High-yield cultivation techniques of Coix seed

Coix seed alias jade pearl, six millet, medicine corn, gramineae annual herbal medicinal plants, with nuts into medicine, with heat, diuresis, dampness, pus, lung, spleen and stomach, strong bones, lower blood pressure and other effects, and has a good anti-cancer effect. Coix seed is not only a kind of nourishing traditional Chinese medicine for both medicine and food, but also a common raw material for making summer cool drinks by health care products manufacturers. In recent years, not only the domestic market demand has increased, but also exports to Japan, South Korea and other places. Coix is one of the short, flat and fast varieties of medicinal materials, which can be planted in all parts of China. The main points of its high-yield cultivation are as follows.

I. Selection of improved varieties

Coix seed varieties are divided into early maturity, medium maturity and late maturity, among which "thin shell red coat" is a medium maturity hybrid seed selected in recent years. Its characteristics are: oval fruit, light brown surface, light red or light white inner seed coat, thin seed shell, rice yield up to 65%, strong stem, strong lodging resistance, high yield and consistent maturity. This variety is the best choice for planting.

II. Land selection and preparation

Coix seed has strong adaptability, lax requirements for soil, likes moisture, saline-alkali tolerance and barren soil. Traditional land selection to sunny, deep soil gentle slope, mountainous and peaceful planting is better, avoid ponding. When preparing the soil, first apply 1500 kg of farm manure and 50 kg of calcium superphosphate per mu, then plough, rake fine and level, and open drainage ditches around for sowing.

III. Seed treatment before sowing

To prevent smut, seeds should be disinfected before sowing. The seeds are put into a cloth bag, soaked in warm water at 30 - 40 DEG C for 10 - 15 minutes, taken out and immersed in 2% lime water for 24 hours, or soaked in Bordeaux mixture of 1∶1∶100 for 24 hours. After taking out, wash it with clean water immediately, and sow it. In addition, 50% carbendazim or 50% thiophanate-methyl and other pesticides can also be used when sowing, according to 0.4%~0.5% of the total seed amount for seed dressing, the disease control effect is good.

IV. Sowing

Coix seed can be planted in spring and summer, but it should not exceed the end of June at the latest. Sowing methods are divided into drilling and hole sowing. Drilling: in the whole ground according to row spacing 35~40 cm deep 3~4 cm shallow ditch, the seeds evenly scattered into the ditch, covered with fine soil or soil manure, to cover the seeds for the degree. Hole sowing: digging holes on the ground according to row spacing of 40~45 cm and plant spacing of 15~20 cm, hole depth of 5~6 cm, sowing 3~4 seeds in each hole, and then covering the hole surface with soil. The sowing amount per mu is 3~4 kg.

V. Field management

1. When seedlings grow 2~3 true leaves, combine weeding to pull out dense seedlings and weak seedlings, so as to keep the plant spacing of drilling seedlings at 5~7 cm; when seedlings grow 5~6 true leaves, fix seedlings and keep the plant spacing at 10~15 cm. If there is a shortage of seedlings, they should be replenished in time.

2. Intertillage weeding is carried out once when intertillage is carried out to remove apples and thin seedlings, and once again when seedlings are fixed; and later, topdressing is carried out according to soil hardening and weed breeding conditions. Annual or perennial broadleaf weeds can be controlled by stem and leaf treatment with benzoic acid herbicides such as dicamba during the growing period.

3. Topdressing is generally applied 2 to 3 times during growth. The first topdressing is carried out when the seedling height is 4~7 cm, and 5~10 kg ammonium sulfate or 1000 kg decomposed human and livestock manure is applied per mu to promote the seedling growth, early tillering and more tillering; the second topdressing should be carried out according to the seedling condition and soil fertility, generally in the early stage of jointing and the 11~12 leaf stage of the main stem, and 10~15 kg ammonium sulfate or 1500 kg decomposed human and livestock manure is applied per mu to promote the strong growth of the plant, which is beneficial to booting; For the third topdressing, according to the seedling condition and soil fertility, topdressing fertilizer should be applied, urea 3~5 kg per mu or 0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution should be sprayed on the leaves to promote full seeds and improve quality and yield.

4. After jointing, the old leaves and ineffective tillers below the first branch are picked off, which is beneficial to ventilation and light transmission, promotes stem thickening, and also has certain effect on preventing lodging.

5. Artificial pollination of coix flowers is unisexual. Although the flowers are of the same plant and pollinated by wind, the female flowers cannot be pollinated completely when the wind is not strong or when the wind is not strong at flowering stage, and empty grains will be formed. In full bloom, the method of shaking stem artificially to make pollen fly can improve seed setting rate and increase yield.

VI. Pest Control

1. Smut damages ears, and a large amount of black-brown powder is emitted after the damaged seeds are broken. The control methods are as follows: ① soaking seeds for disinfection before sowing;② pulling out diseased plants immediately, burning and burying them deeply;③ disinfecting diseased holes with 5% lime milk.

2. The leaf blight damages the leaves, and pale yellow spots appear on the leaves after occurrence. The control methods are as follows: ① Spray 1∶1∶100 Bordeaux mixture at the initial stage of the disease, once every 7 days, continuously spray 2~3 times;② Remove the leaves in time and keep the field ventilated and transparent.

3. The armyworm bites the leaves with larvae. The control method: spray 90% trichlorfon 800~1000 times solution.

VII. Harvesting and processing

Coix seeds are harvested about 5 months after sowing. When the stems and leaves turn yellow and 80% of the fruits are light brown and mature, the stems are cut off, threshed by a threshing machine, dried in the sun, impurities removed, empty shells removed, screened, and then crushed by a rice mill, screened and dried to obtain commodities.