Aiming at the problems of difficult root-soil separate and low transportation efficiency in mechanized harvesting of Panax notoginseng in hilly and mountainous areas, experimental research on the operation mechanism and parameter optimization of the conveying and separating device of the Panax notoginseng harvester was conducted. Firstly, the dynamics model of Panax notoginseng root-soil composite during the process of transportation was established through theoretical analysis;secondly,high-speed photography was used to obtain the movement trajectory of the Panax notoginseng root-soil composite, and determine the operation mechanism of Panax notoginseng transportation, root-soil separation, and fibrous root fracture, etc. Meanwhile, based on EDEM-RecurDyn coupling, the joint simulation of the conveying and separation of Panax notoginseng root-soil composite was carried out, which verified the reliability of the conveying separation operation joint simulation model. The conveying and separation laws of Panax notoginseng root-soil composite was clarified, and the main operating parameters that affected the separation of Panax notoginseng root-soil were determined to be lifting speed, lifting inclination angle, vibration amplitude and vibration frequency. Finally, bench tests were conducted and Design-Expert software was used to analyze and find the optimal operating parameters. The results showed that when the optimal operation parameters were as follows: the lifting inclination angle was 21°, the vibration amplitude was 44mm, the lifting speed was 0.9m/s, and the vibration frequency was 1.6Hz, the conveying rate and the screening rate of Panax notoginseng were 93.60% and 92.64%, respectively, which met the requirements of the conveying and separation operation of the Panax notoginseng harvester.The research result can provide a theoretical basis and reference for the harvesting of rhizome crops in hilly and mountainous areas.