Stimulation of dragon's blood accumulation in Dracaena cambodiana via fungal inoculation

Abstract Dragon's blood is a rare and precious traditional medicine used by different cultures since ancient times. However, studies on enhancing the rapid accumulation of dragon's blood in Dracaena cambodiana and determining its formation mechanism are unavailable. In this study, the activities of two fungi, namely, BJDC01 and BJDC05, and their effect on promoting the accumulation of five main compositions of dragon's blood in D. cambodiana were investigated for the first time. Results of field tests conducted for ten months indicated that the contents of Loureirin D, 4,4′-dihydroxy-2′-dimethoxychalcone, Loureirin A and Loureirin B in two fungal-inoculated materials were 1.67 to 2.85 times greater than those of natural samples, and thus were significantly higher than those of the control groups. The content of 4,4′-dihydroxy-2′6′-dimethoxydihydrochalcone in each fungal-inoculated sample was close to that of the natural sample, and was more than twice of each of the control group. By combining the results of morphological characterizations, both BJDC01 and BJDC05 can stimulate the accumulation of the compositions of dragon's blood. This stimulation may be considered as a defense response of D. cambodiana tree against the invasion of foreign fungi. Thus, this study provides a potential way of producing dragon's blood via the inoculation of two fungal elicitors.