ABSTRACT
This paper established the identification technology of the main root origin of three-year-old spring Panax notoginseng aiming at providing theoretical basis for the protection and traceability of geographical indication products of P. notoginseng. Forty-four samples of three-year-old spring P. notoginseng from Guangxi Baise, Yunnan Wenshan, Yunnan new cultivating regions. The stable isotopic ratios of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen were determined by elemental analysis and stable isotope mass spectrometer. Combined with Duncan multiple comparative analysis, fisher discriminant analysis and sequential discriminant analysis, a origin discriminant model for the main root of three-year-old spring P. notoginseng was established for 3 production areas of P. notoginseng. The geographical climate and environment of three production areas of P. notoginseng are obviously different. From Guangxi Baise-Yunnan Wenshan-Yunnan new cultivating regions, the longitude, average annual temperature and annual precipitation gradually decrease, and the elevation and latitude are increasing. The results of multiple comparative analysis showed that there were significant or very signi-ficant differences in the δ~(13)C,δ~(15)N,δ~2H,δ~(18)O of the main roots of P. notoginseng in three regions. The results of fisher's discriminant analysis and sequential discriminant analysis showed that the correct discriminant rates of the main roots of P. notoginseng for three regions were 80.05%,76.47% and 90.91%, respectively, based on four stable isotope ratios, with an average of 84.09%. Using stable isotope fingerprint and chemometrics method, we can distinguish the origin of the main raw materials and products of P. notoginseng.