Abstract: In order to evaluate the quality of farmland ginseng, a simple and accurate HPLC method for determining 9 ginsenoside monomers in farmland ginseng was established. The contents of 9 ginsenoside monomers were analyzed comparatively in farmland ginseng and wild ginseng by RP-HPLC. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a C18 column (SHIMADZU, 4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5μm) using a mobile phase made up of acetonitrile (A) and water (B) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min in the following gradient mode: 0 min (18% A)→24 min (22% A)→26 min (26% A)→30 min (32% A)→50 min (33.5% A)→55 min (38% A). The detection wavelength and column temperature were set as 203 nm and 35 ℃, respectively. The results indicated that nine kinds of ginsenoside monomers (Rg1, Re, Rf, Rg2, Rb1, Rc, Rb2, Rb3 and Rd) in both farmland ginseng and wild ginseng were detected. The contents of 9 ginsenoside monomers in six-year-old farmland ginseng were higher than six-year-old wild ginseng. However, no significant difference (P＞ 0.05) was observed except for the content of ginsenoside monomer Rg1 (P＜0.05). Similarly, no significant difference in the contents of ginsenoside monomers between four-year-old farmland ginseng and four-year-old wild ginseng (P ＞ 0.05) was observed except the contents of ginsenoside monomer Rg1 and Rf (P ＜0.05). The contents of Rg1 and Rb1, total content of Rg1 and Re, and total content of Rb1 and Re in farmland ginseng met the quality standards of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, European Pharmacopoeia and American Pharmacopoeia. Therefore, farmland ginseng offers a potential alternative to wild ginseng for medicinal applications.

Key words: ginseng, RP-HPLC, ginsenoside monomer, farmland ginseng