Comparison of Growth Characteristics and Physiological Activity of Two Centella asiatica Cultivars in Greenhouse Soil Culture

The study was investigated to compare growth characteristics, the antioxidant activity, and the triterpenoid content of two Centella asiatica cultivars ('Giant Tiger Care' and 'Good Tiger Care').At 41 days after transplanting, lengths of leaf and petiole were significantly longer in 'Good Tiger Care' than in 'Giant Tiger Care'.However, the growth characteristics (leaf area, petiole thickness, petiole length, and weight) were greater in 'Giant Tiger Care' than in 'Good Tiger Care' at 104 days after transplanting (harvest time).Antioxidant activity and total phenol content in four extracts (WE, water extract; HWE, hot water extract; 50E, 50% EtOH extract; 70E, 70% EtOH extract) of the two cultivars were high in 70E of 'Giant Tiger Care'.As a result of the triterpenoids analysis, the major triterpenoids of the two cultivars were identified as madecassoside and asiaticoside.The total triterpenoid content was high in 50E and 70E of 'Giant Tiger Care' and 'Good Tiger Care', respectively but the total triterpenoid content was highest in Good Tiger Care'.However, at the 104 days after planting, the yield of 'Giant Tiger Care' was three times higher than that of 'Good Tiger Care'.In addition, the total triterpenoid content that can be produced in the same cultivation area (3.3m 2 ) was 2.459mg in 50E of 'Giant Tiger Care', which was ~2.2times higher than that of 70E of 'Good Tiger Care' (1.103 mg).Thus, it is considered economical to cultivate 'Giant Tiger Care' which has the highest antioxidant activity and high total triterpenoid production per cultivation area.