2025 Volume 79 Issue 2 Pages 129-137
Although Glycyrrhizae radix is the most widely used crude drug in Japan, domestic cultivation of its source plant Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. ex DC. has begun only recently, with small amounts currently being produced. With a view to reducing dependency on its importation from overseas, domestic cultivation has long been under consideration, but the native varieties preserved in Japan tend to be low in productivity and often do not meet the standards of the Japanese Pharmacopoeia for their glycyrrhizic acid content. In recent years, however, cultivars have been developed that are suitable for domestic cultivation. We newly developed a cultivar named ʻSUPACOR’, and evaluated its characteristics. In the pre-selection of ʻSUPACOR’, individuals expected to have a high glycyrrhizic acid content were selected using a simple method of measuring the yellowness of the cross-sectional area of the roots, allowing the new cultivar to be selected from 638 individuals with little effort. We then analyzed the characteristics of ʻSUPACOR’ through comparative cultivation trials with the native variety ʻHokunōshi-line’ and the registered cultivar ʻGlu-0010’. ʻSUPACOR’ showed significant advantages compared with ʻHokunōshi-line’ and ʻGlu-0010’ in terms of plant height, leaf length, leaflet width, inflorescence length, number of florets per inflorescence, pod width, root thickness, root dry weight, and glycyrrhizic acid content in roots. Likewise, differences were apparent in the intensity of anthocyanin coloring at the base of the stem, stem hair density, leaf waviness, withering period, and intensity of yellow coloring in cross sections of the root. This cultivar has excellent productivity and should be efficacious as a pharmaceutical raw material.
