Effects of post-harvest ' rubbing-sweating ' drying treatment on the accumulation of bioactive compounds in <i>Codonopsis pilosula</i>: a transcriptomic analysis.

ABSTRACT: Postharvest processing critically determines the quality of Codonopsis pilosula, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying the traditional "rubbing-sweating" technique remain unclear. We hypothesized that rubbing-sweating imposes stronger abiotic stress than shade drying, thereby activating stress-responsive pathways and enhancing the accumulation of bioactive constituents. To test this, freshly harvested roots were processed by shade drying (SD) and rubbing-sweating drying (RD), and compared with fresh controls (FC) in terms of chemical composition, antioxidant enzyme activity, and transcriptomic profiles. After 6 days, RD significantly increased lobetyolin content by 15.3% relative to FC and 9.7% relative to SD (p<0.01), while polysaccharides reached 19.5% in RD versus 10.6%

SUBMITTER: Liang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12518347 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature