High-yielding cultivation techniques of safflower

Safflower, alias grass safflower, red and blue flowers, etc. Flower for medicinal use, has the effect of promoting blood circulation and dredging menstruation, dispelling blood stasis and detumescence, and relieving pain. Clinical treatment of dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, uterine congestion, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, fall injury and other diseases. The oil content of safflower seed is 20,30%. The safflower oil processed with it is an important industrial raw material and health food. The main producing areas are *, Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Sichuan and other provinces and regions.

Morphological characteristics

The stem is erect, the upper part is branched, the base is lignified, and the surface is finely grooved. Leaves alternate, hard, nearly sessile and clasping; long elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, margin with irregular rounded cleft, apex of lobes with spikes, both sides smooth glabrous, dark green waxy; upper leaves gradually smaller and clasping, around the head. Inflorescences terminal, 2-4 cm in diam. Involucral bracts ovate or subhemispherical, involucral bracts multi-row, lateral 2-3 rows, leaflike lanceolate, upper margin with sharp thorns, inside several series of ovate, non-thorn margin membranous. Tubular flowers are mostly 20-150, orange-red or orange-yellow, about 2 cm long, fragrant, usually bisexual, Corolla tube finely linear, apex 5-lobed, stamens 5; ovary inferior, stigma bifid, with serrated thorns. Achenes oval in shape, whitish and glossy on the surface, sometimes grayish and 4-angled; pericarp hard, peeled with a seed, oval, seed coat very thin, grayish yellow, cotyledons 2, thick, yellowish white.

I. growth habits

Safflower prefers a warmer, drier climate. More resistant to drought, cold, afraid of high-temperature and humid climate. Afraid of waterlogging, like the sunny environment. The requirement of soil is not strict, and it is better to use loam with deep soil layer and loose and rich organic matter.

II. Land selection and land preparation

Select fields with topography and high drainage, and cultivate them carefully. Combined with soil preparation, apply sufficient basic fertilizer: 3000 kg of soil miscellaneous fertilizer, 20 kg of urea and 50 kg of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer per mu. Then make beds and wait for sowing.

Third, sowing seeds

Carthamus tinctorius is propagated by seeds, and the sowing time is autumn and spring. It is suitable for autumn sowing in the south and spring sowing in the north.

When sowing, sow the seeds evenly on the whole border surface (using wide and narrow rows), or sow the seeds on the whole border surface according to the row spacing of 40 × 15 cm, with 5 seeds in each hole. Watering to preserve soil moisture, in order to survive. The amount of seed used per mu is about 3 kg.

IV. Field management

After safflower seedlings, attention should be paid to ploughing and weeding. Attention should be paid to the prevention and control of diseases and insect pests during the flowering period. Safflower fruit flies are prevented by methamidophos. It is often watered in dry weather and drained in time in cloudy and rainy weather. When the seedling height was 10 cm, the seedlings were separated, the weak seedlings were removed and the strong seedlings were left with 2 strong seedlings in each hole. Topdressing once in bud: 5 kg of urea and 10 kg of potassium dihydrogen phosphate per mu.

Prevention and control of diseases and insect pests

Fusarium wilt is controlled by spraying with 50% carbendazim 400 times solution. Underground pests are trapped and killed with octane scales and poison bait.

VI. Harvest and processing

Safflower is usually picked between Lesser Fullness of Grain and Grain in Beard. When the safflower changes from yellow to red, it is harvested in batches. The picked safflower is placed on a bamboo mat, covered with a layer of newspaper, dried or dried, and then sold as medicine. The yield is 20 kilograms per mu. The safflower seeds are about 20 days after picking flowers, and after the upper stems and leaves are withered and yellow, cut off the aboveground part with a sickle, thresh the seeds and dry them in the sun. The yield is 150 kg per mu.