Detailed Explanation of the Intercropping Technique of Angelica dahurica and Vegetables

Angelica dahurica is a plant of the Apiaceae family, and its medicinal part is the root. It is one of China's 40 major commonly used traditional Chinese medicines, with functions such as dispelling wind and removing dampness, draining pus and promoting tissue regeneration, and activating blood circulation to relieve pain. Besides being used in medicinal prescriptions, Angelica dahurica is also a main raw material for Chinese patent medicines such as Shengui Zaizao Pills, Shangqing Pills, Mugua Pills, and Niuhuang Shangqing Pills. Angelica dahurica is often used as a spice, and many dietary seasoning factories purchase it in large quantities. At the same time, because of its rich fragrance, it is also used as an industrial raw material for extracting aromatic oil. In the foreign trade of traditional Chinese medicine, Angelica dahurica is exported to Japan, Southeast Asia and other places.

In recent years, due to the relatively low price of Angelica dahurica, the planting area has shrunk year by year, causing inventory to be consumed too quickly, resulting in a shortage of supply this year. In the past two years, the state has implemented subsidies for farmers growing grain to stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, and medicinal herb growers have gradually switched from growing medicinal herbs to growing grain. The area of medicinal herbs in the field is decreasing day by day, and Angelica dahurica is no exception. At present, large quantities of Angelica dahurica are in tight supply, and the market trend is rising.

Practice in recent years has proved that Angelica dahurica can not only be interplanted with 1- to 2-year-old peony, white peony, Pseudostellaria heterophylla, and Pinellia ternata, but can also be intercropped with vegetables, implementing medicinal herb-vegetable intercropping. This uses the biological characteristics of different crops to achieve full use of soil fertility and sunlight, follows the principle of complementary medicinal herbs and vegetables, resolves the contradiction of competing for land between growing medicinal herbs and vegetables, and increases the output value per unit area. The specific methods are:

Sowing Angelica dahurica

Angelica dahurica has strong adaptability, likes water and tolerates cold, likes continuous cropping, but is not drought-tolerant. The sowing periods are autumn sowing and spring sowing. Autumn sowing is from late August to early October, and spring sowing is from late March to early April. However, autumn sowing gives high yield and good quality. When the corn is about to be harvested, open furrows about 10 cm away from the corn plants to a depth of 2.5 cm, evenly broadcast the selected Angelica dahurica seeds in the furrows, cover with 1.5-2 cm of soil, and sow two rows of Angelica dahurica for each row of corn. Because its seeds are small and have thick seed coats, the emergence time is long. Shade provided by corn stalks helps maintain soil moisture. After the Angelica dahurica seedlings have all emerged, cut off the corn stalks with a sickle and pull them out of the field. It is also possible to fertilize and prepare the land after the corn harvest and then plant Angelica dahurica. After sowing with sufficient soil moisture, the soil surface needs to be covered with a thin layer of shade material such as wheat straw or wheat bran to maintain soil moisture. Before the new year, Angelica dahurica is in the seedling stage and generally does not need management, only one overwintering irrigation. After the new year, manage it according to normal practices.

Planting vegetables

Varieties such as large-leaf spinach, Siyue slow-growing rapeseed, and overwintering cabbage can be selected. When planting Angelica dahurica in corn rows, wide and narrow rows appear. In the wide rows (50-60 cm), apply fertilizer and prepare the land, applying 2500 kg of decomposed barnyard manure and 50 kg of superphosphate per mu, plowing 25 cm deep, and leveling and raking finely. From late September to mid-October, broadcast spinach or rapeseed, which can be marketed around the Spring Festival. Overwintering cabbage seedlings can also be raised in early October, transplanted in November, and marketed in April-May of the following year.

Experiments over several years have shown that in this way, the land utilization rate for planting vegetables per mu is 60%, and it can produce 1000 kg of spinach, 1500 kg of rapeseed, and 2000 kg of cabbage.

From this it can be seen that this medicinal herb-vegetable intercropping greatly increases the output value per unit area compared with planting a single variety, so it can be said that the benefit of medicinal herb-vegetable intercropping is doubled.