A special $148,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for Middle Tennessee State University researchers to experiment with ginseng will improve farmers’ income across the state and conserve wild ginseng, which is considered an endangered species, in Tennessee.

The USDA has provided MTSU’s Tennessee Center for Botanical Medicine Research with this grant to demonstrate the viability of cultivated ginseng in Tennessee from improved techniques reducing growing time, increasing propagation success and determining ideal farming techniques, said associate professor Iris Gao, the project’s lead researcher.

MTSU associate professor Iris Gao, left, the lead researcher in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $148,000 grant to study ginseng, oversees the lab work being performed by graduate student Shannon Smith. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

“This grant will not only determine best practices, but will support planting of as many as 100 acres of ginseng in Tennessee, depending on participation by growers. This could add $4 million in farm profit annually once the harvest is normalized,” said Gao, who added Tennessee farmers earn about $620 per acre from corn, but the same land yields more than $40,000 per acre when planted with ginseng — the U.S.’s green gold.

Research will take place in MTSU laboratories and in a remote area in Tennessee. Assisting Gao will be graduate student Shannon Smith, who started Oct. 1. Other undergraduate students may also be involved.

Ginseng normally takes seven years to grow outdoors, but MTSU lab research methods are effectively shortening the growth time by about two years, said Gao, who is a School of Agribusiness and Agriscience faculty member.

The program’s ginseng will be sourced from wild stock and maintain the same potency and market price as wild-grown ginseng, which is much greater than the field-cultivated roots, Gao said.

Iris Gao, an MTSU associate professor in the School of Agribusiness and Agriscience, holds a sample of young ginseng being studied in MTSU’s research lab. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

For those in Tennessee who want to grow wild-simulated ginseng, a best-practices manual will be developed specifically for Tennessee ginseng growers, along with bimonthly seminars and expert advice.

This program will also lead to a development of an added-value certification to validate the medicinal potency of harvested ginseng root.

Nineteen states can legally harvest and trade ginseng. The top three are Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee.

In Tennessee, it can be harvested from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 for resale or to transport across state lines. The buying season for green roots is Sept. 1 to March 31 and Sept. 15 to March 31 for dry roots.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Ginseng Program office, has endorsed this grant, and Andrea Bishop, who is a recovery biologist, will monitor and assist in the dissemination of program information.

Professor Elliot Altman is director of the Tennessee Center for Botanical Medicine Research.

MTSU has more than 240 combined undergraduate and graduate programs. The School of Agribusiness and Agriscience is one of 11 College of Basic and Applied Sciences’ departments.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

An MTSU Tennessee Center for Botanical Medicine Research member checks the growth rate for ginseng in a Science Building laboratory. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)