Key Technical Points for Standardized Cultivation and Management of Perilla

Perilla is a herb of the Lamiaceae family with strong adaptability, and it is grown in many provinces of China. The whole plant is used as medicine. It has the effects of dispelling cold and releasing the exterior, and regulating qi and relieving chest tightness.

The main value of perilla:

Perilla is commonly used as traditional Chinese medicine in China, while Japanese people mostly use it in cooking, especially when eating sashimi, where it is an indispensable accompaniment. In a few regions of China, it is also used as a vegetable or made into tea. Perilla leaf, also called Su Ye, has the functions of releasing the exterior and dispelling cold, and promoting qi and harmonizing the stomach, and is mainly used to treat wind-cold cold, cough, chest and abdominal distension, nausea and vomiting and other symptoms. The seed, also called Su Zi, has the functions of relieving cough, calming panting and eliminating phlegm. The whole perilla plant can be distilled to obtain perilla oil, and the oil produced from the seeds is also called perilla seed oil. Long-term consumption of perilla seed oil has a clear therapeutic effect on coronary heart disease and high blood lipids.

Perilla has a history of about 2000 years of cultivation in China. Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty once recorded: "When perilla is young it has leaves, and it is eaten with vegetables, or made into pickles with salt and plum brine, which is very fragrant; in summer it is made into a cooked soup and drunk". This shows that perilla is very common in the diet of Chinese people. Chinese people use perilla to cook various dishes, often with fish and crab. The dishes cooked include perilla dry-braised fish, perilla duck, perilla stir-fried river snails, perilla salt pancakes, perilla and lily stir-fried mutton, copper pot steamed suckling lamb with perilla, etc.

The leaves of the Korean perilla variety are larger, rounder and flatter than Japanese green perilla, and the serrations are finer and denser, with one side purplish red and one side green. Koreans use perilla to make kimchi, and canned perilla kimchi is basically sold in Korean grocery stores all over the world. In this kind of can, every two perilla leaves wrap one red chili pepper. Fresh perilla leaves can be used to make salad. Perilla seeds are used as a seasoning for meat foods, and are also used to make perilla sesame salt. Koreans are accustomed to pairing fresh perilla leaves or chili leaves when eating barbecue, and Koreans have started a craze for supplementing calcium with perilla leaves, because perilla leaves are rich in calcium.

Vietnamese people add perilla leaves to stews and boiled dishes, or place perilla leaves on Vietnamese noodles as a garnish. The perilla variety they use has leaves that are red with green on one side and purple on the other, and the aroma is stronger than that of Japanese perilla varieties.

Standardized Cultivation and Management Techniques for Perilla

1. Site selection and land preparation

It is best to choose loam soil with sufficient sunlight, convenient drainage and irrigation, and loose fertility for planting. Apply 2000-3000 kg of farmyard manure per mu as base fertilizer, plough, harrow finely and level, and make beds 80-100 cm wide.

2. Propagation methods

Use seed propagation, direct sowing or seedling transplanting.

1) Direct sowing: from late March to early and mid-April, open shallow furrows 0.5-1 cm deep on the prepared beds at a row spacing of 50-60 cm. For hole sowing, open holes at a hole spacing of 30 cm × 50 cm. When sowing, mix the seeds with fine sand, evenly scatter them into the furrows (holes), cover with thin soil, and press lightly. Use 1000 g of seeds per mu. Seedlings emerge 5-7 days after sowing.

2) Seedling transplanting: the method is the same as above. After the seedlings emerge, thin them when the seedlings are 5-6 cm high. When the seedlings are 15-20 cm high, choose a rainy day or afternoon and transplant them into the field at a plant and row spacing of 50 cm × 60 cm. Water 1-2 times promptly after planting, and they will survive.

3. Field management

1) Thinning and replanting: for drilling, when the seedlings are about 10 cm high, finalize the spacing at 30 cm; for hole sowing, keep 1-2 plants per hole. If there are missing plants, they should be replanted.

2) Cultivation and weeding: before the rows close, cultivation and weeding must be carried out frequently. If the soil becomes compacted after watering or rain, it should also be loosened in time.

3) Topdressing: when the seedlings are 60 cm high, apply 1500 kg of human and livestock manure per mu, together with 15 kg of urea, then earth up and water after application.

4) Drainage and irrigation: seedlings and the flowering stage need more water, and they should be watered in time during drought. Attention should be paid to drainage during the rainy season.

4. Pest and disease control: Septoria leaf spot

It begins in June and damages the leaves. Control method: in the early stage of the disease, dust with 70% zineb suspension powder; or spray with 1:1:200 Bordeaux mixture for control.

5. Harvesting and processing

The harvest period varies according to different uses. Generally, when the flower spikes have emerged 1.5-3 cm, the plant contains the most volatile oil. Therefore, when the inflorescence first appears in August-September, cut the whole plant as whole perilla. When the branches and leaves are luxuriant, pick the leaves and dry them in the shade to obtain perilla leaf. When the fruit is ripe, cut down the whole plant, dry it in the sun, and thresh out the fruit to obtain perilla seed; remove the side branches from the lower half of the stem to obtain perilla stem. This product can be picked at any time according to market demand and sold as a vegetable to increase economic income.

6. Seed-saving techniques: seed plants should be planted sparsely, preferably at a plant and row spacing of 50 cm × 80 cm. For seed plants, it is best to select robust plants with high yield and purple on both sides of the leaves. When the seeds are fully mature and grayish brown, harvest and thresh, dry in the sun, remove impurities, and store in a cool, dry place.