Effect of provenance and water stress on biomass and polyphyllin content in the medicinal plant Paris polyphylla Smith var. yunnanensis

Water stress and provenance could affect the secondary metabolites synthesis and accumulation in herbs. Thus, this study explored the effect of soil water moisture and provenance on the growth of Paris polyphylla Smith var. yunnanensis (PPY). Three provenances (Jinping, Luquan and Weixi in Yunnan, China) of PPY samples were grown in different soil water moisture conditions [0.80, 0.70 and 0.50 field capacity (FC)] during Dec. 2015 to Sep. 2017. Results showed that the highest biomass weight was presented in 0.70 FC for Luquan and Weixi samples. Biomass weight for Jinping provenance presented a decreasing tendency with the decreased soil water moisture and the highest biomass were shown in 0.80 FC. However, quantitative analysis revealed that the total content of polyphyllin increased with decreasing the soil water moisture for Jinping and Weixi samples. The highest total content of polyphyllin in rhizome was inclined to show in Jinping samples, while the stem and leaf tissues were shown in Weixi samples. Additionally, results of ANOVA combined with PCA indicated that the difference among these three provenances were significant. Correlation analysis results revealed that 0.50 FC induced the competitive relationship occurrence for polyphyllin distribution. Thus, 0.70 FC was the most suitable soil-water condition for PPY growth. Besides, provenance collected from Jinping could consider as a good quality germplasm. Consequently, this study might provide a preliminary foundation for irrigation project formulated and provenance screened for PPY cultivation.