Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Yield and Economic Benefits of the Chinese Medicinal Herb Zedoary
A Preliminary Study on the Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Yield and Economic Benefits of the Chinese Medicinal Herb Zedoary
Wenli Town, Lingshan County, Guangxi is located in the southern subtropics and has certain advantages in terms of light, temperature and hydrology. As a Chinese medicinal herb with a long history of medicinal use, zedoary (Curcuma zedoaria) has extremely high requirements for its growing environment. The ecological environment of Wenli Town, Lingshan County, Guangxi is suitable for planting zedoary, and it is also an industry that enriches the people in the local rural economic development. However, there are certain differences in the high-yield cultivation techniques for zedoary, which also have different effects on the yield and economic benefits of zedoary.
1 Materials and Methods
1.1 Experimental Site
The zedoary variety planted locally in Wenli Town, Lingshan County, Guangxi belongs to the dominant Guangxi variety. Zedoary is planted in Gongfu Village, Litou Village, Rimian Village and Mada Village under the jurisdiction of Wenli Town, with a total planting area of about 80 hm2. The average yield of zedoary reaches 2 250 kg per 667 m2, and the highest planting yield can reach 5 000 kg. The local planting soil in Wenli Town, Lingshan County, Guangxi is red loam soil developed from sandstone and shale parent material, with a plough layer of 0-25 cm, sandy texture. The experimental site was selected in Rimian Village; the plot used for the experimental planting is flat, the soil fertility is at an upper-middle level, and no zedoary had been planted before the experimental planting.
1.2 Experimental Design
In terms of zedoary cultivation methods, the local farmers have long used traditional open-field planting, the cultivation methods and management techniques are relatively backward, and the yield and economic benefits of zedoary are relatively low. In the exploration of high-yield cultivation techniques for zedoary, combining plastic film mulching with scientific field management techniques for zedoary is an important part of current research on zedoary planting techniques. In this study of the effects of different cultivation methods on the yield and economic benefits of zedoary, the experimental design compared three different cultivation methods: plastic film mulching cultivation, plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation, and traditional open-field cultivation. The experimental materials selected included Luxi potassium sulfate compound fertilizer and 0.08 mm black plastic film. The pesticides used for field management were Aifeng produced by Guoguang Company and Liufuding produced by Dexi Yangnong.
1.3 Cultivation Methods
Plastic film mulching cultivation was designated as A, plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation as B, and open-field cultivation as C, with 3 replicates. Zedoary was planted from February to April, with a plant-row spacing of 30 cm x 40 cm, and 1 250 planting holes per experimental plot, with a hole depth of 8-10 cm. One zedoary seed rhizome (eutou) was placed in each hole, and after planting the hole opening was filled level with soil. Plastic film mulching and shade nets were set up, and potassium sulfate compound fertilizer was applied in the field during cultivation, and Aifeng was sprayed at the early stage of zedoary rhizome formation to suppress seedling growth and promote the expansion of the zedoary rhizomes. Other field management measures were carried out according to conventional procedures. The experimental planting of zedoary ended in November, and the crop was harvested and weighed, and samples were taken for comparison.
2 Results and Analysis
2.1 Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Yield Components of Zedoary
From the data in Table 1, it can be seen that different cultivation techniques have significant differences in their effects on the yield components of zedoary, among which the plastic film mulching cultivation method has the best effect. In terms of the number of rhizomes per plant, plastic film mulching cultivation increased by 5.5 compared with open-field cultivation, an increase of 22.27%, a significant difference; compared with plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation, it increased by 0.8, an increase of 2.7%, a non-significant difference; plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation showed a significant difference compared with open-field cultivation. In the comparison of fresh weight per zedoary plant, plastic film mulching cultivation increased by 0.272 kg compared with open-field cultivation, an increase of 33.46%; plastic film mulching cultivation increased by 0.018 kg compared with plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation, an increase of 1.69%. In the comparison of theoretical fresh yield, plastic film mulching cultivation was the highest, increasing by 22 838.5 kg·hm-2 compared with open-field cultivation, an increase of 39.02%, a significant difference; compared with plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation, it increased by 1 349.1 kg·hm-2, an increase of 1.69%, a non-significant difference; plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation increased by 21 489.4 kg·hm-2 compared with open-field cultivation, an increase of 36.71%, with a significant difference. Therefore, among the three different cultivation methods for zedoary, plastic film mulching has the most significant effect on the yield components of zedoary, plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation is relatively weaker, and open-field cultivation has the poorest effect.
2.2 Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Yield of Zedoary
From the comparison results of the data in Table 2, among the effects of different cultivation methods on zedoary yield, the effect of plastic film mulching is the greatest, and that of open-field cultivation is the smallest. Plastic film mulching cultivation increased the average plot yield by 237.0 kg compared with open-field cultivation, an increase of 23.37%, with a significant difference, and the difference compared with plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation was not significant.
Table 1 Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Yield Components of Zedoary
Table 2 Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Yield of Zedoary
Table 3 Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Economic Benefits of Zedoary
2.3 Effects of Different Cultivation Methods on the Economic Benefits of Zedoary
In the comparison of the effects of different cultivation methods on the economic benefits of zedoary, plastic film mulching cultivation had the highest economic benefits, increasing by 22 909.1 yuan/hm2 compared with open-field cultivation, an increase of 56.46%, and increasing by 16 085.2 yuan/hm2 compared with plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation, an increase of 33.94%. Although at the technical level, plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation has a higher technical content than simple plastic film mulching cultivation, it did not receive higher economic benefits. Among the 3 cultivation methods, plastic film mulching cultivation has better economic benefits.
3 Conclusion
Based on the comprehensive comparative analysis of the above data, different cultivation methods have certain differences in their effects on the yield and economic benefits of zedoary. In the comparison of the yield components, yield and economic benefits of zedoary, the plastic film mulching cultivation method has the best cultivation effect, plastic film mulching plus shade net cultivation is second, and open-field cultivation has the poorest effect and the lowest economic benefits. The local traditional zedoary cultivation method easily causes soil compaction, increases the difficulty of zedoary harvesting, and is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and also causes certain damage to the fresh rhizomes, greatly restricting the industrial development of zedoary locally. The new plastic film mulching cultivation can effectively provide cold protection, rain protection and sun protection, effectively prevent weed growth, and combined with fertilization and pesticide spraying in field management, it achieves the planting effects of loosening the soil and balancing moisture, thereby effectively achieving the high-quality and high-yield effects of zedoary, laying the foundation for the further promotion and application of high-yield cultivation techniques for zedoary.