How to cultivate Thai immortal grass? Cultivation methods and management of Thailand immortal grass

Organic cultivation and management of Thailand immortal grass

Plant character

Fairy grass (Mesona procumbent Hemsl.) is one of the Labiatae or perennial outcrossing crops. There are three plant types: erect, semi-erect and creeping. The leaves are oval, oval and long-oval, the leaf margin is toothed, the leaf color is yellow-green, light green and dark green, the stem type is green, light purplish red and deep purplish red, the whole plant is colorless tomentose, and the stem is up to 2 meters long. The vegetative growth period is about 140d to 180d. The flower spike is white or purplish red, tetradynamous stamens, chromosome 2n=32, flowering from September to February of the following year.

Climate and soil suitability

Fairy grass is a long-day crop, which has poor growth, thinning leaves and low content of important components when the sunshine is insufficient, but it prefers mild climate in the later growth stage, and generally suitable temperature is between 20-25 ℃, all can grow well. Sandy loam or rotten loam with lax soil quality, good drainage and convenient irrigation is the most suitable.

Producing area distribution

Taiwan's native immortal grass is distributed in the foothills of Taiwan. The early ancestors used its stems and leaves to cook tea as a snack in summer. In recent years, merchants or food circles have made use of their development of a wide variety of health drinks and foods, which have been popular with consumers, so farmers have carried out large-scale cultivation in a wide range of areas, including Guanxi Town, Hsinchu County, Sanyi Township, Sanyi Township, Shitan Township, and Causeway Township in Miaoli County. Zhongzhuang, Niuchongpu, Fanlu Township, Zhuqi Township and Zhongpu Township in Chiayi County, market town in Nantou County in central China and Ji'an Township in Hualien County and Luodong in the east. According to a survey of major producing areas of agriculture and animal husbandry in Taiwan, the acreage was 185 hectares in 1997 and 155 hectares in 1998.

The characteristics of the main varieties

The early folk varieties of fairy grass were collected from the native species near the foothills and domesticated for many years. Therefore, the varieties planted in different regions have the characteristics of adapting to the local environment. The northern Kansai region uses the method of asexual reproduction to plant deep creeping varieties (73-K-4), which is more suitable for cultivation in the temperate climate areas of the north. When planted in the hotter areas of the south, the later growth is poor, and the leaves are easy to turn brown and fall off. The average dry plant yield per hectare is about 6000 kg. Upright species (83-S-7) are widely cultivated in southern aquatic rural areas, and seeds are sown and retransplanted. However, due to long-term natural hybridization, the germplasm varies greatly, resulting in unstable yield and quality, and the vegetative growth period is short (about 140days). The harvest period is often in the rainy season, and the harvest and drying operations are very difficult. A brief description of the characteristics of the varieties cultivated in each region is shown in the following table:

The new variety Nongshi No. 1 was named in 88. It has many excellent characteristics: 1. The dry plant yield and dry leaf yield reached 9000 kg and more than 3000 kg per hectare. Moderate creeping, harvest time is labor-saving, 3. The gel strength of leaves is high, 4. Persistent root cultivation and strong regeneration ability, 5. The survival rate of cuttings is high, 6. The harvest period is from the end of September to the middle of October, which can avoid the rainy season and facilitate harvesting and drying operations.

Content of main components in Herba Euphorbia

The average contents of potassium in stem and leaf were 3805 mg, 2571 mg, 794 mg, 594 mg, 554 mg, 252 mg, 255 mg, 136 mg per hundred grams of dry matter in leaf, stem, calcium, leaf, stem, stem and stem respectively.

The contents of crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, nitrogen-free extract (NFE) and ash in stem and leaf were 3.87%, 13.85%, 2.26%, 9.32%, 41.95%, 15.73%, 43.66% and 43.95%, respectively. Nitrogen-free extract contains a large amount of polysaccharides, which is related to the gel strength, which is an indicator of the freezing amount of immortalis made by general processors, but the composition of nitrogen-free extract in stem seems to be different from that in leaves, so the gel strength of stem is very low. according to Lu Zhengyi et al., the gel net is mainly composed of Fraction C in polysaccharides, while the aroma of fairy grass is mainly contained in the stem.

The nitrogen-free extracts obtained by general composition analysis contain free sugars, such as monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides (oligo-saccharide), polysaccharides (polysaccharide) such as starch, fructose (fructosan), xylan (xylan), mannan (mannan), etc., as well as pectin (pectin), plant gum (gum), pigments, sticky substances, acids, sugars and many other components with different properties. The most important of these are, of course, carbohydrates, commonly known as sugars, which include free sugars, sugar alcohols and polysaccharides. The content of polysaccharides, such as Nongshi 1, was 17.7%.

The function of immortal grass juice

According to the fourth record of the outline, immortal grass is called cool powder grass, which can treat nephritis, hypertension and willow disease, but this has not been confirmed by scientific data. Professor Yan Guoqin of ZTE University has a detailed report on the function of fairy grass. He pointed out that the human body produces reactive oxygen species and free radicals in the normal process of metabolism, and free radicals play an important role in the development of many human diseases. In other words, oxidative damage (oxidative damage) caused by free radicals has a considerable impact on human health.

There is an instinctive defense mechanism for scavenging reactive oxygen species or free radicals in the human body, but in the daily consumption of foreign food, some foods tend to reduce or destroy the function of these defense mechanisms, therefore, try to take some aqueous solution and fat-soluble antioxidants are the most popular health care methods at present. Xiancao tea only has the effect of scavenging superoxide anions, especially the new variety Nongshi No. 1 has a scavenging effect of 91.5%, which is higher than that of other species (Table 2).

The current problems of production and marketing

Because of inappropriate cultivation methods, domestic immortal grass can obtain high yield by relying on a large amount of chemical fertilizer, but due to the effect of high nitrogen, the gel strength of leaves can not be improved, the price of the product is low, and the income of farmers is reduced. as a result, the cultivation willingness of farmers decreased, resulting in a decrease in planting area year by year. After the domestic industry has engaged in the development of diversified products, it has been loved by the broad masses of consumers, resulting in an increasing demand for fairy grass and hay, resulting in an imbalance between supply and demand in the market. in order to be self-sufficient, businessmen have imported large quantities from the mainland and Indonesia one after another. unintentionally hit the domestic fairy grass industry.

Organic farming is a farming method in which crop production is carried out with little or no use of chemical synthetic fertilizers and chemical fertilizers. Immortal grass has the characteristics of resistance to diseases and insect pests, making it easier to be cultivated organically, and the products produced, such as organic tea or organic immortal grass jelly, can also provide consumers with another choice. Agricultural products also seem to be another business opportunity for cultivation. The past experimental results of the Agricultural Test Institute showed that the organic cultivation of fairy grass with chicken manure compost completely replaced the application of chemical fertilizer, which could improve the gel strength of fairy grass. The results of the experiment in Chiayi aquatic test area showed that the average dry plant yield of immortal grass in the organic area could still reach 8726 kg per hectare, and the gel strength was more than twice that of the chemical fertilizer area (108.3 g/cm2:49.4 g/cm2).

Cultivation and management methods

1.

Raising seedlings:

By using the method of defending and inserting, the stem of stronger immortal grass can be selected in Honda in August and planted in a pre-prepared nursery, the flower ears will be cut off in November-December, appropriate amount of organic fertilizer and appropriate irrigation will be applied in mid-tillage, and when the new branches will germinate again in February-March of the following year, the seedlings will be dug up for use as seeds and moved directly to Honda. In addition, when cutting the ratoon seedlings directly in Honda, the soil next to the mother plant should be hoed from January to February, and appropriate organic fertilizer and irrigation should be applied to make the mother plant sprout healthy branches as cuttings. The planting period should be carried out after the middle of February, and the cuttings should be planted in a pot and transplanted to Honda after the hairy roots survive. This method can ensure that the good germplasm of the variety is not easy to mutate.

two。

Selected location:

Continuous cropping of immortal grass should be avoided, and organic rice should be selected for cultivation, or soil that has been fallow for more than half a year and has been soaked for more than six months is better. If planted in dry land for many years, fairy grass is prone to suspected wilt, and diseased plants that do not occur usually grow poorly, so planting in continuous dry cultivation should be avoided as far as possible.

3.

Land preparation:

The former aims at deep ploughing, burying and loosening the former crop residues. At this time, chicken manure can be mixed and buried or applied in the border and ditch. The application rate is 9000 kg; per hectare. The soil fertility can be moderately increased or decreased. The nitrogen demand of immortal grass per hectare is 130kg-180kg, and the nitrogen content of chicken manure can be multiplied by 1.5times (considering the mineralization rate of organic fertilizer). The latter is to crush the soil to facilitate bedding and planting. The rough soil preparation should be carried out one month before Honda planting, while the fine soil preparation should be carried out 7 days before planting, and the soil should be moistened and irrigated immediately after soil preparation, and the remaining water should be drained.

4.

Row-plant spacing:

The row spacing is 1.4m, the plant spacing can be 60 or 90 cm, that is, the width of the border is 1.4m, and then dig holes on the border according to the selected plant spacing, planting 8000-11900 plants per hectare.

5.

Planting period:

According to the results of cutting period experiment, it is found that the survival rate of immortal grass seedlings is higher in this province from mid-February to mid-March. Therefore, the most suitable planting period is from mid-March to mid-April, and the vegetative growth period is about 180 days, which is enough to make fairy grass have the potential of high yield.

6.

Ploughing, weeding and soil cultivation:

From 30 to 90 days after planting, middle ploughing should be carried out between borders and ditches, on the one hand, weeding should be carried out, on the other hand, soil should be loosened and placed on the border, so as to facilitate irrigation and drainage, and promote the development of fairy grass roots.

7.

Irrigation:

The period from April to June in Taiwan is a dry season. During this period, when the plants are set in the early growth stage, appropriate amount of water is needed to help survive and grow. Therefore, in addition to irrigation immediately after transplanting, irrigation should be timely during the growth period. July to August is usually the rainy season, torrential rain will make the border ditch stagnant water, at this time should pay attention to drainage lest immortal grass leaves rot due to flooding, but less rain time after September, should be irrigated 1-2 times.

8.

. Occurrence of diseases and insect pests:

There are few diseases and insect pests during the whole growth period of fairy grass, so most farmers do not spray pesticides, but when they choose dry land for many years, fairy grass often wither in the middle stage of growth, and no pathogen is found after isolation of diseased plants. as for the insect phase, there are crickets in the early growth stage, golden flower insects and floating dust in the middle and later stages, but they are not serious.

9.

Harvest:

The suitable harvest time is when the terminal and axillary buds of the plant grow out of flower buds, and the harvest time in Taiwan is different, generally from the end of August to the beginning of September (erect species) in the south and before the middle of October in the north (creeping species). The new varieties were harvested from the end of September to the beginning of October. At harvest, the adventitious roots were cut off with a sickle, and then the whole plant was turned over and exposed to the sun on the border. After seven to eight points of drying (less brittle break), the adventitious roots were bound into small bundles and piled up in the storeroom.

10.

Storage:

Fairy hay can usually improve the gel strength and aroma of fairy grass after a period of storage. therefore, traders prefer to buy stored fairy grass, but mildew cannot occur. The storage place should be dry and ventilated, and the bottom should be high and covered with black plastic cloth on fairy hay to prevent damp deterioration.

Conclusion

Immortal grass is commonly known as cool grass or field grass, made into beverage or immortal grass jelly is what the general market called Herb juice or field grass ice. With the growth of rural areas, it also gives joy to farmers. In recent years, driven by the diversification of commodities in the food industry, the research and development of dissolving immortal grass powder, adding hot water and some peanuts, powders and red beans, the commodity is called roasted immortal grass, which is loved by younger consumers. Fairy grass products are no longer limited to summer demand, it can be said that consumers need it all year round.

Domestic fairy grass has sufficient aroma, which can not be compared with imported products. it is a special crop with great competitiveness and development potential among traditional local crops at present. after the emergence of diversified product research and development, domestic demand is increasing day by day. in addition, the cultivation and management of fairy grass is extensive, and there is no need to spray to control diseases and insect pests during the growth period. if it can be rotated with organic rice, it can not only improve the yield and quality of fairy grass itself. In soil management, it can also improve the physical and chemical properties and reduce pollution.