Abstract: In order to optimize the fresh processing technology of Cyathulae Radix slices, and verify its feasibility,the orthogonal experimental design was used to investigate the effects of initial drying temperature, initial drying degree, perspiration time and redrying temperature on the quality and drying time of Cyathulae Radix slices. The feasibility of the process was verified by quality evaluation and metabolome analysis. The results showed that the four factors all had significant or extremely significant effects on drying time and extract content; the initial drying temperature had significant effects on the content of cyasterone and precyasterone; the redrying temperature had significant effects on the content of precyasterone. The best process of fresh processing on origin of Cyathulae Radix slices was as follows： After the fresh product was cut into a single branch, it was initially dried at 50 ℃ to the water content of 41.2%, then sweated for 15~30 h, sliced, and then dried at 70 ℃ until the water content was not higher than 12.0%. The quality of the slices produced by fresh processing on origin was better than that of the slices available in the market（SSP） and the slices produced by traditional methods（CTP）. The chemical composition of the slices produced by fresh processing and the slices produced by traditional methods was very similar. Compared with CTP, among the 36 different metabolites, the contents of 7 flavonoids and 5 saponins were up-regulated in CXP. The contents of 20 flavonoids, 2 saponins and 2 steroids were down-regulated. Therefore, it was feasible to replace the traditional method with fresh processing on origin of Cyathulae Radix slices.

Key words: Cyathulae Radix slices, fresh processing on origin, quality, metabolome, feasibility