Research Center
in Lascassas, Tenn.
Driven by an idea from state Sen. Bill Ketron to grow
ginseng as a research project, MTSU and state officials formally will announce
the MTSU Ginseng Initiative at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the MTSU farm, 3001
Guy James Road. The public is invited. People attending should turn at the farm
entrance near the one-lane bridge, turning onto a gravel road.
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, officials will visit the
research area of Tennessee Center for Botanical Medicine Research Director
Elliot Altman in Davis Science Building and tour the $147 million Science
Building that’s still in progress.
“I’m just excited about Wednesday’s announcement,” said
Ketron, who has been both to China and East Tennessee and seen the ginseng
potential with Altman, MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and other officials.
The state senator, working with McPhee, suggested to MTSU’s
partners with Guangxi Botanical
Garden of Medicinal Plants in Nanning, China, it would be in the university’s
best interest to study ginseng.
Ketron, an MTSU alumnus, said it eventually occurred to him
to “get some Chinese ginseng and some East Tennessee ginseng and see which has
more strength. … I thought the Guy James Farm (now owned by MTSU) would be the
perfect place to start.”
McPhee praised Ketron’s initial vision and role.
“Senator
Ketron’s leadership on the potential of this crop for Tennessee propelled our
university forward in the study and application of ginseng as a statewide
crop,” McPhee said. “Our collaborations with China, ongoing botanical research
and the strength of our agribusiness and agriscience program uniquely positions
MTSU to study this opportunity.”
Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, said 1 billion people utilize
ginseng in China, and it sells from $700 to $900 a pound in the U.S. He added
that state Rep. Jeremy Faison of Cosby, Tenn., has told him Wisconsin annually
generates $400 million in revenue from the sale of ginseng.
“There’s no reason why we couldn’t do something similar in
Tennessee,” said Ketron, who accompanied McPhee to China last summer as a
member of the university’s delegation. “We’ve got suitable soil, it’s well
drained and with suitable compost, we should be able to accommodate it in many
areas across the state.”
Growing ginseng at the MTSU farm will be a collaboration
between Altman’s research group, MTSU School of Agribusiness and Agriscience
Director Warren Gill and MTSU Farm Laboratories Director Matthew Wade.
“Our partnership
will investigate how best to cultivate ginseng as a crop as opposed to trying
to look for natural ginseng, which is becoming scarcer and scarcer,” Altman
said. “We will investigate a number of parameters so we can teach Tennessee
farmers how best to grow the crop and reform testing methodologies so the
bioactivity of ginseng grown under different conditions can be easily
determined.”
The
botanical research center at MTSU and the Guangxi garden are partners in an
exclusive collaborative agreement that seeks to accelerate the development of
Western medicines from plant extracts.
The
partnership, which began in 2011, plays to the strengths of both institutions.
Garden researchers cultivate and prepare extracts. Then, MTSU scientists, led
by Altman, screen the samples to determine their promise in the treatment of
ailments.
Biology professor Bruce Cahoon said he will provide “some
initial plant tissue cultures from the micropropagation process” that will be
part of the research project.
Gill said it will
be the university’s role “to develop new knowledge of how to most economically
produce ginseng” and it will be a team effort.
Altman said
Ginseng is used as a natural supplement or over-the-counter remedy to stimulate
the immune system. The primary users are people with colds or flu and cancer
patients and in these situations boosting the immune system makes a lot of
sense.
Ginseng is found
only in the Northern Hemisphere, in North America and in eastern Asia, and
typically in cooler climates.
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