On July 8, 2026, the 2025 National Science and Technology Awards Conference was held in Beijing. The project, led by Professor Tu Pengfei of Peking University and jointly undertaken by China Agricultural University, Alashan Forestry and Grassland Research Institute, Jingpai, Amway, Huiren Pharmaceutical, and other universities, research institutes, and leading enterprises, on the key technologies for the development and promotion of the entire industrial chain of the endangered desert parasitic medicinal herb Cistanche deserticola, won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. This is the highest-level national science and technology honor ever received in the field of Cistanche deserticola research in China. The project has established a complete chain for desert Cistanche deserticola, from "ecological planting - standardized extraction - deep processing and mass production - end products," completely solving the three major industry pain points of wild resource depletion, extensive processing, and unstable quality, and realizing the sustainable industrialization of desert medicinal materials. (Xinhua Net client...)
I. Industry Pain Points: The Three-Tiered Dilemma of "Desert Ginseng" Development
Cistanche deserticola, known as "desert ginseng," is a medicinal and edible herb with a history of over two thousand years. It naturally grows only on the roots of Haloxylon ammodendron and Tamarisk in the deserts of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu. In the past, the industry has long been mired in development bottlenecks:
Resource and Ecological Crisis: Over-harvesting of wild Cistanche deserticola has led to species endangerment. The harvesting process damages sand-fixing vegetation, exacerbating desertification. Traditional artificial cultivation and inoculation methods have a success rate of less than 20%, making it impossible to supply industrial raw materials on a large scale.
Crude and Unstandardized Processing Technology: Traditional high-temperature boiling processes easily destroy core heat-sensitive active substances such as phenylethanoid glycosides and Cistanche deserticola polysaccharides. The lack of unified extraction quality control standards results in significant differences in the effective components of extracts from different origins and batches, making it difficult to meet the stable production needs of pharmaceuticals and health products.
The fragmented industrial chain: Planting, processing, and R&D are disconnected, lacking an integrated standardized system from field to factory. This makes mass production of deep processing difficult, resulting in low product added value and limited income channels for farmers in western sandy areas.
II. Core Innovation Across the Entire Chain: From Source Planting to Standardized Extraction and Mass Production
The project, spanning 31 years of collaborative research, has achieved breakthroughs in four core technologies: fundamental theoretical innovation, a standardized planting system, green low-temperature extraction and mass production, and globally unified quality standards. This has created a complete closed-loop technology chain for desert medicinal materials.
(I) Source: World's First Standardized GAP Planting System for Parasitic Plants
The team has for the first time revealed the bidirectional signal-induced parasitic molecular mechanism between Cistanche deserticola and Haloxylon ammodendron, overturning traditional understanding of parasitic plants. They have developed a complete set of patented technologies for seed coating, precise targeted inoculation, and mechanized field management, along with over 170 standardized field operation specifications.
Details
Brand Name：LKCY
Grade：Food Grade
Form：Powder
Part：Root
MOQ：1KG
Specification：10:1
Active Ingredient：Phenylethanol Glycosides, Echinacoside, Acteoside, Cistanche Polysaccharide, Betaine
After the technology was implemented, the germination rate of Cistanche deserticola seeds increased to over 85%, and the success rate of field planting exceeded 95%. The yield of Cistanche tubulosa per mu (approximately 0.16 acres) increased from 18 kg to 300-500 kg. Over 200,000 mu (approximately 33,333 acres) of standardized desert planting bases have been established in Hotan, Xinjiang and Alxa, Inner Mongolia, simultaneously stabilizing and controlling desertification, achieving an ecological cycle of "planting Cistanche deserticola, controlling desertification, and producing medicinal materials," thus ensuring a stable supply of high-quality raw materials from the source.
(II) Midstream: Core Technology for Standardized Green Extraction and Mass Production of Desert Medicinal Herbs (Award-Winning Core Process)
Addressing the shortcomings of traditional extraction methods, such as high activity loss, low purity, and batch instability, the team, in collaboration with industry partners, developed a complete set of low-temperature, closed, standardized extraction production lines, achieving continuous industrial-scale mass production. The entire process has been implemented and put into operation in multiple locations across China:
Standardized Pre-treatment of Raw Materials: Intelligent automated sorting and layered deep cleaning; uniform harvesting of mature Cistanche deserticola aged 5 years or more; establishment of a one-item-one-code traceability system; strict control of pesticide residues, heavy metals, and impurities; all raw materials uniformly meet the pharmacopoeia quality control thresholds;
Low-Temperature Cell Wall Breaking and Ultrafine Pre-treatment: Cell wall breaking is performed at temperatures below 45℃ throughout the process, fully releasing active substances such as echinacoside, verbascoside, and Cistanche deserticola polysaccharides locked within the fibers, increasing the activity extraction rate by 40% compared to traditional processes. The above;
Green graded extraction and purification: Utilizing a dual-process system of subcritical water extraction and biodegradable eutectic solvents to replace highly polluting organic solvents, accurately separating different active components; coupled with high-precision centrifugal membrane separation to remove coarse fibers and large molecular impurities, significantly improving extract purity and achieving a pesticide residue removal rate of over 80%;
Low-temperature aseptic concentration and freshness preservation: Abandoning high-temperature evaporation concentration, low-temperature vacuum closed concentration is used, with aseptic pipeline transportation, eliminating secondary pollution throughout the process, and maintaining a stable retention rate of over 90% for heat-sensitive active ingredients;
Standardized homogenization and stable mass production: Automated homogenization and blending, unified control of extract concentration and particle size, and the establishment of an online quality control system based on fingerprint spectroscopy ensure that the fluctuation of effective components in each batch of extract is controlled within ±3%, meeting the continuous large-scale production needs of pharmaceutical companies and health product factories.
The entire extraction process has resulted in over 30 invention patents, and multiple standardized production lines with a capacity of tens of thousands of tons have been established for desert Cistanche deserticola extract. These lines can stably produce standardized raw materials such as total glycoside extracts, polysaccharide extracts, complete component pulps, and medicinal extracts, suitable for applications in various fields including traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces, prepared Chinese medicines, dietary supplements, and herbal beverages.
(III) Standards System: Leading the Development of Domestic and International Pharmacopoeia Standards
The team systematically isolated and identified 513 chemical components of Cistanche deserticola, clarifying core active substances and quantitative detection methods. They led the revision of the Cistanche deserticola quality standards in the *Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China*, and promoted the formal inclusion of Cistanche tubulosa in the pharmacopoeia. Simultaneously, they spearheaded the development of the United States Pharmacopeia's Cistanche deserticola extract material control specifications, establishing a globally unified quality control system for desert medicinal material extraction, and opening up overseas export channels for domestically produced Cistanche deserticola extracts.
III. Industrialization Implementation Results: Triple Value of Ecology, Industry, and People's Livelihood
Large-scale Industrial Implementation
Relying on complete extraction technologies, standardized deep-processing plants have been built in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hubei, Jiangsu, and other regions, achieving stable year-round production of Cistanche deserticola extract. The extract is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, health-preserving wines, dietary supplements, herbal oral liquids, and other products. Many end products sell well domestically and are exported to 13 countries and regions, supporting the formation of a multi-billion-yuan desert-specific traditional Chinese medicine industry cluster and completely solving the problem of high-end Cistanche deserticola raw material shortage for traditional Chinese medicine enterprises.
Outstanding Achievements in Ecological Governance
Large-scale Cistanche deserticola cultivation uses Haloxylon ammodendron sand-fixing forests as the host. 200,000 mu of planted forests fix over one million tons of shifting sand annually, curbing the expansion of deserts in western China. Replacing wild harvesting with planting has fundamentally alleviated the endangered status of wild Cistanche deserticola, forging a new sustainable development model of "ecological restoration driving the medicinal herb industry, and industrial benefits supporting desertification control projects."
Value for Rural Revitalization and Prosperity: The standardized planting base covers nearly 200,000 farmers and herders in the desert areas of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. It guarantees a fixed price for standardized Cistanche deserticola raw materials, which are then processed locally to utilize the raw materials, extending the local industrial chain and significantly increasing the economic value of desert land. This has become a pillar industry for rural revitalization in the western border regions.
IV. Industry Significance: Setting a Benchmark for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine: This project won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, marking a significant achievement in the innovation of the entire industrial chain of desert medicinal resources in China. The project has established a complete industrial chain from "ecological planting - standardized extraction - large-scale production - global market," overcoming core bottleneck technologies in the industrialization of parasitic desert medicinal materials and establishing a replicable and scalable standardized development model for desert medicinal materials.
Simultaneously, the project modernizes traditional Chinese medicine through modern extraction technology, solves the problem of unstable processing quality of Chinese medicinal materials through standardized processes, provides mature technical models for the industrialization of other desert medicinal plants such as Hippophae rhamnoides and Cynomorium songaricum, and exports Chinese technical solutions for the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine and the ecological industrialization of characteristic resources.
In conclusion, the project's complete set of standardized extraction technologies is being continuously promoted to the desert production areas of Northwest China, and a new generation of intelligent continuous extraction production lines is being expanded in multiple locations. The research team stated that they will continue to optimize the high-purity monomer extraction process, develop more high-value-added Cistanche deserticola functional raw materials, and continuously release the ecological, economic, and livelihood value of desert medicinal materials.
Shaanxi Lv Ke Chun Yuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd
Our address
Huaxia Yue World, Weibin District, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province
Phone Number
86-13992760792
sales04@lucynatural.com
