The lateral roots of Aconitum carmichaelii, known in Chinese as fuzi, are officially recognized as a materia medica in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and used culinarily to prepare herbal soups. A strategy combining UPLC-qToF-MS analysis of A. carmichaelii and its intraspecies and interspecies chemometrics study was developed to examine the distribution of Aconitum marker metabolites. Four diterpenoid alkaloids were recognized to be important markers in fuzi, and another 15 markers were identified to differentiate A. carmichaelii from adulterant species. The detected fuzi markers, mesaconitine (47) and hypaconitine (51), are known to be the principal toxins in this herb, while fuziline (6) and benzoylmesaconine (25) are associated with its medicinal properties. Additional marker compounds have been detected in other Aconitum species that are useful for identifying adulteration. This study provides a useful resource for detecting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) adulterants and assisting in the quality control of botanical products in TCM and beyond.

Baihua Village is a typical mountainous village in the southwest part of Lujiang county, Longyang District, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province. Residents there made a living on the land, including growing sugarcane and planting maize, whose annual income was no more than 2000 yuan before 2006. Since then when a research institute has set it as one of the pilot villages for mango growing impetus with sci-tech. For the sake of “One village and One Product”, mango breeding and relevant techniques have been applied to daily work. Within years, the developed model of has been explored: simply “villages are the main carriers facilitated by the specialized cooperative for mango growing, back-up by science and technology. Technical trainings serve as the driving force for the leading growers, meanwhile, sellers work as the bridge link the producing-end and the markets”.