High-yield cultivation techniques for Job's tears: growing this medicinal and edible herb

Job's tearsAlso known as Yuzhuzhu, Liuguzi and Yaoyumi, it is an annual herbaceous medicinal plant of the grass family, with the kernel used as medicine. It has the effects of clearing heat, promoting diuresis, resolving dampness, draining pus, tonifying the lungs, strengthening the spleen and stomach, strengthening the bones and muscles, and lowering blood pressure, and it also has a good anti-cancer effect. Job's tears is both a tonic-type Chinese medicinal herb for both medicine and food, and a common raw material used by health product manufacturers to make cooling summer drinks. In recent years, not only has domestic market demand increased, but it is also exported to Japan, South Korea and other places. Job's tears is one of the short-cycle, quick-return medicinal herb varieties, and it can be planted in both northern and southern parts of our country. Its key high-yield cultivation points are introduced below.

I. Selection of good varieties

Job's tears varieties fall into three types: early-maturing, mid-maturing and late-maturing. Among them, “Thin Shell Red Coat” Job's tears is a mid-maturing hybrid improved variety bred in recent years. Its characteristics are: oval fruit, light brown surface, light red or pale white inner seed coat, thin shell of the seed, 65% milling yield, thick and strong stems, strong lodging resistance, high yield, and relatively uniform maturity. It is the best variety to choose when planting.

II. Land selection and land preparation

Job's tears has strong adaptability and is not demanding on soil; it likes moisture and tolerates salinity and poor soil. Traditionally, the best land for selection is sunny gentle slopes, mountain land and flat land with deep soil layers, and waterlogging is avoided. During land preparation, first apply 1500 kg of farmyard manure and 50 kg of superphosphate per mu, then plow, harrow finely and level, and open drainage ditches around the field, ready for sowing.

III. Seed treatment before sowing

To prevent the relatively common smut disease, seeds should be disinfected before sowing. Put the seeds into a cloth bag, soak them in warm water at 30°C to 40°C for 10 to 15 minutes, take them out and then submerge them in 2% lime water for 24 hours; they can also be soaked in 1:1:100 Bordeaux mixture for 24 hours. After taking them out, rinse them clean with clean water immediately, and then they can be sown. In addition, at sowing time, pesticides such as 50% carbendazim or 50% thiophanate-methyl can also be used to dress the seeds at 0.4% to 0.5% of the total seed weight, with good disease-prevention results.

IV. Sowing

Job's tears can be planted in both spring and summer, but no later than the end of June. Sowing methods are divided into drilling and hole sowing. Drilling: on the prepared ground, open shallow furrows 3 to 4 cm deep at a row spacing of 35 to 40 cm, scatter the seeds evenly into the furrows, and cover with fine soil or mixed soil and manure, just enough to cover the seeds. Hole sowing: on the prepared ground, dig holes at a row spacing of 40 to 45 cm and a plant spacing of 15 to 20 cm, with holes 5 to 6 cm deep, sow 3 to 4 seeds per hole, then cover with soil level with the hole surface. The sowing rate is 3 to 4 kg per mu.

V. Field management

1. Thinning and final stand establishment In directly sown fields, when the seedlings grow 2 to 3 true leaves, remove dense seedlings and diseased or weak seedlings while weeding, so that the plant spacing of drilled seedlings remains 5 to 7 cm; when the seedlings grow 5 to 6 true leaves, establish the final stand and keep a plant spacing of 10 to 15 cm. If there are missing seedlings, replant them promptly. 2. Cultivation and weeding Start one cultivation and weeding at thinning; carry out another at final stand establishment; afterward, carry them out according to soil compaction and weed growth together with topdressing. During the growing period, use benzoic acid-type herbicides such as dicamba (Banvel) for stem and leaf treatment, which can control annual or perennial broadleaf weeds.

3. Topdressing Generally, topdress 2 to 3 times during the growing process. The first topdressing is carried out when the seedlings are 4 to 7 cm high, applying 5 to 10 kg of ammonium sulfate per mu, or 1000 kg of decomposed human and livestock urine, to promote seedling growth, early tillering and more tillering; the second topdressing should depend on the seedling condition and soil fertility, generally at the early jointing stage, when the main stem has 11 to 12 leaves, applying 10 to 15 kg of ammonium sulfate per mu or 1500 kg of decomposed human and livestock manure water, to promote robust plant growth and benefit booting; the third topdressing should depend on the seedling condition and soil fertility, applying ear-promoting fertilizer, with 3 to 5 kg of urea per mu or a 0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate fertilizer solution as a foliar spray, to promote plump grains and improve quality and yield.

4. Removing lower leaves After Job's tears joints, remove the old leaves below the first branch and ineffective tillers, which helps ventilation and light penetration, promotes thick and strong stems, and also has a certain effect on preventing lodging.

5. Artificial supplementary pollination Job's tears flowers are unisexual; although male and female flowers are on the same plant in different spikes, pollination relies on wind. However, during the flowering period when there is no wind or the wind is not strong, the female flowers cannot be fully pollinated, resulting in empty and shriveled grains. During the full flowering period, artificial shaking of the stems can be used to make the pollen fly and thus increase the seed-setting rate and yield.

VI. Pest and disease control

1. Smut disease damages the ears. After the affected seeds rupture, they give off a large amount of dark brown powder. Control methods: ① soak and disinfect the seeds before sowing; ② if diseased plants are found, pull them out immediately, burn them or bury them deeply; ③ disinfect the diseased holes with 5% lime milk.

2. Leaf blight damages the leaves. After it occurs, light yellow lesions appear on the leaves. Control methods: ① spray 1:1:100 Bordeaux mixture at the early stage of the disease, once every 7 days, for 2 to 3 consecutive sprays; ② remove the lower leaves in time and keep the field ventilated and light-permeable.

3. Armyworm The larvae bite and eat the leaves. Control method: spray with 800 to 1000 times dilution of 90% trichlorfon.

VII. Harvesting and processing

Job's tears is harvested about 5 months after sowing. When the stems and leaves turn withered and yellow and 80% of the fruits are light brown and mature, cut the plants together with the stems, thresh with a threshing machine, dry in the sun, remove impurities, winnow away empty husks, sieve clean, then use a rice mill to remove the outer shells, sieve clean again and dry in the sun, and it is then a finished product.