Cultivation techniques of Coix

Coix is an annual herb of Gramineae, the mature and dry seed of Coix, formerly known as Coix seed, alias Coix, Coix rice, began to contain "Shennong Materia Medica", listed as the top grade. In the past, it mainly produced Pucheng and Putian in Fujian Province, known as Pumiren. In recent years, Hebei Anguo, Fuping and Liaoning Fuyang, Zhuanghe and other places have also planted a large area, known as Qimiren and Guan Miren, are now cultivated in various provinces throughout the country.

Coix contains fatty oil, Coixine, sterol, amino acid, vitamin B1 and coixenolide, which can promote diuresis and dampness, help to clear heat and expel pus and treat muscle rheumatism, as well as invigorate the spleen and stop diarrhea. Taste sweet cold, into the spleen, stomach and lung meridian. The main treatment of edema beriberi, less diarrhea, damp arthralgia contracture, lung carbuncle, intestinal carbuncle; as an adjuvant, it can be used for diuresis and anti-inflammation, dehumidification and pain, invigorating the spleen and stopping diarrhea.

Growing environment

Coix prefers warm and humid climate, and can be cultivated on flat or sloping land below 1200 meters above sea level, especially in sunny places where it is easy to irrigate. In the heading and flowering stage, the most afraid of drought, not only less fruit and more empty shell, the grain is not full. The clay loam with rich moisture, neutral or slightly acidic and good water retention is the most suitable, while the dry and barren sand is disadvantageous to the growth of the soil with poor water conservation and fertility, and grows luxuriantly in the loose and fertile sandy soil. but it is often easy to lodge in summer and autumn, and it is easy to make the stems and leaves steep and long, but not fruiting much. It is not suitable for continuous cropping, and it is not easy to take the crop as the previous crop. Cultivation in paddy fields can increase production.

Cultivation method

1. Land preparation

After the previous harvest, timely soil preparation, the first deep ploughing, about 30 cm deep, deep ploughing with compost or miscellaneous fertilizer, about 2000 kg per mu, turn again before sowing in spring, rake fine leveling, to make a 1-3 meter wide bed. Such as planting on the hillside, generally do not make beds, but to open a good drainage ditch and Lan Shan Weir, to prevent Rain Water erosion in the rainy season.

2. Sowing seeds

Seed treatment. Smut is the main disease of Coix. In order to prevent the harm, the seeds must be treated before sowing. There are three common methods: soaking the seeds in boiling water for one night with ① boiling water, loading them in a bamboo dustpan, dragging them in boiling water and stirring quickly so that the seeds are all scalded. The time of entering the water is about 5-8 seconds, spread out immediately, dry the water vapor and sow the seeds. Each treatment of seeds should not be too much, in order to avoid some seeds can not be scalded, scalding time should not be more than 10 seconds, in case the seeds are scalded to death can not germinate. Soak the seeds with ② quicklime: soak the seeds in warm water of 60-65 ℃ for 10-15 minutes, wrap the seeds with cloth, soak them in 5% quicklime water for 24-48 hours, rinse the seeds with clean water and sow them. The seeds of ③ were soaked in Bordeaux solution of 1RV and 1RV for 24m48 hours and then sowed. In order to avoid the lack of seedlings caused by birds pecking after sowing, the seeds can be mixed with poison bait before sowing.

Sowing time. Mostly in the Spring Equinox (mid-late March), higher altitude areas are mostly during the Qingming Festival to Grain Rain (early and mid-April), where there is summer drought, sow as early as possible. If it is too late and germinates quickly, the yield will be seriously reduced due to the summer drought.

Sowing method. Usually used to use on-demand, hole distance of 30 centimeters, hole depth of about 6 centimeters, 6 seeds per hole, 4 kilograms per mu. After sowing, 300 kilograms of fire ash mixed with human and animal feces and urine was placed in the cave, and the soil was covered with the ground.

Field management

1. The seedlings were fixed. The seedlings have 3-4 true leaves and 4-5 seedlings per hole, which can be produced in a large area. If the seed dosage can be grasped and the whole seedling can be guaranteed, there is no need for interseedling.

2. Ploughing and weeding. It's usually done three times. The first time to combine the seedlings; the second time when the seedling height is about 30 cm, a shallow hoe, especially not to hurt the roots; the third time, before the seedling height is 50 cm and the plant has not been sealed, be careful not to break the seedling stem and cultivate the soil at the right time to avoid lodging in the later stage.

3. Fertilization. In the early stage of growth, the seedling should be raised, nitrogen fertilizer should be applied emphatically, and in the later stage, more phosphorus and potassium fertilizer should be applied to promote stem booting. When weeding in the first intertillage, 1000 kilograms of human and animal feces or 10 kilograms of ammonium sulfate were applied per mu; before weeding in the second intertillage, 100 kilograms of human feces and urine were mixed with fire ash and applied at 10 centimeters away from the plant, and the soil was covered when ploughing; for the third time, 1% 3% calcium superphosphate solution was sprayed outside the roots before flowering, and the dosage of superphosphate was controlled at 7 and 5 kilograms per mu.

4. Watering. In case of spring drought after sowing, Coix should be irrigated in time for its germination. Jointing, booting and flowering stage, such as long sunny without rain, but also irrigation, in case of insufficient soil moisture, fruit dissatisfaction, the emergence of empty shell. Attention should also be paid to eliminating stagnant water in the rainy season.

5. Artificial pollination. Coix is a wind-pollinated flower, and there are few male flowers. Under the condition of no wind, the female flowers are easy to produce blighted grains if not all pollinated. The rope can be dragged across the top of the stem by two people to shake the plant and spread the pollen to the female flower once every 3-5 days until the end of the flower.

6. Select superior species. In order to prevent or delay the hybrid and degradation of varieties and the spread of smut, the breeding of superior varieties is the basis to ensure high yield. Coix lacryma has two varieties: tall and dwarf, with plant height of 0, 7 and 3 meters, more tillers, shorter flowering period, dense fruiting, early maturity and high yield, so it is suitable to be used as seed, especially in areas with low altitude and frequent summer drought. Before harvest, a single plant with short plant type, strong growth, large spike and no disease was selected in the field, harvested separately, dried and stored as seeds. You can also choose a certain area to meet the plant selection criteria for single harvesting and retention of species. For large-scale planting areas, seed fields specially for breeding improved varieties should be established. According to the requirements of retaining seeds and selecting superior varieties, the seeds selected from plants should be sown in the seed fields next year, and the seeds harvested in the seed fields should be sown in the field next year.

Pest control

1. Disease

① smut. Also known as powdery mildew, it mainly harms the ear, which is attached by infected seeds and reaches the ear with the growth of the plant, so that the newly fruiting seeds are swollen into spherical or oblate brown tumor, and a large number of powdery mildew (that is, pathogen spores) are withdrawn after rupture. Continue to infect. When the harm is serious, the morbidity rate can reach more than 90%, even the particles are not collected. Control methods: pay attention to seed selection and seed disinfection treatment; adhere to seed selection of single plant in the field for half a year, and build disease-free good seed land if possible; in view of the strong fertility absorption of Coix and serious smut, rotation should be carried out and continuous cropping should be avoided. legumes, cotton, potatoes and so on should be used in the previous crops.

② leaf blight. Damage to the leaves, showing a yellowish small disease spot, the leaves yellow and withered. The initial stage of the disease was sprayed with 100 Bordeaux solution or 65% wettable zinc 500-fold solution.

2. Insect pests

The main pests are armyworm and corn borer. Armyworm larvae harm leaves, bite into irregular notches, but also harm young stems and ears, when large occurrence of leaves can be eaten up. Treatment methods: spray 50% dichlorvos 800 times in the larval stage, trap with sweet and sour venom in the adult stage; in order to fundamentally eliminate the armyworm, dig the soil to kill the pupa. The first and second instar larvae of Ostrinia furnacalis drilled into the heart leaves of the seedlings to eat the mesophyll or veins; at heading stage, the second and third instar larvae drilled into the stem, ate into withered hearts or white ears, and broke and sagged in the wind. Control methods: burn the stalks of corn and barley in early spring to kill the overwintering larvae; kill them by black light at night in May and August; irrigate the heart leaves with 200 times of the powder when the heart leaves are unfolded; and plant banana lotus roots around the land.

Harvest and processing

1. Harvest. The harvest time varies with different varieties and regions. Early-maturing species Lesser Heat to the Beginning of Autumn (July to early August), medium-maturing species the End of Heat to White Dew (late August to mid-September), late-maturing species Frosts Descent to the Beginning of Winter (late October to mid-November); the south is generally in White Dew (early and mid-September), and the north is generally in Cold Dew (early October). 80% fruit maturity is the suitable harvest time, not too late to avoid mature seeds shedding and reducing production. When harvesting, choose to cut the whole plant or only the upper part of the stem on a sunny day, threshing with a threshing machine or drying after threshing.

2. Processing. After threshing, dry in the sun, lift or wind to remove impurities, grind off the shell and seed coat with a rice grinder, sift or wind, and then become a commercial medicinal material.

3. Quality identification. Coix is oval, oval, slightly flat at the base and obtusely round at the top. The surface is milky white and smooth. Often a small amount of light brown seed coat remains, the base is concave, the central navel is punctuated, there is ventral groove on the side, light brown in the groove, the endosperm is large, white and powdery, the scutellum is narrow and long, yellowish, the embryo is slender, located on one side of the groin, the upper end is the radicle and the lower end is the germ. The seed kernel is kidney-shaped, hard in quality and sweet in taste. It is better to have large grains, white, complete, no broken grains and no powder impurities.

4. Storage and storage. Coix is prone to moth and mildew during storage, so it should be stored in a ventilated, cool and dry place, dried and baked regularly.