What agricultural benefits does garlic extract have?

Garlic is rich in natural antibacterial substances, the main component of which is allicin. It has been reported that applying garlic extract to crop cultivation can not only control pests and diseases, but also help promote crop growth and development; when applied to plant tissue culture, it can effectively prevent tissue culture materials from contamination; when applied to the preservation and freshness-keeping of agricultural products, it is both reliable and safe. Its application methods and effects are introduced as follows:

1. Controlling crop pests and diseases. According to relevant domestic research, using 1%-3% garlic extract to treat peanut seeds by soaking (or spraying in the field) can reduce the loss from rotten sprouts and rotten seedlings in early spring peanuts by more than 36.4%; when used to treat watermelon seeds by soaking, its effect in controlling fusarium wilt and rust is superior to chemical pesticides such as carbendazim; when used to treat tomato seedlings by root soaking (about 5 minutes), it can effectively control damage from root-knot nematodes and the like. It is also reported that a mixed solution made from allicin in the United States can effectively control rice blast and other diseases of rice.

2. Promoting crop growth and development. According to research, using 2% garlic solution to treat cucumber seeds by soaking can significantly promote the elongation growth of the seed radicle, with radicle length 23.7%-43.1% higher than the control; after treating peanuts (by seed soaking or spraying), the sulfur contained in the garlic solution can also promote the absorption and utilization of the "three essential elements" by peanuts, thereby not only reducing disease occurrence, but also achieving increased yield (averaging 9.4%).

3. Preventing contamination of tissue culture materials. According to experiments on lily tissue culture, adding 2% garlic solution to its culture medium can inhibit and kill harmful miscellaneous bacteria (fungi and bacteria) on the culture, thereby effectively avoiding contamination of tissue culture materials and increasing the success rate of tissue culture.

4. Preservation and freshness-keeping of agricultural products. Garlic extract is a natural preservative free of chemical contamination, and the allicin it contains has strong inhibitory and killing power against a variety of spoilage bacteria or fungi. For example, using 5% garlic solution to soak fresh meat can keep it fresh for 3 days at a temperature of about 26°C; treating hawthorn fruit with 10% garlic solution for five seconds allows it to be stored for 200 days at room temperature, with a good fruit rate of 96.2%; treating mandarin oranges and storing them for 103 days gives a good fruit rate of more than 90%.

5. Preparation methods of garlic extract. First, remove the skins from garlic and mash it, add an appropriate amount of soaking water according to the different application concentrations above, soak for several hours, then boil, cool, and filter to obtain it. Second, mash peeled garlic into a paste, soak it in an appropriate amount of clean water, and press and filter it to make raw garlic juice; when using, add clean water to prepare the required concentration. Third, add an appropriate amount of ethanol to garlic extract to make a 40% ethanol garlic stock solution, whose application effect is especially good.