Cultivation Techniques of Gorgon seed

Euryale seed, also known as red lotus seed, is an annual aquatic herb, which is used as both medicine and food. It is used as medicine. It has the effects of tonifying kidney and astringent essence, tonifying spleen and stopping diarrhea, calming nerves, etc., and mainly treats diabetes, spleen deficiency and edema. Kernel contains a large number of starch, protein, fatty oil, vitamin C and calcium, iron, phosphorus and other trace elements, nutrition is very rich, can be made into dietotherapy and health products. Due to the decrease of wild resources year by year and the shortage of listed commodities, there is a gap between supply and demand in the market in recent years, the price is rising, and the future is promising. Therefore, there are broad prospects for artificial planting of Euryale seeds, and qualified pharmaceutical farmers can develop production according to local conditions. Euryale is mainly produced in Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou, Sichuan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei and northeast provinces. The artificial cultivation techniques are introduced as follows:

Euryale prefers a warm climate and an aquatic environment with plenty of light. It is appropriate to choose fields with reliable water sources, ponds, ditches, marshes and lakesides for planting, and loose, medium-fertile slime is better for underwater soil. Sandy streams and cold water ponds with excessive acidity should not be planted.

Sowing (1) seed direct seeding: can be divided into spring sowing and autumn sowing. Spring sowing in March to April, autumn sowing in September to October, it is better to sow fresh seeds in autumn. When sowing, if the soil is slightly dry, the seeds can be sowed directly in the soil; if there is much water in the pond, the seeds can not be sown evenly, they can be kneaded into small soil clumps with moist soil, and each mass is mixed with 2-3 seeds, and then sowed into the water according to the row spacing of 120 × 150cm, and the seeds sink to the bottom with the soil masses, and they can emerge and grow. (2) Bud transplanting: where Euryale seeds were planted in the first year, they can not be sown in the second year. However, because the fruit will split naturally after ripening, some seeds are scattered in the pond, and they can sprout and grow in the next year, and can be transplanted when the leaves surface and the diameter is in 15~20cm.

Management (1) uniform seedling: after the seedling surfaced, if the density is uneven, the seedling should be evenly distributed properly, and the overdense seedling should be transplanted to the place where the seedling is missing. When moving the seedlings, clamp the roots with your feet and press them into the mud. Do not break the tender stems. Combined with uniform seedlings to remove weeds from the pond, it is beneficial to the growth of Euryale seedlings. (2) regulating the amount of water: the key to the high yield of Euryale is to adjust the water level timely. According to production experience, the principle of water diversion is "shallow spring, deep summer, autumn release, and winter storage". The water is shallow in spring and can be exposed to sunlight, which can increase the temperature of the cluster, which is beneficial to the growth of seedlings; the deep water in summer can lengthen the petiole enough; proper water release in autumn can promote fruit ripening; water storage in winter can make the seeds survive the winter safely at the bottom of the water. In order to improve the economic benefit, fish can be cultured in the ponds of Euryale seeds at the same time, but fish species that are not harmful to Euryale seeds, such as silver carp and bighead carp, must be selected. The fish feed and fish excrement put into the pond can be used as fertilizer for Euryale seeds, and there is no need to apply fertilizer separately. (3) Prevention of diseases and pests: the leaves were damaged by aphids from May to June, causing them to turn yellow and curl up, and in serious cases, the whole plant withered. The control method can be killed by spraying leaves with 40% dimethoate EC 800-1500 times.

Harvest and process spring seeds in the same year and autumn seeds in the following year. Generally from September to October, when the pericarp is reddish brown, it can be harvested in batches. After the fruit is harvested, hammer the prickly pericarp with sticks and other things, take out the seeds, remove the hard shell, and dry. The fruit can also be stacked on the ground, after the peel is rotten, wash and dry, then remove the shell and dry the Euryale seeds. Generally, dry seeds yield 120~150kg per mu, and the kernel yield of dry seeds is about 70%. The quality is better for those with no shell, no broken grains, big and full grains and fresh color.