How much does a jin of milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus) seeds of the Fabaceae family cost? Sowing and harvest time and edible benefits

Milk vetch, also known as qiaoyao, red flower grass, caoze, etc., is distributed across the provinces of the Yangtze River basin in China. It is widely cultivated throughout China. So how much does a jin of its seeds cost? When should it be sown and harvested? Is it edible? What are its benefits and effects? From the nursery base in Suqian we learned that the price of milk vetch seeds is around 40—45 yuan per jin; prices vary with different batches, specifications and places of origin. The sowing rate is 6--8 jin per mu.

When is milk vetch sown and harvested?

Sowing:

The best time to sow milk vetch seeds is from March to May each year and around September; seeds sown at these two times have the highest germination rate and grow best.

To improve the germination rate of milk vetch seeds you can:

1. Select top-quality, plump milk vetch seeds.

2. Choose land with plenty of sunlight and fertile soil for sowing [apply more fertilizer on poor soil]

3. Prepare the land in advance, remove weeds, fertilize and water. [note the order]

4. Keep the sowing depth at about 1~2 cm.

Harvest:

1. The pods of milk vetch are linear-oblong, and the seeds are kidney-shaped and chestnut brown; it flowers from February to June and fruits from March to July. Milk vetch has a long flowering period and its seeds ripen unevenly, and the pods are easy to shatter after ripening; therefore, grasping the harvest time is an important part of achieving a high yield of milk vetch seeds.

2. Because after the seeds ripen (meaning the pods turn black) the weather in the later period is mostly cloudy and rainy, with little sunshine and lower temperatures, the pods turn black slowly and stem rot and seed shattering are fairly serious; therefore, in seed-production fields, harvest usually begins on a sunny day once the black-pod rate reaches about 50%, striving to finish harvesting before the black-pod rate reaches 80%.

3. Harvest on a sunny day while the dew has not yet dried. Harvesting on a sunny day makes drying and threshing easier and can prevent the seeds from molding.

Is milk vetch edible?

Milk vetch comes in two kinds: non-toxic and toxic. Tender, non-toxic milk vetch is edible and can be stir-fried plain or made into soup; the cooking method is the same as for pumpkin shoots and pea shoots. Toxic milk vetch can poison all kinds of livestock, with horses being more commonly affected. Local livestock generally have the ability to tell them apart, but when they are too hungry they may eat it. Eating a large amount can cause acute poisoning; eating a small amount over a long period can cause chronic poisoning. The whole plant of toxic milk vetch is poisonous, and the toxicity is not lost after drying in the sun.

What are the benefits and effects of milk vetch?

1. The ecological value of milk vetch

Milk vetch is an important green manure crop; it has strong nitrogen-fixing ability and high use efficiency, so when the plants decompose they can greatly release soil nitrogen, and in this way it plays an important role in maintaining the nitrogen cycle in farmland ecosystems.

2. The edible value of milk vetch

Milk vetch is one of China's main nectar plants, with a naturally fresh fragrance, bright and sweet. Milk vetch honey is made from nectar collected by bees from milk vetch flowers and then concentrated under vacuum at low temperature, which preserves the nutrition and activity of the honey; it is pure natural, sweet and nutritious. In addition, milk vetch has auxiliary therapeutic effects on improving eyesight and reducing swelling, dispelling wind and promoting urination, and sore throat and cough, and is beneficial for improving anorexia, and for improving listlessness and weak qi and blood; it is an excellent health product.

3. The medicinal value of milk vetch

Milk vetch can be used as medicine, for symptoms such as sore throat and cough, and herpes bleeding; its main effects are clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting urination and reducing swelling, activating blood and improving eyesight, and its medicinal value is extremely high.

4. The livestock value of milk vetch

Besides being a green manure crop, milk vetch is also a livestock feed with good palatability; all kinds of livestock like to eat it, and it is rich in nutrients. As a high-quality feed and protein supplement feed, milk vetch has excellent results. In addition, milk vetch can also serve both as green manure and as forage grass, with a very high usable rate, so its livestock value is very high. However, when using milk vetch in livestock farming, note that although it can be used as feed for animals such as cattle, horses and sheep, it should not be given in excess, otherwise it may well cause bloating.