*Communication* **E** ff**ects of Harvest Time on PhytochemicalConstituents and Biological Activities of** *Panax ginseng* **Berry Extracts**

**Seung-Yeap Song 1,**†**, Dae-Hun Park 2,**†**, Seong-Wook Seo 3, Kyung-Mok Park 4, Chun-Sik Bae 5, Hong-Seok Son 6, Hyung-Gyun Kim 7, Jung-Hee Lee 7, Goo Yoon 1, Jung-Hyun Shim 1, Eunok Im 3, Sang Hoon Rhee 8, In-Soo Yoon 3,\* and Seung-Sik Cho 1,\***


Academic Editors: Marcello Locatelli, Angela Tartaglia, Dora Melucci, Abuzar Kabir, Halil Ibrahim Ulusoy and Victoria Samanidou

Received: 28 August 2019; Accepted: 12 September 2019; Published: 13 September 2019

**Abstract:** Ginseng (*Panax ginseng*) has long been used as a traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Generally, the harvest time and age of ginseng have been regarded as important factors determining the e fficacy of ginseng. However, most studies have mainly focused on the root of ginseng, while studies on other parts of ginseng such as its berry have been relatively limited. Thus, the aim of this study iss to determine e ffects of harvest time on yields, phenolics/ginsenosides contents, and the antioxidant/anti-elastase activities of ethanol extracts of three- and four-year-old ginseng berry. In both three- and fourfour-year-old ginseng berry extracts, antioxidant and anti-elastase activities tended to increase as berries ripen from the first week to the last week of July. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis has revealed that contents of ginsenosides except Rg1 tend to be the highest in fourfour-year-old ginseng berries harvested in early July. These results indicate that biological activities and ginsenoside profiles of ginseng berry extracts depend on their age and harvest time in July, suggesting the importance of harvest time in the development of functional foods and medicinal products containing ginseng berry extracts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the influence of harvest time on the biological activity and ginsenoside contents of ginseng berry extracts.

**Keywords:** ginseng berry; harvest time; ginsenoside; antioxidant activity; anti-elastase activity
