Chinese herb trials show promise

AFTER a successful pilot project, new research is now under way to determine if Chinese medicinal herbs could become a new commercial crop in Tasmania. 

A research hub for traditional Chinese herbs was set up at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture’s Forthside research farm in 2019. 

Since then, a pilot project headed up by Professor Dugald Close has been working on proof of concept research in the nursery block at the farm. 

Professor Close said initially they were looking at the quality of seven different potential crops. 

“The marketplace is very specific about the bioactive components in the various crops, just the same as thebaine content in poppies,’ he said. 

“That’s what we’re after, not necessarily biomass. So we needed to prove to ourselves and our industry fund provider that the quality would be there before we progressed more into scaled up trials.” 

After a slow start to the project due to difficulties accessing seed from China because of Covid and then navigating the biosecurity requirements, Prof Close said they finally got a good batch of Mongolian Milk Fetch or Astragalus, a legume root crop which they started the pilot trials with. 

Those initial trials produced good results and they are now upscaling the trials this season to a larger site at Forthside. 

“We showed some product at the Shanghai import expo last year and that was well received and there certainly wasn’t any thing like it that we could see in the whole expo,” he said. 

Prof Close said there were also different options when it comes to how the product can be marketed. 

“Whether that’s a whole product a sliced product or even an extract,” he said. “It used in preventive health basically, so as an immune booster and for cardio well being. I’m certainly no health expert but there is plenty of evidence that these bioactives do have health benefits.” 

The total market for traditional Chinese herbs in China is currently worth $200 billion and Prof Close said that is set to double in the next 10 years. 

The market for Astragalus itself is worth $5 billion and that is set to double as well. Prof Close said at present most of the crop is grown in China or imported from countries such as Japan, Korea or Taiwan. 

“It is grown on a fairly small scale with high labour inputs from the cheap labour available in China,” he said.

"So that’s part of the trial work we’re doing here with this new trial to look at the mechanisation to make it viable and also looking at the input costs as well.” 

Prof Close said the expanded trials will also focus on things such as pests and diseases for the crop, planting densities, weed management, nutrition and irrigation. 

Prof Close said part of the initial trial work was determining whether Tasmania’s climate would be suitable for growing the crop.

“Obviously in Mongolia it’s very hot in summer and be extremely cold in winter,” he said. “So, some crops didn’t work out that we trialled and that’s the way research goes, but for Astragalus it happens to be fairly adaptable. 

"The drainage is good in these soils here, there’s enough chill during winter so the bioactives we’re finding are well and truly above the minimum standards.” 

Prof Close said the trials had also been done using wild seed, so there was also the potential to improve the crops through plant breeding. 

The new trials were planted in early October and will be harvested in autumn next year.