How to grow Job's tears? Detailed explanation of standardized high-yield cultivation techniques

Job's tears, commonly known as coix seed, Job's tears seed, or medicinal corn, is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant of the grass family. It has the effects of clearing heat, promoting diuresis, resolving dampness, discharging pus, tonifying the lungs, strengthening the spleen and stomach, strengthening the bones and muscles, relieving spasms, and lowering blood pressure. Recent research has revealed that the seeds of Job's tears contain coixol and coix alcohol, which have a good anti-cancer effect. It is the most ideal medicinal and edible tonic, and is also a raw material for making cooling drinks in summer.

I. Growth habits

Job's tears prefers a warm and slightly humid climate, but its adaptability is very strong. It is not demanding on soil and can be grown in general soil, but sunny, fertile sandy loam is preferable. Based on the current state of agricultural production in our country, Job's tears, as a distinctive cash crop, is particularly suitable for large-scale mechanized planting and production on large areas of wetland, barren hills, barren slopes, ridge land, and lake beaches due to its short growth period, relatively low technical requirements, extensive management, and tight market supply, and it has good economic and social benefits.

II. The "thin-shell red-coat" Job's tears variety

A medium-maturing shelled Job's tears variety selected from wild Job's tears by the research institute in 2004 for exclusive export to Japan and South Korea, characterized by: a thin shell, a rice yield of 65%, a light red or pale white inner seed coat, thick and strong stems, strong lodging resistance, and high yield. The fruit is ovate, with a light brown or brown surface, a dark brown style at the top, and a slightly concave base, with a 1000-grain weight of 132 grams. It is suitable for use as seed in large-scale standardized base planting, machine sowing and machine harvesting, extensive management, and wet-land planting.

III. Seed treatment

Before sowing, sun-dry the seeds for two days, then soak them in water for 24 hours, remove and drain off the water, and treat them with 20% triadimefon at 0.4% of the seed amount. This can 100% prevent the harm to Job's tears from the large-scale occurrence of smut in recent years.

IV. Sowing methods

Sowing can begin when the daily average temperature stabilizes at 15°C. Either spring sowing or summer sowing is acceptable, but for summer sowing, seedling raising and transplanting give better results. For small-area planting, either direct sowing or hole sowing can be used. For hole sowing, dig holes at a plant spacing of 27 cm and a row spacing of 30 cm, sow 4-5 seeds per hole, and use 4 kg of seed per mu; for direct sowing, open shallow furrows at a row spacing of 50 cm with a furrow depth of 3 cm, and the furrow bottom must be level. Evenly scatter the seeds into the furrows, cover with fine soil just enough to cover the seeds, then cover with soil, level, and firm it. Spring sowing is in mid-to-late April, and summer sowing is from late May to early June, no later than late June. For large-area planting, use mechanical sowing at a row spacing of 50 cm and 2 kg of seed per mu, which can sow more than 100 mu per day.

V. Field management

1. Thinning and final spacing. When the seedlings grow 2-3 true leaves, carry out the first thinning, removing crowded seedlings and diseased or weak seedlings, and maintain a plant spacing of 4-7 cm; when the seedlings have 5-6 true leaves, set the final spacing at 13-16 cm.

2. Cultivation and weeding. Generally carry out cultivation and weeding twice. The first time is when the seedlings are 6-7 cm high, to promote more tillering; the second time is when the seedlings are 16-20 cm high; afterward, combine cultivation and loosening of the soil with fertilization.

3. Topdressing and earthing up. Topdressing is carried out in two applications. The first is when the seedlings are 4-7 cm high, applying 1000 kg of dilute human and animal manure per mu to promote seedling growth, more tillering, and early tillering. The second is when the seedlings are about 35 cm high or at the booting stage, applying 1500 kg of human and animal manure per mu to promote vigorous plant growth and benefit booting. If human and animal manure is unavailable, urea at 10 kg plus superphosphate at 20 kg can be used for each topdressing. Earthing up is carried out when the seedlings are about 35 cm high, together with fertilization, to prevent lodging and benefit root growth.

4. Watering to promote growth. Water management is the key to obtaining high and stable yields of Job's tears. Job's tears is similar to corn and sorghum, and people habitually regard it as a dryland crop and also adopt dryland cultivation in production, thus resulting in low yields per mu. Through many years of planting by this institute, it has been proven that Job's tears is not only a dryland crop but a marshy crop, a wet-land plant. To obtain high and stable yields, it is necessary to break out of the mistaken approach of dryland cultivation and adopt the wet-land cultivation method. If planted in dryland, attention must be paid to watering, and the scientific method of "wet at both ends, dry in the middle" can be used when watering. That is, the early growth stage requires moist soil to promote uniform and strong seedlings; in the late tillering stage, drainage and field drying should be carried out to control ineffective tillering; at the booting stage, timely irrigation is needed, increasing the irrigation amount; at the heading stage, irrigation should be frequent and sufficient (if drought occurs at this stage, the number of heads decreases greatly, the number of empty and shriveled grains increases, and the yield drops significantly). Irrigation can be stopped 10 days before harvest to facilitate reaping.

5. Removing lower leaves. After the jointing of Job's tears is finished, remove the leaves below the first branch together with ineffective tillers, which helps ventilation and heat dissipation, promotes thick and strong stems, and has a certain effect on preventing lodging.

6. Supplementary pollination. Job's tears generally relies on wind for natural pollination, but the pollination rate is low, the yield is unstable, and there are many empty seeds. In recent years, we have adopted artificial supplementary pollination measures with good results. The specific method is, during the few days of the full flowering period of the Job's tears plants, to use tools such as sticks or ropes to shake the plants every day from 9 to 11 o'clock at noon, so that the pollen flies up, which has a clear effect on improving the fruit-setting rate. Where conditions permit, a blower can also be used for artificial wind pollination, with better results.

VI. Harvest and processing

Job's tears has strong branching, and the seeds mature unevenly. It can be harvested when the middle and lower leaves of the plants turn yellow and 80% of the seeds have matured. Harvest on a sunny day. After harvesting, stand the plants upright for a few days, then thresh with a thresher. For large-area planting, after testing the machine in various ways, a combine harvester can be used for one-time harvesting. After harvest, place the seeds on a clean drying yard and expose them to the sun until completely dry. Then place them in a ventilated place and winnow away empty husks and impurities, and pack the fuller shelled Job's tears from the upper wind side separately from the thinner and shriveled ones from the lower wind side, and they can then be sold. If the quantity is large, a winnowing machine can be used for grading, and the better-quality ones can be directly exported to Japan and South Korea, giving relatively high economic benefits.