Abstract
Radix Astragali is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine, and its quality is closely related to ecological factors, such as climate and soil, in the production area. To provide high-quality Radix Astragali to Chinese and foreign markets, we used maximum entropy model and statistical analysis method, combined with data on ecological factors, Astragalusmembranaceus var. mongholicus geographical distribution, and index component content to predict the ecological suitability distribution of A.membranaceus var. mongholicus and establish the relationship between astragaloside IV and calycosin-7-glucoside in this species and ecological factors. Subsequently, we could determine the suitability regionalization of high-quality A.membranaceus var. mongholicus in Inner Mongolia, China. The results showed that the standard deviation of seasonal changes in temperature (40.6%), precipitation in October (15.7%), vegetation type (14.3%), soil type (9.2%), and mean sunshine duration in the growing season (9.1%) were the top five most influential factors out of the 17 main ecological factors affecting the distribution of A.membranaceus var. mongholicus. The standard deviation of seasonal changes in temperature, precipitation in October, precipitation in April, soil pH, and mean sunshine duration in the growing season were found to be the key ecological factors affecting the accumulation of astragaloside IV and calycosin-7-glucoside in A.membranaceus var. mongholicus. The regions with the highest-quality A.membranaceus var. mongholicus were distributed in Baotou (Guyang County), Hohhot (Wuchuan County), and central Wulanchabu (Chahar Right Middle Banner, Chahar Right Back Banner, and Shangdu County) and its surroundings in Inner Mongolia. Baotou, Hohhot, and their surrounding areas were the main traditional production areas of A.membranaceus var. mongholicus, and central Wulanchabu was a potentially suitable distribution area of this species. The main production areas were consistent with the actual production base of A.membranaceus var. mongholicus. This study therefore provides a scientific basis to guide the cultivation of A.membranaceus var. mongholicus.
Highlights
Radix Astragali is a well-known and widely used traditional Chinese medicine (Fig. 1A) and is classified as the top grade in Shen Nong’s Materia Medica (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing)
After performing five screenings using the Biosim[2] software, 53 of 74 ecological factors were omitted from the analysis (Appendix 1 in Supplementary Information 1), and 21 ecological factors with correlation coefficients of ≤ 0.8 were retained after preliminary screening (Fig. 3), namely SoilTexture, pH, aspect, mean precipitation in January, February, April, and October (Prec[1, 2, 4], and 10), SoilSand, SoilType, mean annual temperature (TempAnnu), vegetation type (VegType), SoilCarbon, SoilWater, slope, standard deviation of the seasonal changes in temperature (TempSeasonality), Smean[4,5,6,7,8,9,10], SunshineAnnu, altitude, Tmean[4,5,6,7,8,9,10], range of mean annual temperature (TempRange), mean temperature in March (Tmean3)
After 10 reiterations of the model was complete, the mean area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) of the A. membranaceus var. mongholicus test samples was estimated to be 0.989, and the standard deviation was 0.007, thereby indicating that the model was efficient in terms of its prediction capability, and the accuracy of its prediction results can be guaranteed (Fig. 4)
Summary
Radix Astragali is a well-known and widely used traditional Chinese medicine (Fig. 1A) and is classified as the top grade in Shen Nong’s Materia Medica (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing). Hsiao (Leguminosae) is the main source of Radix Astragali (Fig. 1B,C) This species naturally occurs mainly in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Gansu, Hebei, and Ningxia Province in China[6]. Based on a fuller understanding of the regional characteristics and difference law of ecological factors in Inner Mongolia, this paper studied the ecological suitability regionalization and quality regionalization for A. membranaceus var. Traditional methods only use factors derived from expert opinion, such as supply, demand, and production, to analyze ecological suitability distribution and cultivation regions of medicinal plants. Maxent greatly reduces the influence of subjective factors, and it is widely used to predict the potentially suitable distribution regions for plants and even animals[22,23,24,25,26]
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