Rice seeds biofortification using biogenic iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized by using Glycyrrhiza glabra: a study on growth and yield improvement.

Iron, a crucial micronutrient, is an integral element of biotic vitality. The scarcity of iron in the soil creates agronomic challenges and has a detrimental impact on crop vigour and chlorophyll formation. Utilizing iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) via nanopriming emerges as an innovative method to enhance agricultural efficiency and crop health. The objective of this study was to synthesize biogenic IONPs from Glycyrrhiza glabra (G. glabra) plant extract using green chemistry and to evaluate their nanopriming effects on rice seed iron levels and growth. The synthesized IONPs were analyzed using UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. The UV-Vis peak at 280 nm revealed the formation of IONPs. SEM and TEM showed that the nanoparticles were spherical and had an average diameter of 23.8 nm. Nanopriming resulted in a substantial enhancement in growth, as seen by a 9.25% and 22.8% increase in shoot lengths for the 50 ppm and 100 ppm treatments, respectively. The yield metrics showed a positive correlation with the concentrations of IONPs. The 1000-grain weight and spike length observed a maximum increase of 193.75% and 97.73%, respectively, at the highest concentration of IONPs. The study indicates that G. glabra synthesized IONPs as a nanopriming agent significantly increased rice seeds' growth and iron content. This suggests that there is a relationship between the dosage of IONPs and their potential for improving agricultural biofortification.

Transcriptome revealed the molecular mechanism of Glycyrrhiza inflata root to maintain growth and development, absorb and distribute ions under salt stress.

BACKGROUND: Soil salinization extensively hampers the growth, yield, and quality of crops worldwide. The most effective strategies to counter this problem are a) development of crop cultivars with high salt tolerance and b) the plantation of salt-tolerant crops. Glycyrrhiza inflata, a traditional Chinese medicinal and primitive plant with salt tolerance and economic value, is among the most promising crops for improving saline-alkali wasteland. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms for the adaptive response of G. inflata to salinity stress remain largely unknown. RESULT: G. inflata retained a high concentration of Na+ in roots and maintained the absorption of K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ under 150 mM NaCl induced salt stress. Transcriptomic analysis of G. inflata roots at different time points of salt stress (0 min, 30 min, and 24 h) was performed, which resulted in 70.77 Gb of clean data. Compared with the control, we detected 2645 and 574 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at 30 min and 24 h post-salt-stress induction, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses revealed that G. inflata response to salt stress post 30 min and 24 h was remarkably distinct. Genes that were differentially expressed at 30 min post-salt stress induction were enriched in signal transduction, secondary metabolite synthesis, and ion transport. However, genes that were differentially expressed at 24 h post-salt-stress induction were enriched in phenylpropane biosynthesis and metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, glycerol metabolism, hormone signal transduction, wax, cutin, and cork biosynthesis. Besides, a total of 334 transcription factors (TFs) were altered in response to 30 min and 24 h of salt stress. Most of these TFs belonged to the MYB, WRKY, AP2-EREBP, C2H2, bHLH, bZIP, and NAC families. CONCLUSION: For the first time, this study elucidated the salt tolerance in G. inflata at the molecular level, including the activation of signaling pathways and genes that regulate the absorption and distribution of ions and root growth in G. inflata under salt stress conditions. These findings enhanced our understanding of the G. inflata salt tolerance and provided a theoretical basis for cultivating salt-tolerant crop varieties.

Succession of endophytic fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with the growth of plant and their correlation with secondary metabolites in the roots of plants.

BACKGROUND: To decipher the root and microbial interaction, secondary metabolite accumulation in roots and the microbial community's succession model during the plant's growth period demands an in-depth investigation. However, till now, no comprehensive study is available on the succession of endophytic fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) with roots of medicinal licorice plants and the effects of endophytic fungi and AMF on the secondary metabolite accumulation in licorice plant's root. RESULTS: In the current study, interaction between root and microbes in 1-3 years old medicinal licorice plant's root and rhizospheric soil was investigated. Secondary metabolites content in licorice root was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The composition and diversity of endophytic and AMF in the root and soil were deciphered using high-throughput sequencing technology. During the plant's growth period, as compared to AMF, time and species significantly affected the diversity and richness of endophytic fungi, such as Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Fusarium, Cladosporium, Sarocladium. The growth period also influenced the AMF diversity, evident by the significant increase in the relative abundance of Glomus and the significant decrease in the relative abundance of Diversispora. It indicated a different succession pattern between the endophytic fungal and AMF communities. Meanwhile, distance-based redundancy analysis and Mantel tests revealed root's water content and secondary metabolites (glycyrrhizic acid, liquiritin, and total flavonoids), which conferred endophytic fungi and AMF diversity. Additionally, plant growth significantly altered soil's physicochemical properties, which influenced the distribution of endophytic fungal and AMF communities. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated a different succession pattern between the endophytic fungal and AMF communities. During the plant's growth period, the contents of three secondary metabolites in roots increased per year, which contributed to the overall differences in composition and distribution of endophytic fungal and AMF communities. The endophytic fungal communities were more sensitive to secondary metabolites than AMF communities. The current study provides novel insights into the interaction between rhizospheric microbes and root exudates.

Plant performance of enhancing licorice with dual inoculating dark septate endophytes and Trichoderma viride mediated via effects on root development.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess whether licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) can benefit from dual inoculation by Trichoderma viride and dark septate endophytes (DSE) isolated from other medicinal plants. METHODS: First, we isolated and identified three DSE (Paraboeremia putaminum, Scytalidium lignicola, and Phoma herbarum) and Trichoderma viride from medicinal plants growing in farmland of China. Second, we investigated the influences of these three DSE on the performance of licorice at different T. viride densities (1 × 106, 1 × 107, and 1 × 108 CFU/mL) under sterilised condition in a growth chamber. RESULTS: Three DSE strains could colonize the roots of licorice, and they established a positive symbiosis with host plants depending on DSE species and T. viride densities. Inoculation of P. putaminum increased the root biomass, length, surface area, and root:shoot ratio. S. lignicola increased the root length, diameter and surface area and decreased the root:shoot ratio. P. herbarum increased the root biomass and surface area. T. viride increased the root biomass, length, and surface area. Structural equation model (SEM) analysis showed that DSE associated with T. viride augmented plant biomass and height, shoot branching, and root surface area. Variations in root morphology and biomass were attributed to differences in DSE species and T. viride density among treatments. P. putaminum or P. herbarum with low- or medium T. viride density and S. lignicola with low- or high T. viride density improved licorice root morphology and biomass. CONCLUSIONS: DSE isolated from other medicinal plants enhanced the root growth of licorice plants under different densities T. viride conditions and may also be used to promote the cultivation of medicinal plants.

Quality assessment of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) from different sources by multiple fingerprint profiles combined with quantitative analysis, antioxidant activity and chemometric methods.

Licorice, as a nutritional plant extensively used in food fields, grows in various origins of the world as wild and cultivated types. But existing methods were not adequate for quality estimation of licorice samples from multiple sources till date. In the present research, HPLC, UV and FT-IR were applied together to establish fingerprint profiles of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) samples. Then, an appropriate quantitative method was adopted to evaluate their qualities. Furthermore, eight active chemical compositions and the potential antioxidant capacities of licorice samples were determined, and their intrinsic characteristics were excavated by chemometric methods. The results showed that the ingredient content and antioxidant capacity of licorice were closely related to the origin and growth type, and the established method was capable of accurately classifying wild and cultivated licorice samples from nine habitats into five quality grades. This study provides a novel and comprehensive strategy for food quality assessment.

Effect of drought stress on growth parameters, osmolyte contents, antioxidant enzymes and glycyrrhizin synthesis in licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) grown in the field.

Glycyrrhiza glabra L. (licorice) is a medicinal species rich in the specialised plant metabolite glycyrrhizin. It has been previously proposed that drought, which is increasing in importance due to the climatic change and scarcity of water resources, can promote the synthesis of glycyrrhizin. The effects of slight, moderate and intense drought (70, 35 and 23% of the regular irrigation, respectively) on growth parameters, osmolyte content, oxidative stress markers, antioxidant enzymes, glycyrrhizin biosynthesis genes and root glycyrrhizin concentration and contents, have been assessed in five Iranian licorice genotypes grown in the field. Drought decreased progressively biomass and leaf relative water contents, and increased progressively osmolyte (proline, glycine-betaine and soluble sugars) concentrations in leaves and roots. Drought caused oxidative stress in leaves, as indicated by lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide concentrations, and increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes in leaf extracts (catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and pholyphenoloxidase). Drought promoted the synthesis of glycyrrhizin, as indicated by the increases in the expression of the glycyrrhizin biosynthesis pathway genes SQS1, SQS2, bAS, CYP88D6, CYP72A154 and UGT73, and increased the root concentrations of glycyrrhizin with drought in some genotypes. However, the large decreases in root biomass caused by drought led to general decreases in the amount of glycyrrhizin per plant with moderate and intense drought, whereas the slight drought treatment led to significant decreases in glycyrrhizin content in only one genotype. Under intense drought two of the genotypes were still capable to maintain half of the control glycyrrhizin yield, whereas in the other three genotypes glycyrrhizin yield was 22-33% of the control values. Results indicate that under intense drought, with only 23% of the normal water dose being applied, an appropriate choice of genotype can still lead to acceptable glycyrrhizin yields.

Actinobacteria associated with Glycyrrhiza inflata Bat. are diverse and have plant growth promoting and antimicrobial activity.

Many of the plant associated microbes may directly and indirectly contribute to plant growth and stress resistance. Our aim was to assess the plant growth-promoting and antimicrobial activities of actinobacteria isolated from Glycyrrhiza inflata Bat. plants to find strains that could be applied in agricultural industry, for example in reclaiming saline soils. We isolated 36 and 52 strains that showed morphological characteristics of actinobacteria from one year old and three year old G. inflata plants, respectively. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the strains represented ten actinobacterial genera. Most of the strains had plant growth promoting characteristics in vitro, tolerated 200 mM NaCl and inhibited the growth of at least one indicator organism. The eight selected Streptomyces strains increased the germination rate of G. inflata seeds under salt stress. In addition, the four best seed germination promoters promoted the growth of G. inflata in vivo. The best promoters of G. inflata growth, strains SCAU5283 and SCAU5215, inhibited a wide range of indicator organisms, and may thus be considered as promising candidates to be applied in inoculating G. inflata.

The Application of Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with a LTQ-Orbitrap Mass Technique to Reveal the Dynamic Accumulation of Secondary Metabolites in Licorice under ABA Stress.

The traditional medicine licorice is the most widely consumed herbal product in the world. Although much research work on studying the changes in the active compounds of licorice has been reported, there are still many areas, such as the dynamic accumulation of secondary metabolites in licorice, that need to be further studied. In this study, the secondary metabolites from licorice under two different methods of stress were investigated by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid linear ion trap-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS). A complex continuous coordination of flavonoids and triterpenoids in a network was modulated by different methods of stress during growth. The results showed that a total of 51 secondary metabolites were identified in licorice under ABA stress. The partial least squares-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) revealed the distinction of obvious compounds among stress-specific districts relative to ABA stress. The targeted results showed that there were significant differences in the accumulation patterns of the deeply targeted 41 flavonoids and 10 triterpenoids compounds by PCA and PLS-DA analyses. To survey the effects of flavonoid and triterpenoid metabolism under ABA stress, we inspected the stress-specific metabolic changes. Our study testified that the majority of flavonoids and triterpenoids were elevated in licorice under ABA stress, while the signature metabolite affecting the dynamic accumulation of secondary metabolites was detected. Taken together, our results suggest that ABA-specific metabolite profiling dynamically changed in terms of the biosynthesis of flavonoids and triterpenoids, which may offer new trains of thought on the regular pattern of dynamic accumulation of secondary metabolites in licorice at the metabolite level. Our results also provide a reference for clinical applications and directional planting and licorice breeding.

Microbial cooperation in the rhizosphere improves liquorice growth under salt stress.

Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.) is one of the most widely used plants in food production, and it can also be used as an herbal medicine or for reclamation of salt-affected soils. Under salt stress, inhibition of plant growth, nutrient acquisition and symbiotic interactions between the medicinal legume liquorice and rhizobia have been observed. We recently evaluated the interactions between rhizobia and root-colonizing Pseudomonas in liquorice grown in potting soil and observed increased plant biomass, nodule numbers and nitrogen content after combined inoculation compared to plants inoculated with Mesorhizobium alone. Several beneficial effects of microbes on plants have been reported; studies examining the interactions between symbiotic bacteria and root-colonizing Pseudomonas strains under natural saline soil conditions are important, especially in areas where a hindrance of nutrients and niches in the rhizosphere are high. Here, we summarize our recent observations regarding the combined application of rhizobia and Pseudomonas on the growth and nutrient uptake of liquorice as well as the salt stress tolerance mechanisms of liquorice by a mutualistic interaction with microbes. Our observations indicate that microbes living in the rhizosphere of liquorice can form a mutualistic association and coordinate their involvement in plant adaptations to stress tolerance. These results support the development of combined inoculants for improving plant growth and the symbiotic performance of legumes under hostile conditions.

Review - Glycyrrhiza glabra L. (Liquorice).

Medicinal plants are being used for treating various diseases. According to World Health Organization 80% of the world population depends on indigenous medicinal plant remedies. Herbal medicine employs fruits, vegetables, as dry materials or their extracts for the treatment of different diseases and health maintenance. Glycyrrhiza glabra (Liquorice) has been used in Europe since prehistoric times. It is well documented in written form starting with the ancient Greeks. Glycyrrhizin is the major active constituent obtained from liquorice roots, one of the most widely used in herbal preparations for the treatment of liver complaints. The plant is used as anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, laxative, anti-depressive, anti-ulcer and anti-diabetic. The present review focuses Glycyrrhiza glabra distribution, ethno botany, ethno pharmacology, chemical constituents, medicinal uses, cultivation and trade. Plant requires a lot of attention as it has been reduced in population due to over-use in Baluchistan. The plant conservationists should consider this herb as priority species and should start its cultivation on the commercial scale to fulfill the requirements of the local markets and pharmaceutical industries as well as reduce the pressure on the wild plants.

[Effect of herb residue on growth and active ingredient content of licorice].

Traditional Chinese medicine industry product a lot of herb residue. Herb residue was treated as household waste. This treatment leads to environmental pollution and resource waste. For this case, we study the effect of different herb residues on the growth and active ingredient content of Licorice by random control experiment. Our results showed that the effects of different herb residues were difference. Atractylodes macrocephala residue and Forsythia suspense residue had the stronger effect and the effect of A. macrocephala residue was inferior to the effect of F. suspense residue. A.macrocephala residue significantly improved the shoot biomass banch number, leaf number, root diameter and root biomass by 0.53-1.81 fold. A. macrocephala residue also increased the glycyrrhizic acid content of root by 1.54 fold. F. suspense residue significantly improved the shoot biomass,branch number, root diameter and root biomass by 0.43-1.13 fold. Four kind herb residues all improved the shoot biomass by 0.43-1.81fold. So, the authors recommand to considered that we can apply A. macrocephala residue and F. suspense residue in Licorice cultivation.

[Effect of exogenous sucrose on growth and active ingredient content of licorice seedlings under salt stress conditions].

Licorice seedlings were taken as experimental materials, an experiment was conducted to study the effects of exogenous sucrose on growth and active ingredient content of licorice seedlings under NaCl stress conditions. The results of this study showed that under salt stress conditions, after adding a certain concentration of exogenous sucrose, the licorice seedlings day of relative growth rate was increasing, and this stress can be a significant weakening effect, indicating that exogenous sucrose salt stress-relieving effect. The total flavonoids and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity were significantly increased, the exogenous sucrose can mitigated the seedling roots under salt stress, the licorice flavonoid content in the enhanced growth was largely due to the activity of PAL an increased, when the concentration of exogenous sucrose wae 10 mmol x L(-1), PAL activity reaching a maximum, when the concentration of exogenous sucrose was 15 mmol x L(-1), PAL activity turned into a downward trend, the results indicating that this mitigation has concentration effect. After applying different concentrations of exogenous sugar, the contents of liquiritin changes with the change of flavonoids content was similar. After applying different concentrations of exogenous sucrose, the content of licorice acid under salt stress was higher than the levels were not reached during salt stress, the impact of exogenous sucrose concentration gradient of licorice acid accumulation was not obvious.

Identification of metabolic profiling of cell culture of licorice compared with its native one.

Glycyrrhiza uralensis has long been used as a flavoring and sweetening agent in food products. In the last ten years, suspensions of Glycyrhiza cells have been successfully established. However, there is no report of full metabolic profiling research on these cells. To identify their composition we used HPLC-DAD coupled with ESI(+/-)-MS (n) to compare the constituents of cultured Glycyrhiza (CG) cells with those the native cells (NG). We identified 60 compounds including flavonoids, phenols, and triterpenoids. Among these compounds, 42 occurred both in NG and CG, nine were present in NG only and nine were present in CG alone. The number of the triterpenoid aglycones without glycones in CG was smaller than that in NG. The number of flavanone, isoflavone, isoflavan, and benzenoid compounds was also smaller in CG than that in NG, whereas the number of pterocarpans was much higher. Although differences existed between CG and NG, the extract of CG was similar to that of NG. With the development of cell suspension culture-based biotransformation, cell culture of Glycyrrhiza has the potential to be more profitable than field cultivation in some areas.

Chemical analysis and anti-inflammatory comparison of the cell culture of Glycyrrhiza with its field cultivated variety.

Suspended cells of Glycyrrhiza (CG) possessed a similar content of flavonoids and a lower content of triterpenes, when compared with its field cultivated equivalent (NG). Xylene-induced ear oedema and ovalbumin-induced mouse paw oedema were applied, to compare the effects of CG and NG on the acute inflammatory response. Extracts of the cell culture of Glycyrrhiza possessed a similar anti-inflammatory effect to those of NG, through the enhancement of the SOD activity of plasma and liver tissues. The use of a cell culture of liquorice instead of field cultivation would be potentially profitable.

Isolation and characterization of three fungi with the potential of transforming glycyrrhizin.

Three fungi with different types of transformation of glycyrrhizin (GL) were isolated from the soil samples of glycyrrhiza glabra planting area in China. According to their morphologies and 18 S rDNA gene sequence analysis, the three fungi were identified and named as Penicillium purpurogenum Li-3, Aspergillus terreus Li-20 and Aspergillus ustus Li-62. Transforming products analysis by TLC and HPLC-MS indicated that P. purpurogenum Li-3, A. terreus Li-20 and A. ustus Li-62 could stably transform GL into GAMG, GAMG and GA, and GA, respectively. P. purpurogenum Li-3 was especially valuable to directly prepare GAMG for applications in the pharmaceutical industry.

[Review on licorices quality differences].

Licorice is a commonly and widely used herb, it has extensive sources. So the researches on licorice quality differences between different sources have significant meaning. This paper has reviewed the studies on licorice quality differences between different sources. Including different plant sources, habitats, variation types,production modes and cultivation conditions. It finds that there are significant differences between licorices from different sources, the quality of Licorice medicinal material is uneven.

A neural network approach for the prediction of in vitro culture parameters for maximum biomass yields in hairy root cultures.

The present study deals with ANN based prediction of culture parameters in terms of inoculum density, pH and volume of growth medium per culture vessel and sucrose content of the growth medium for Glycyrrhiza hairy root cultures. This kind of study could be a model system in exploitation of hairy root cultures for commercial production of pharmaceutical compounds using large bioreactors. The study is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of regression neural network and back propagation neural network for the prediction of optimal culture conditions for maximum hairy root biomass yield. The training data for regression and back propagation networks were primed on the basis of function approximation, where final biomass fresh weight (f(wt)) was considered as a function of culture parameters. On this basis the variables in culture conditions were described in the form of equations which are for inoculum density: y=0.02x+0.04, for pH of growth medium: y=x+2.8, for sucrose content in medium: y=9.9464x+(-9.7143) and for culture medium per culture vessel: y=10x. The fresh weight values obtained from training data were considered as target values and further compared with predicted fresh weight values. The empirical data were used as testing data and further compared with values predicted from trained networks. Standard MATLAB inbuilt generalized regression network with radial basis function radbas as transfer function in layer one and purelin in layer two and back propagation having purelin as transfer function in output layer and logsig in hidden layer were used. Although in comparative assessment both the networks were found efficient for prediction of optimal culture conditions for high biomass production, more accuracy in results was seen with regression network.

Flavonoid accumulation in cell suspension cultures of Glycyrrhiza inflata Batal under optimizing conditions.

Cell growth and flavonoid production in cell suspension cultures of Glycyrrhiza inflata Batal were investigated under various initial inoculum densities, and sucrose and nitrogen concentrations to develop an optimization method for an improved flavonoid production. Both biomass accumulation and flavonoid production exhibited an "S" curve in one culture cycle, with the greatest value obtained on day 21, which showed that cell growth and flavonoid biosynthesis went along isochronously. Moreover, according to the biomass and flavonoid production, the appreciate inoculum density, and the sucrose and nitrogen concentrations were 50 g FW L(-1), 50 g L(-1) and 120 mmol L(-1), respectively. In addition, cell growth and flavonoid production showed a peak of 16.4 g DW L(-1) and 95.7 mg L(-1) on day 21 under the optimizing conditions, respectively. The flavonoid productivity of the cells which were cultured for 3 years is higher than that of the 3-year-old plant, which suggested that flavonoid production by cell cultures of G. inflata is a potentially profitable method. Therefore, this work is considered to be helpful for efficient large-scale bioprocessing of cell cultures in bioreactors.

Genetic transformation studies and scale up of hairy root culture of Glycyrrhiza glabra in bioreactor

The study was undertaken to induce hairy roots in Glycyrrhiza glabra in leaf explants and to optimize the nutritional requirement for its growth kinetics at shake flask and bioreactor level. Pathogenecity of Agrobacterium depends upon transformation ability of strain and age, type, and physiological state of explants. Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain K599 was used to infect leaf explants of G. glabra. Explants of different age groups were obtained from 2 to 5 weeks old in vitro grown cultures. Bacterial strain K599 could induce hairy roots in 3 and 4 weeks old leaf explants cultured on B5, MS, NB and WP basal semi-solid medium. Leaf explants of 2 and 5 weeks old culture were not responsive to bacterial infection in terms of hairy root induction. Maximum transformation frequency (TF) of tested bacterial strain was 47 percent obtained in 3 weeks old explants after 25 days of incubation on MS basal semi solid medium. NB and B5 both media composition showed 20 percent of transformation frequency after 28 and 38 days respectively. WP medium did not support induction of roots in cultured leaf explants infected with A. rhizogenes strain K599even after 50 days of incubation. Further, when all the four media combinations were tested for root growth it was found that though WP was not responsive for hairy root induction, yet all four basal media supported hairy root growth and a gradual increase in fresh weight biomass was observed with an increase in culture duration. However amongst all, the NB medium composition supported best growth of hairy roots followed by MS, B5 and WP media. About 20 times increase in root biomass on fresh weight basis was recorded after 45days of culture in NB medium. Initial inoculum of roots (0.18 g. F.wt./ flask) containing 50 ml of liquid culture medium produced 3.59 g (F. wt.) biomass. A fast growing hairy root clone G6 was grown in a 5 l capacity mechanically agitated bioreactor provided with a nylon mesh septum. After 30 days of sterile...

[Sustainable utilization of Radix Glycyrrhizae for protection of ecology environment and herbal resources].

Radix Glycyrrhizae is a commonly used herbal drug for traditional Chinese medicine in China, and it is also an important material for drug, food, chemical industry, and dye industry. Furthermore, in Northwest China, Radix Glycyrrhizae acts as a key plant for preventing desertification, which currently is the most serious environmental problem in China. This report concentrated on discussing the great potential value of Glycyrrhiza on ecosystem, introducing the principles of protection and sustainable utilization of Glycyrrhiza resource, offering the suitable methods of utilization, and suggesting how to carry out the research on the substitute drugs. To protect the ecosystem and herbal resource of Radix Glycyrrhizae, we should use this herb in a more reasonable way.