Conditions of developed Greening Soil Materials (GSM) for survival of licorice and combating desertification

Desertification is a kind of land degradation phenomena which can be caused by natural or artificial geo-environmental problems. Especially, Asia is considered to be highly vulnerable to desertification than other area. Authors have been trying to develop the measures of anti-desertification which is sustainable and with highly added value. In order to accomplish this purpose, licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.), a kind of medical herb grows natively in Chinese and Mongolian arid region, was experimentally planted in Mongolian arid area. It is one of the most demanded medicinal herbs in Japanese pharmaceutical industry, but numbers of native licorice in these regions are decreasing due to several causes. Authors developed Greening Soil Material (GSM) as one of the effective methods to plant licorice where once was habitat of licorice. It is pipe-shaped with more than 10 times higher water and nutrient holding capacity compared to the deserted ground. The experimental research using GSM has been conducted in Southern Mongolia. From the results of past experimental study, important factors for survive and healthy growth of licorice in arid area were revealed: volume, water content, and calcium content in GSMs. In order to suggest the suitable conditions for survive of licorice in its non-habitat area, this paper presents the relationship between survival ratio of licorice and volume of GSMs, water content of GSMs, and calcium content of GSMs and quantifies these relationships.