Quality Analysis and High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Fingerprint Analysis of New Cultivated Kind of <i>Lonicerae japonicae</i> Flos “Hua Jin 6” from Different Harvest Times

Abstract

Lonicerae japonicae Flos (LJF) is widely used in traditional Chinese medicines for the treatment of various diseases, which is now in great demand every year and has a broad development prospect. However, the flowering phase of common LJF varieties is so short, which seriously restricts the development of LJF industry. As a new cultivated kind of Lonicerae japonicae Flos, "Hua Jin 6" has characteristics in long flowering phase and conveniently picking, which makes it have a broad development prospect. The aim of this study is to provide scientific guidance for its suitable harvest period by measuring yield and quality of "Hua Jin 6" from different harvest time. Studies show that flower size had a slowly rising trend from the first day to the seventh day, and then slowly declined or kept stable. There were no significant differences of total phenolic acid contents in different samples from different days, but contents of total flavonoids were on the rise and up to maximum in the ninth day. The contents of total iridoids had an increasing tendency from the first day to the fifth day and then kept relatively stable in other days. We demonstrated that the quality of "Hua Jin 6" is relatively stable and suitable for harvesting in all flower buds white stage in term of HPLC fingerprints. Our findings can make it possible to select the suitable time for different harvest purpose.