Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for High-Yield Cultivation of Pubescent Angelica

Pubescent Angelica, also known as Da Huo, Xiang Du Huo, and Niuwei Du Huo. Its underground roots are used medicinally, with effects including dispelling wind, removing dampness, dispersing cold, and relieving pain. Clinically it is mainly used to treat wind-cold-dampness bi syndrome, waist and knee pain, rheumatic joint pain, wind-cold headache, and other conditions. The main producing areas are Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and other places.

Morphological Characteristics: It is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Apiaceae family (Umbelliferae). It grows 1.5-2 m tall. The main root is thick and fleshy, pale yellowish-white, and aromatic. The stem is erect, much branched, with longitudinal stripes, and hairless. The leaves are ovate, bipinnately ternate compound leaves; the leaflets are trisected, and the final segments are oblong, 6-9 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, with an acute apex, cuneate base, and irregularly double-serrate margins; both surfaces have sparse short pubescence on the veins; the petiole is 30-35 cm long; the upper stem leaves are reduced, without blades, and the petiole is inflated into a hood-like sheath. The compound umbel is densely covered with yellowish-brown pubescence; there are no involucral bracts; the rays number 10-25, unequal in length, densely covered with yellowish-brown short pubescence; the umbellules have 15-30 flowers, with 5-8 bracteoles, lanceolate; the petals are white, 5 in number; stamens are 5; the ovary is inferior, 2-loculed; the styles are short, with a flattened conical base. The schizocarp is flat on the back, oblong, concave at the base, with the dorsal and intermediate ribs linear and raised; oil tubes number 1-4 in the furrows between the mericarp ribs, and 4-5 on the commissural surface.

I. Growth Habits: Pubescent Angelica prefers warm, humid, and cool climates. It is cold-tolerant but afraid of waterlogging. Requirements for soil: cultivation is best on deep, loose, fertile sandy loam rich in organic matter. Saline-alkali land, heavy clay, and low-lying land are not suitable for planting.

II. Land Preparation and Fertilization: Choose a field with high terrain and good drainage, and carry out fine tillage. In combination with land preparation, apply sufficient base fertilizer: 5000 kg of farmyard manure, 20 kg of urea, and 50 kg of phosphate and potassium fertilizer per mu. Then make beds and wait for sowing.

III. Sowing: Pubescent Angelica is propagated by seed, and the sowing period is divided into spring sowing or autumn sowing. Spring sowing is around Qingming; autumn sowing is before the soil freezes. Before sowing, first use a drill to open shallow furrows on the prepared bed surface, then evenly scatter the seeds into the furrows, and rake level so that the soil covers the seeds. Water to preserve soil moisture and promote emergence. The sowing rate is 2 kg per mu.

IV. Field Management: After Pubescent Angelica seedlings are fully established, pay attention to intertillage and weeding. Water frequently in dry weather and drain promptly in rainy weather. Around the Beginning of Autumn, Pubescent Angelica enters the rhizome expansion stage, and one topdressing should be applied: 10 kg of urea and 10 kg of monopotassium phosphate per mu. This promotes rapid growth of the underground rhizome.

V. Pest and Disease Control: The main pest of Pubescent Angelica is the stem borer, which can be controlled with fenvalerate. Aphids and red spiders can be controlled with Sanfangling. Underground pests can be controlled with phoxim mixed into poison bait.

VI. Harvesting and Processing: Pubescent Angelica is generally harvested after the aboveground stems and leaves wither in autumn after one year of growth. The dug-out underground rhizomes of Pubescent Angelica are cleaned of soil, sun-dried or oven-dried, and then can be sold as medicinal material. The yield is 350 kg per mu.