Study on growth and some substances content of 9 varieties of Houttuynia cordata

Abstract

     Plu Kao (Houttuynia cordata) cultivars were collected from various sources in Northern Thailand. They were identified into 3 groups included red leaf group (of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Phitsanulok), green leaf group (of Lumpang, Phrae and Sukhothai) and Purple stalk group (of Phrae 1, Phrae 2 and Phrae 3). Planting 3 groups of Plu Kao at Chiang Mai Royal Agricultural Research Center in 2013. The experimental was designed as RCBD with 9 treatments and 3 replications. After 3 months of planting, there was no significant difference in the growth of canopy. It was found that purple stalk of Phrae 1 had the highest canopy as 21.91 centimeters but not different from other groups. At the age of 6 months, all three groups showed no significant different in growth of canopy and average number of leaves per tree. When considering the fresh weight per square meter, it was found that green of Lumpang, red leaf of Phitsanulok, purple stalk of Phrae 2 and green leaf of Sukhothai group were 2,450, 2,250, 2,150 and 2,050 grams, respectively. Whereas purple stalk of Phrae 1, red leaf of Chiang Rai, red leaf of Chiang Mai and green leaf of Phrea had average fresh weight per square meter as 1,250, 1,150, 1,000 and 1,000 grams, respectively. However, dry weight (at 45 °C for 24 hours) of all cultivars were not statistically different form each other. It was found that the quercetin and rutin of purple stalk of Phrea 1 tended to have high content of quercetin than other cultivars. For rutin substance, it was found that green leaf of Lumpang contained higher rutin than that of other cultivars.