Geographical Origin Authentication of Wild Ginseng by Volatile and Non-Volatile Fingerprinting Across Growth Years

The chemical composition and perceived quality of wild ginseng (WG) are influenced by its geographical origin, yet clear chemical criteria for origin authentication remain lacking, and this problem is further complicated by the confounding effect of growth year. In this study, volatile and non-volatile fingerprints of 15- and 20-year-old WG from Huanren, Tonghua, and Ji’an (China) were characterized using HS-GC-IMS and HPLC. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models constructed separately for each growth-year group achieved complete origin separation of volatile fingerprints, with ten shared VIP markers identified. However, none maintained a consistent origin ranking across years, suggesting that the geographical signal may reside in the multivariate patterns. Ginsenoside profiling revealed a hierarchical candidate marker system: Rf, Rg1, Rc, Rb2 as robust candidate markers for Huanren, and Re as a 20-year-specific discriminator for Tonghua. The pervasive origin × growth year interaction observed across both volatile and non-volatile fractions indicates that growth-year-specific chemometric models are a necessity for reliable WG origin authentication. A practical two-step workflow—growth year determination followed by age-matched origin assignment—is proposed. These findings provide a scientific foundation for the geographical traceability and quality evaluation of WG.