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Anise

Anise (ganus) (Pimpinella anisum) is an essential oil crop. Also applies to medicinal and spicy plants.

Anise (Pimpinella anisum)
Anise (Pimpinella anisum)
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©SABENCIA Guillermo César Ruiz (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Economic importance

Anise is an ancient aromatic plant used mainly for flavoring; both leaves and seeds are used for this purpose.

Anise seeds contain 1.5-4% essential oil and (16) 18-22% fat.

The composition of the essential oil includes anethole (up to 80%), which is widely used in the perfumery, pharmaceutical and food (alcoholic beverage and confectionery) industries. Fatty oil finds application in paint and varnish production and soap production. Anise essential oil for medical purposes is used to treat the stomach, with colds as an expectorant. Included in the composition of medical fees (teas).

Anise seeds are used in baking, for the production of canned food and confectionery.

Anise seed cake serves as a valuable concentrated feed for cattle, pigs and poultry. 100 kg of cake correspond to 85 feed units.

Good honey plant.

Anise is often confused with Florentine fennel, because they have a similar smell and taste, as well as with star anise (Illicium verum), which is sometimes used as a substitute for anise.

Crop history

Anise is thought to be native to Asia Minor, although some botanists point to Egypt as the center of origin.

It began to be cultivated before Christ in Egypt, Greece and Rome. Anise seeds were a source of flavoring for ancient Rome.

In Russia, this culture began to grow in the 30s of the XIX century.

 

Cultivation areas and yield

Anise is grown in many countries in Asia (India, China) and Europe (Balkan countries, Germany, France, Netherlands, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia), but the cultivation area is relatively small. It is also grown in America (Mexico).

In 1986, the sown area under this crop in the USSR was about 2 thousand hectares.

The main areas of cultivation are the Voronezh, Belgorod and Kursk regions. In small quantities, it is also sown in the forest-steppe part of Ukraine.

The yield of anise seeds is usually 0.8-1.0 t/ha.

Ongoing breeding has made it possible to increase the seed yield and the content of aromatic compounds.

Botanical description

Anise or common anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) is an annual plant belonging to the Umbrella or Celery family (Apiaceae). In warm climates it is considered a perennial.

The root is long, tapering, well developed and deeply penetrating.

The stem is erect, furrowed, round, covered with many fine hairs, branched at the top, the main stem is hollow.

The plant height is 40-60 (75) cm.

The lower root leaves are simple, broad and pinnate, resembling those of flatleaf parsley, with long petioles. Leaves are alternate. Lower leaves are rounded or kidney-shaped, on long petioles. Middle leaves are pinnate or tripartite-compound, dentate, with shorter petioles. Upper ones are compound, strongly dissected into linear, narrow lobes, without petioles (sessile). Overall, the light green leaves have a feathery lace-like appearance.

The inflorescence is a complex, loose umbrella. Flowers are small, white or yellowish-white.

Fruit is ovoid, flattened-ovoid or pear-shaped double-seeded, consisting of two one-seeded, unbranched, greenish-gray fruits. The surface has short adpressed hairs, with many longitudinal ribs, which contain tubules of essential oil. The taste of the fruit is sweet-spicy. Weight of 1,000 seeds 3.5-4 g.

Seeds are flat-ovoid, gray-brown, ribbed, with superficial hairs, 3-5 mm in length and 1-2 mm in width. Seeds usually germinate slowly.

Biological features

Anise is considered to be demanding to heat.

Seeds begin to germinate slowly at a temperature of 4-5°C. The optimal germination temperature is over 10-20°C.

The optimal temperature for the growth and development of anise is 24-25 ° C.

The greatest need for heat occurs during the period from the beginning of flowering to seed ripening.

Seeds require 120% moisture of their weight for swelling.

Uniform soil moisture is required for high yields. The greatest need for water is during flowering and seed formation.

Light-loving plant.

Demanding to the soil. Fertile, weed-free black earth is optimal.

Vegetation

The vegetation period of anise is 120-130 days.

The following phases of growth and development are noted:

  • seedlings;
  • socket;
  • shooting;
  • bloom;
  • seed maturation.

Crop rotation

In crop rotation, winter cereal and tilled crops are considered to be the best predecessors of anise.

Bad predecessors are coriander, which clogs subsequent crops with carrion.

Fertilizer system

Anise responds well to fertilization.

N45-60P45-60K45-60 (Vavilov) is applied as the main fertilizer. According to other recommendations, N45P60K30 (Kolomeichenko). Also, N60-80P60-80K60-80 (Niklyaev).

When sowing, granular superphosphate is applied at the rate of 10 kg/ha P2O5.

When a rosette of leaves is formed, fertilizing is carried out with nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers in the calculation of NP at 10-15 kg/ha (Vavilov). According to other recommendations, N20.

Tillage system

Soil cultivation for anise includes:

  • autumn plowing to a depth of 25-28 cm (after winter crops, peeling is carried out before plowing);
  • harrowing in early spring;
  • pre-sowing cultivation followed by harrowing.

Sowing

Before sowing, air-heat treatment of seeds is carried out for 2-3 days.

Sowing begins simultaneously with the sowing of early grain crops (or simultaneously with coriander).

Usually, a wide-row sowing method is used with row spacing of 45 cm or a two-row belt method with a distance between ribbons of 45 cm, in ribbons between rows, a distance of 15 cm (45x15x15 cm). On weed-free fields, the usual row method can be used.

You can also use the scheme: between plants – 25 cm, between rows – 50-75 cm.

Seeding rates:

  • for a wide-row sowing method – 12 kg/ha (Vavilov; according to other recommendations 10-15 kg/ha, Kolomeichenko);
  • for two-line tape – 14 kg/ha;
  • for an ordinary soldier – 18 kg/ha (Vavilov; according to other
  • recommendations 20-25 kg/ha, Kolomeichenko).

Sowing depth 2-3 cm, in case of drying of the soil – 4-5 cm.

Crop care

Crop care includes: pre-emergence harrowing using light harrows across the rows and at least three inter-row tillage.

Harvest

Seed ripening in anise is uneven. Delay in cleaning leads to shedding.

Anise harvesting can be performed in a single-phase and two-phase method.

Single-phase harvesting is used in unstable weather, on sparse and fallen crops. In this case, harvesting begins at the beginning of the full ripeness of the seeds.

Two-phase harvesting is used in fields with normal plant density. They start when the seeds acquire a greenish-gray color (or when the fruits of medium umbrellas become grayish).

After threshing, if necessary, the seeds are dried. For storage lay seeds with a moisture content of not more than 12%.

Sources

Crop production / P.P. Vavilov, V.V. Gritsenko, V.S. Kuznetsov and others; Ed. P.P. Vavilov. – 5th ed., revised. and additional – M.: Agropromizdat, 1986. – 512 p.: ill. – (Textbook and textbooks for higher educational institutions).

V.V. Kolomeichenko. Crop production / Textbook. — M.: Agrobusinesscenter, 2007. — 600 p. ISBN 978-5-902792-11-6.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Agriculture and crop production. Ed. V.S. Niklyaev. – M .: “Epic”, 2000. – 555 p.

Carrots and related vegetable Umbelliferae / V.E. Rubatzky, C.F. Quires, and P.W. Simon. USA. 1999.

World vegetables: principles, production, and nutritive values / Vincent E. Rubatzky and Mas Yamaguchi. — 2nd ed. 1997.