Geographical Indication and Unique Production Technology of Zhengcheng Honeysuckle

Qian ZHANG1*, Fenggang ZHANG2, Peifeng DING3, Nannan LIU4, Yucheng LU5, Jingmei PENG1, Xiugang YU6, Yongliang WANG7, Xiangyan CHEN1, Xiao WANG

1. Linyi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Linyi 276012, China; 2. Agricultural Office of Baishabu Town, Lanshan District, Linyi City, Linyi 276035, China; 3. Agricultural Comprehensive Service Center of Taiping Street, Hedong District, Linyi City, Linyi 276029, China; 4. Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Pingyi County, Pingyi 273300, China; 5. Agricultural Office of Zhengcheng Town, Pingyi County, Pingyi 273311, China; 6. Agricultural Comprehensive Service Center of Guichang Township, Tancheng County, Tancheng 276122, China; 7. Agricultural and Rural Bureau of Feixian County, Feixian 273400, China; 8. Pingyi YuanTong Traditional Chinese Medicine Technology Development Co., Ltd., Pingyi 273303, China

Abstract The specific production area, unique production environment, rich humanistic history and unique production quality of Zhengcheng honeysuckle, a featured product of Pingyi County, Shandong Province and a national geographic indication agricultural product are described in this article. The unique production method for Zhengcheng honeysuckle is summarized from the aspects of production area selection, variety selection, production management, harvesting, processing and packaging, and corresponding development measures for the industry are proposed, aiming to maintain the Zhengcheng honeysuckle brand to the greatest extent and further increase the popularity of Zhengcheng honeysuckle.

Key words Zhengcheng honeysuckle, Geographical indication, Production mode, Industrial development measure, Pingyi County, Shandong Province

1 Introduction

Zhengcheng honeysuckle is a specialty of Pingyi County, Shandong Province, known for its large buds, pure color, and good quality. Coupled with specific production environment, special cultivation management method and rich humanistic history, on December 15, 2010, the former Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China officially approved the implementation of the registration and protection of geographical indications of agricultural products for "Zhengcheng Honeysuckle". Zhengcheng Town has a long history of honeysuckle cultivation. Due to unique geomorphology of sedimentary rock structure, rift valley and brown soil and climate characteristics of the northern temperate zone, the honeysuckle flower buds produced in this area are full and have excellent quality, and the content of chlorogenic acid ranks first in China. The unique saponins are favored by the Chinese medicine. Zhengcheng Town is the largest honeysuckle producing area in China. In China, honeysuckle is mainly produced in Pingyi, while in Pingyi, Zhengcheng is the major producing area. Zhengcheng Township was named "China’s first honeysuckle production town" by the former Ministry of Agriculture, and was awarded "Chinese honeysuckle production characteristic township", "garden township" and "ecological civilization township" by Linyi Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government. In 2006, Zhengcheng Township, Pingyi County, was selected as "the place with the most investment value" by Shandong County Economic Research Association and other departments. The honeysuckle standardized production base was named "Linyi City Green High-quality Agricultural Products Star Base". At the 2010 Linyi County Economic Summary and Commendation Conference, Zhengcheng Township was awarded the "First Prize of Township Economic and Social Development" by the Municipal Party Committee and Government. In 2017, Zhengcheng Honeysuckle was selected as one of the top ten national public brands for targeted poverty alleviation, and won the gold medal of the 5th Yimeng High-quality Agricultural Products Fair. China (Zhengcheng) Honeysuckle Logistics Port has become the largest honeysuckle trading and logistics center in China. The annual throughput of authentic Chinese medicinal materials dominated by honeysuckle exceeds 10 000 t, and the transaction volume is more than 1.5 billion yuan. Tax revenue of 150 million yuan is achieved and more than 3 000 jobs are provided, vigorously promoting the industrial development of honeysuckle in Pingyi County. In this article, the specific production area, unique production environment, rich humanistic history and unique product quality of Zhengcheng honeysuckle are introduced, the unique production method is summarized, and corresponding development measures for the industry are proposed, aiming to maintain the Zhengcheng honeysuckle brand to the greatest extent and further increase the popularity of Zhengcheng honeysuckle.

2 Specific production area

The geographical protection scope of Zhengcheng honeysuckle is within the territory of Zhengcheng Town, Pingyi County, Shandong Province. It mainly includes 38 administrative villages under the jurisdiction of Zhengcheng Town (117°36′12″-117°42′25″ E, 35°09′35″-35°13′23″ N). The north-south length is 12.9 km, and the east-west width is 5.8 km. The protected area is 65 ha, the production area is 65 ha, the annual output is 1 500 t and the output value is 6 million yuan.

3 Unique production environment and rich cultural history

3.1

Unique

natural

ecological

environment

3.1.1

Soil and topography. Zhengcheng Town is located at the southern foot of Meng Mountain, the second highest peak in Shandong Province. The terrain is dominated by mountains and hills. The soil in the production area is gravel-sand soil with a pH value of 5.8-7.6 and organic matter content of 0.3%-0.6%. The soil layer is deep, and the soil is loose, with strong water and fertilizer retention capacity, suitable for honeysuckle growth.

3.1.2

Hydrological conditions. The Wenliang River runs through the entire Zhengcheng town, and the groundwater source in the production area is sufficient. The farmland is equipped with complete irrigation and drainage facilities. Irrigation water comes from groundwater or river water. The water is clear and pollution-free.

3.1.3

Climate characteristics. Zhengcheng Town has a continental climate in the monsoon region of the northern temperate zone with a mild climate and four distinct seasons. The average temperature is 12.8 ℃. The average annual sunshine duration is 2 382.9 h, indicating sufficient sunshine. The average annual effective accumulated temperature is 4 855.5 ℃. The frost-free period is about 200 d. The natural farming period is about 290 d. It is cool in the night, and the temperature difference between day and night is large. The average annual precipitation is 600-1 000 mm, mostly in July-August, with rain and heat in the same period, conducive to the growth of honeysuckle.

3.2

Long

humanistic

history

According to the Feixian County Chronicles compiled in the 22nd year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1896), as the flowers are yellow and white, it is called Jin Yin Hua in Chinese. At the beginning of Jiaqing period, merchants sold it to other places and made huge profits for not a few years. Since then, it began to be planted in a large scale. Based on this, it can be concluded that the local artificial cultivation of honeysuckle has a history of more than 200 years. Li Shizhen, a pharmacist in the Ming Dynasty, included honeysuckle in

Compendium

of

Materia

Medica

. Zhengcheng Town is the largest honeysuckle producing area in China. In 1996, it was awarded the title of "Hometown of Honeysuckle in China" by the former Ministry of Agriculture. In the 1990s, Tsumura & Co. sent personnel to inspect the ecological environment, growth and development status and effective content accumulation law of honeysuckle for 8 consecutive years; and South Korea and Southeast Asian countries were also good markets for honeysuckle and its processed products. Since 2002, four higher education institutions including Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Nanjing University have established teaching and research bases in Zhengcheng Town; more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies including Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Sixth Factory, Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Second Factory, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Nanjing Tongrentang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Shanxi Taihangshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. have established drug source bases; and many beverage companies such as Jiaduobao (Hongkong) Beverage Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Wahaha Group have established standardized experimental bases. In recent years, Zhengcheng Town firmly grasps the industrial advantage of "the main production area of honeysuckle in China", adopts the characteristic industry model of "enterprise+base+cooperative+farmer" to promote the clustering of honeysuckle planting and creates honeysuckle rural ecological leisure tourism projects to realize the integrated development of beautiful countryside and characteristics rural tourism, thereby strongly consolidating the foundation of rural revitalization.

4 Unique product quality

4.1

External

sensory

characteristics

Zhengcheng honeysuckle has lonicera flower buds, which are in a stick shape, thick at top and slightly curved at bottom, 2-3 cm long, 3 mm in diameter in the upper part, and thinner in the lower part. The surface is yellow-white or green-white, and the color becomes darker over time, with dense short fluffs. There are leaf-like bracts occasionally. Calyces are green, with five lobes in the apex and fluffs in the lobes. Corollas are tube-shaped, two-lipped in the apex, with five stamens and one pistil. Ovaries are glabrous. The smell of honeysuckle is fresh and fragrant, and the taste is slightly bitter.

He had been very careful in choosing his tutors and governors when he was a boy, and when he became a youth he sent him to travel, so that he might see the ways of other people, and find that they were often as good as his own

4.2

Intrinsic

quality

indicators

In Zhengcheng honeysuckle, the moisture content is 10.0%-10.5%, the chlorogenic acid content is not less than 4.5%, and the content of luteolin is not less than 0.05%-0.10%, indicating good quality. Honeysuckle is known as the "penicillin in traditional Chinese medicine". It has the effects of clearing away heat, detoxifying, and cooling and dispelling wind-heat. Honeysuckle is used in many modern Chinese medicine prescriptions.

4.3

Safety

requirements

Zhengcheng honeysuckle must meet the hygienic index of "non-polluted food" of the Ministry of Agriculture. Under the circumstances stipulated in Article 33 of the

Agricultural

Product

Quality

and

Safety

Law

, honeysuckle shall not be marketed.

5 Unique production method

5.1

Origin

selection

The production base should be located in an area with loose, fertile, deep and pollution-free soil and good ecological conditions. The environment should meet the standards of

Environmental

Conditions

for

the

Production

Area

of

Pollution

-

Free

Agricultural

Products

(NY/T 5010-2016). At the same time, the production base should have sustainable production capacity.

5.2

Variety

selection

The representative varieties of Zhengcheng honeysuckle include Jiufeng No.1, Damaohua, Jizhuahua, Menghua No.1, Menghua No.2 and Menghua No.3.

5.3

Production

process

management

5.3.1

Site selection and preparation. Sunny plots are preferable, while low-lying and flooded plots are avoided. The plant and row spacing should be (1.0-1.5) m ×1.5 m. The holes dug should be 50 cm in diameter and 30-50 cm in depth. In each hole, 5-7 kg of harmless farmyard manure is applied and mixed with the subsoil.

5.3.2

Reproduction methods. The reproduction methods are dominated by cutting, represented by direct cutting and seedling transplanting.

(i) Direct cutting. From August to September, 1-2-year-old branches that are strong, highly lignified, and free of diseases and insect pests are selected. They are cut into 30 cm long cuttings, and the section is made into a wedge shape. The lower 2/3 of each cutting is buried into a hole, with 2-3 leaves retained aboveground and 5-6 cuttings per hole. After covered with soil, the cuttings are irrigated and earthed after full seepage.

5.3.3

Field management. (i) Field tillage and weeding. In the first 2 years after planting, weeding is performed 3 times a year, in spring (when the buds begin to germinate and the leaves begin to spread), June and July-August, respectively. Three years later, the frequency of intertillage weeding can be reduced appropriately. In plains, the soil is deeply ploughed once every 3-4 years.

(ii) Reasonable topdressing. Within the first 1-2 years after planting, the honeysuckle plants will grow and develop. It is recommended to apply more fertilizers such as human and animal manure and plant ash. After 2-3 years of planting, more fertilizers such as livestock manure, barn manure and cake manure should be applied before winter or in early spring. After the beginning of summer, an appropriate amount of fertilizer should be applied after each harvest of flowers to provide sufficient nutrients for the follow-up flowers. After budding in early spring and when the first batch of flowers are harvested, human manure and fertilizers are applied in ring ditches. After the last weeding before winter, decomposed organic fertilizer or compost (cake fertilizer) was applied to the base of each plant, followed by earthing, to facilitate the safe overwintering of honeysuckle plants.

(iii) Drainage and irrigation. Honeysuckle plants are watered properly during the budding period in early spring and the drought in early winter. In the rainy season, the logged water is drained in time to avoid root rot.

(iv) Pruning. Pruning is an important measure to increase the production of honeysuckle. Proper pruning can increase yield by 30%-40%. Pruning is divided into winter pruning and summer pruning. Winter pruning is carried out after the leaves are fallen to before the germination of the following year, and the summer pruning is carried out after each harvest of flowers. Pruning should follow the order of from top to down, from inside to outside, and from big branches to small branches. Flower-bearing branches are cut short; robust branches are retained with 4-5 nodes; and medium branches are retained with 2-3 nodes. For 1-3-year-old plants, focus is placed on cultivation of primary, secondary and tertiary backbone branches. For each plant, one primary branch, three secondary branches and 10-12 tertiary branches are retained. For adult plants, 4-5 flower-bearing branches are retained for each tertiary branch, 100-120 flower-bearing branches for each plant.

5.3.4

Control of major pests and diseases. The method of "prevention first, comprehensive prevention" is adopted. When chemical pesticides must be applied, it should meet the requirements of

Pollution

-

free

Production

Technical

Regulations

of

Honeysuckle

(DB37/T 1422-2009). (i) Brown spot disease and leaf spot disease. Combined with pruning, fallen leaves and diseased plants are removed. At the beginning of the onset, 50% carbendazim wettable powder (800-1 000-fold-diluted) or Bordeaux solution (1∶1.5∶300) is sprayed to honeysuckle plants, once every 7-10 d, for 2-3 times. (ii) Aphid. Weeds are cleared in time to reduce the source of insects, and 2.5% deltamethrin EC (3 000-fold-diluted) is sprayed for control. Drugs are forbidden after budding. (iii) Carpenter moth. Combined with pruning, branches with insects are cut off. During the larval hatching period, 2.5% deltamethrin EC (2 000-fold-diluted) is sprayed. If lesion spreads into xylem, 90% trichlorfon (40-fold-diluted) is dropped into each worm hole, which are then sealed with yellow mud. Taking advantage of the phototaxis of adults, insecticidal lamps are used to trap and kill them. (iv) Inchworm. In winter, diseased branches, old branches and dead branches are cut off to remove overwintering eggs.

In the bud stage, 15% Anda suspension (3 000-fold-diluted) is sprayed for prevention.

5.4

Harvesting

,

processing

,

packaging

and

transportation

5.4.1

Harvesting. Timely harvesting is the key to improving the yield and quality of honeysuckle. The best harvesting period of honeysuckle is the second white period. The best harvest time is before 9 am. At this time, the harvested flower buds are not easy to spread, with sufficient nutrients, strong smell and good color. The harvest in the afternoon should end before the sun set, because the opening of honeysuckle is restricted by light. The mature buds will open up after the sun set, which affects the quality. When harvesting, only mature flower buds and buds that are close to mature without leaves can be picked, and young buds are prevented from being picked. Picked flower buds will be scattered in a woven or bamboo basket. The time should not be too long, and the longest should not exceed 4 h.

5.4.2

Processing. The initial processing of honeysuckle is to make the fresh flower buds collected dry through a certain method, which is convenient for transportation and storage. (i) Air-drying method. Air-drying of honeysuckle is best to be carried out in dedicated drying baskets, followed by cement flat roofs. The drying layer should be thin, with a thickness of 2-3 cm, and the flowers should not be turned during drying. The air-drying is considered to be completed when the dried flowers are crushed after light pinching. In fine weather, the air-drying will be completed in 2 d. Flowers that have not been dried that day should be covered or erected at night and dried the next day. If it rains after picking flowers, the flower baskets can be placed indoors or spread out on the mat to dry. (ii) Machine drying method. The temperature of the honeysuckle dryer is generally kept at 30-50 ℃ in the initial period, and then increased to 70-130 ℃ after 4 h. Too high initial temperature will carbonize flowers and affect product quality. The honeysuckle in the vertical multi-layer drying box is dehydrated and dried layer by layer. Finally, the wet wind is directly drained from the top layer. The contact time between the wet wind and the honeysuckle is very short (5-12 s). At the same time, the observation hole of each layer is opened a little to drain the tide layer by layer at any time. Thus, the product quality will be improved greatly, and the content of chlorogenic acid and luteolin in honeysuckle will be well preserved.

5.4.3

Packaging and transportation. The flowers buds are packed when the moisture drops to 9%-11%, and then listed after graded packaging. Packaging materials generally use polyethylene bags with a specification of 50 kg. They should be clean, hygeian, non-toxic and non-odor, and marked with variety, place of production, trademark and indication of pollution-free agricultural products.

6 Measures for industrial development

6.1

Development

of

honeysuckle

industrial

cluster

At present, Zhengcheng Town has built 6 700 ha national green food raw material (honeysuckle) standardized production base, 670 ha Chinese honeysuckle GAP base, 400 ha organic honeysuckle base and other national bases, with an annual output of 6 million kg of dried honeysuckle. There are more than 30 key enterprises and 14 large-scale enterprises in deep processing of Chinese medicinal materials in the town, 12 of which have passed 3G certification. There is a honeysuckle logistics port covering an area of 6 ha. More than 140 merchants have settled in, with an annual transaction volume exceeding 1 billion yuan.

6.2

Honeysuckle+regional

tourism

integrated

development

According to the idea of "government-led, market operation, and social participation", starting from the honeysuckle festival in April and May, a comprehensive tourism brand of honeysuckle is created from the four aspects of tourism image, products, services and routes. Honeysuckle promenade, large plantations, and processing enterprises are planned comprehensively. A batch of honeysuckle leisure resorts that integrate leisure tourism and agricultural experience are created, thereby realizing mutual promotion and integrated development of industry and tourism.

6.3

Extending

the

honeysuckle

industry

chain

and

increasing

the

added

value

of

products

Relying on the advantages of honeysuckle characteristic industry, leading Chinese medicinal materials processing companies such as Shandong Xianyi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Huaren Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. within the jurisdiction are supported and encouraged to actively cooperate with colleges and universities to introduce honeysuckle deep processing technology and professional talents, intensify the development of honeysuckle beverages, chlorogenic acid extraction and other deep-processed products of honeysuckle, and increase the added value of products.