Coriander is a valuable essential oil crop. It can also be attributed to spicy, vegetable and medicinal plants.
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Economic importance
Coriander, as an essential oil plant, is grown to obtain fruits that contain from 0.2 to 1.2% essential oil (Vavilov; according to other sources, 1.4-2.1%). The chemical composition of coriander essential oil includes linalool (60-70%, has the smell of lily of the valley), decylaldehyde, terpenes and other valuable compounds.
Coriander oil is used in the perfume industry to obtain aromatic substances with the smell of violet, lily, lemon, rose, lily of the valley, etc. The essential oil has medicinal properties: analgesic, antiseptic, choleretic, anti-hemorrhoid and wound healing properties and promotes the secretion of the glands of the digestive system.
The fruits also contain 18-22% fatty oil, with a large proportion of oleic acid glycerides. It is used in the manufacture of soap, in the textile and printing industries.
Coriander seeds are used in the food industry (bakery, confectionery and brewing), in medicine. The fruits and the above-ground vegetative part have choleretic, laxative, anti-hemorrhoid properties and are part of the medicinal preparations (teas).
Meal obtained after distillation or extraction of essential and fatty oils from fruits is used for feed purposes and is a good concentrated feed for farm animals. 100 kg of meal correspond to 69 feed units. Cake from coriander seeds contains approximately 17% protein, 7% fat, 30% nitrogen-free extractives, 8% ash.
Leaves in the countries of the Caucasus and the East serve as a seasoning for dishes.
Coriander is a honey plant.
Crop history
Coriander has been cultivated since ancient times. Homeland is the Mediterranean region.
It was grown in Asia, Africa, Europe and America.
It was brought to Russia from Spain in 1830.
Cultivation areas and yield
In 1986, more than 140 thousand hectares were occupied under coriander crops in the USSR.
A third of the crops of this crop in Russia falls on the Voronezh, Kursk and Belgorod regions. It is cultivated in Samara, Saratov, Tambov, Rostov regions, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, in North Ossetia. Also grown in Kazakhstan and Ukraine (Kirovograd region). Probably can be grown in more northern regions.
The average yield of coriander seeds is 0.5-1.2 t/ha. Under favorable conditions, with a high level of agricultural technology, it can produce 2.0-2.5 t/ha.
Botanical description
Coriander, sometimes colandra, Coriandrum sativum L. is an annual plant belonging to the Celery family (Apiaceae).
Taproot, well developed.
The stem is branched above.
Plants 50-100 cm high.
The leaves are alternate. Lower leaves on long petioles, pinnate. The middle leaves are double-pinnate. The upper ones are strongly dissected into narrow-linear lobes.
The inflorescence is a complex umbrella. The flowers are white, pale pink, yellow, small, quintuple type. Ovary two-celled, inferior. Cross-pollination by insects.
The fruit is a spherical yellow-brown two-seeded, consisting of two single-seeded, indehiscent fruitlets. Essential oil accumulates in special tubules, which are located on the inside of both fruitlets. Weight of 1000 seeds 7-10 g.
The plant has a sharp bug smell, especially strong in the flowering phase. When ripe, this smell disappears and the fruits acquire a spicy taste and a characteristic smell.
Biological features
Coriander is considered not too demanding on heat.
Seed germination begins at 6-8 °C. However, at such temperatures, seedlings appear only 20-25 days after sowing. Seedlings are able to withstand frosts down to -7 … -8 (-10) ° С. Plants need the most heat during the flowering and maturation phases.
Coriander is a drought-resistant plant, but makes high demands on moisture supply. It is most sensitive to moisture supply during the period of increased growth of the vegetative mass and in the flowering phase.
Light-loving plant.
Fertile chernozems are optimal. Heavy clay and marshy soils are unsuitable. It also produces poor yields on chalk slopes, sandy loamy, alkaline and acidic soils.
Vegetation
At the beginning of development, the growth of coriander is slow, and the plants are easily oppressed by weeds. Intensive growth of the stem begins after the formation of 7-9 leaves.
Flowering and ripening is unfriendly.
The growing season is 90-110 days.
There are the following phases of growth and development:
- seedlings;
- socket;
- shooting;
- bloom;
- seed maturation.
Crop rotation
In crop rotation, winter and early cereal crops, legumes, corn, potatoes are considered the best predecessors of coriander.
Poor predecessors are late-harvested crops (sunflower, sugar beet, Sudanese grass, etc.), since they take a large amount of nutrients and moisture out of the soil.
Coriander can serve as a precursor of spring and winter grain crops, in the southern regions – sunflower.
Coriander is returned to its former place of crop rotation no earlier than after
4-5 years.
Fertilizer system
Coriander plants consume nutrients unevenly during the growing season. The maximum consumption falls on the flowering phase. The lack of nutrients in the soil, as well as moisture, during this period leads to a decrease in yield.
Coriander responds well to fertilization.
Organic fertilizers are recommended to be applied under the previous crop at the rate of 20 t/ha of manure.
Mineral fertilizers are applied directly under the crop: NPK is applied in the amount of 45-60 kg/ha (Vavilov; according to other recommendations 65-80 kg/ha, Niklyaev) before the pre-sowing tillage, phosphorus is applied in the rows during sowing 10-15 kg/ha. In the phase of 4-5 leaves, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers are also fertilized at a rate of 20 kg/ha.
The effectiveness of potash fertilizers for coriander is considered very low. Therefore, on ordinary and carbonate chernozems, as well as on chestnut soils, it is sufficient to apply N60P60. For leached chernozem and dark gray forest soils, it is recommended to apply N60P60K60.
Tillage system
Soil cultivation for coriander includes:
- autumn plowing to a depth of 25-27 cm; if coriander is placed after cereals, then peeling is carried out before plowing;
- harrowing in early spring;
- pre-sowing cultivation with harrowing.
In the southern regions, with severe clogging of fields, the second plowing of the soil is carried out to a depth of 10-12 cm after the emergence of weeds.
On clean and slightly compacted soils, only pre-sowing harrowing can be carried out. Whereas on compacted soils, pre-sowing cultivation is required to a depth of 5-6 cm.
Sowing
For sowing use large and leveled seeds. A good effect is given by air-thermal (solar) treatment for 3-4 days.
Before sowing, the seeds are treated with an 80% solution of TMTD at the rate of 4 kg of the drug per 1 ton of seeds.
Sowing begins in early spring, in the first days of field work.
The sowing method is wide-row with row spacing of 45 cm. It is usually carried out with beet seeders. The usual row sowing method can also be used, provided the fields are clean from weeds.
The seeding rate for the wide-row method is (12) 13-15 (16) kg ha, for the usual row method – 20-22 kg/ha.
The depth of seed placement is 2-4 cm (Vavilov). According to other sources, the sowing depth is 4-5 cm (Kolomeichenko).
After sowing, the soil is rolled.
Crop care
4-5 days after sowing, pre-emergence harrowing is carried out. After pecking the seeds, a second harrowing is additionally carried out.
Care for coriander crops after germination consists of harrowing and 2-3 inter-row tillage.
Good effect gives additional bee pollination during flowering.
Harvest
Coriander fruits do not ripen at the same time. Ripe fruits easily crumble, which, under adverse weather conditions, leads to large crop losses, as well as carrion in subsequent crops. Harvesting late leads to an increase in fatty oil content, while the essential oil content decreases.
It is recommended to use a two-phase method for cleaning. In this case, harvesting starts when (30) 40% of the fruits are brown and ends when 80% of the fruits are brown. For mowing coriander, it is better to use wide-cut headers with a cutting height of 15-20 cm. The width of a double swath should not exceed 2 m. Picking and threshing of swaths begins when the fruit moisture reaches 15-16%, usually the period occurs 5-6 days after mowing. For the selection and threshing of rolls, a grain combine is used, for example, “Niva”, “Kolos”, at a reduced speed of the threshing drum (500-600 rpm).
The heap from under the combine is cleaned with the help of heap-cleaning machines. The fruits are sorted using a grain cleaning machine ОС-4.5А.
Seeds are stored for storage when the moisture content of the seeds is 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.