Coriander

Economic importance

Coriander, as an essential oil plant, is grown to obtain fruits, which contain from 0.2 to 1.2% essential oil (Vavilov; according to other data, 1.4–2.1%). The chemical composition of coriander essential oil includes linalool (60–70%, with a lily-of-the-valley scent), decyl aldehyde, terpenes, and other valuable compounds.

Coriander oil is used in the perfume industry to produce aromatic substances with the scent of violet, lily, lemon, rose, lily of the valley, etc. The essential oil has medicinal properties: analgesic, antiseptic, choleretic, antihemorrhoidal, and wound-healing, and it promotes the secretion of digestive glands.

Essential oils from the seeds are distilled and used to flavor candies, cocoa, and chocolate. Other uses include flavoring alcoholic beverages (gin and vermouth) and tobacco. Fatty oils isolated from the seeds have various industrial uses due to their physicochemical properties. Different types of coriander plants have been bred that are better suited for seed production, while others are used for leaf production (cilantro).

The fruits also contain 18–22% fatty oil, with a large proportion of oleic acid glycerides. It is used in soap making and in the textile and printing industries.

Coriander seeds are used in the food industry (baking, confectionery, and brewing) and in medicine. The fruits and aboveground vegetative parts have choleretic, laxative, and antihemorrhoidal properties and are included in medicinal mixtures (teas).

Immature coriander seeds have a salty, pungent citrus taste reminiscent of sage, while mature ones are sharp. Coriander is an important component of many curry powders, often making up one third of all other ingredients. The seeds are used as a spice for pickling and for flavoring sausages, other meats, and fish.

The meal obtained after distillation or extraction of the essential and fatty oils from the fruits is used as feed and is a good concentrated feed for farm animals. 100 kg of meal correspond to 69 feed units. Oil cake from coriander seeds contains about 17% protein, 7% fat, 30% nitrogen-free extractives, and 8% ash.

The leaves of leaf coriander (cilantro) in the Caucasus and the East serve as a seasoning for dishes. Another name for cilantro is Chinese or Mexican parsley. In India, China, and the countries of Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin, and Central America, cilantro is almost indispensable in everyday cooking. Recently, consumption of this crop has expanded significantly in Europe, the USA, and Canada. Fresh leaves have a taste reminiscent of a mixture of lemon and parsley. The predominant smell of fresh cilantro is due to the aldehydes in its essential oils. The smell caused by decyl aldehyde and other fatty aldehydes is unpleasant to some, but this is usually compensated by the slightly pungent taste that the leaves impart to food. Cilantro has much in common with parsley, and its aromatic flavor qualities are used in many culinary dishes. These include use in salads, soups, stewed meat, and other dishes in fresh form. It is also used in chutney, salsa, and various other sauces. Both fresh and dried leaves are popular for flavoring fish and meat dishes. Old leaves and leaves collected after flowering begins should be avoided, as they lose their taste and attractiveness.

The greens are rich in vitamins C (up to 140 mg%), B group, carotene (up to 10 mg%), and rutin (145 mg%).

Coriander is a honey plant.

The roots, which have a nutty taste, are also eaten, especially in China and Thailand.

History

Coriander has been cultivated for more than 3000 years, both for leaves and dry seeds.

The exact origin of the species is unclear; it is thought that the plant arose in the region between the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus Mountains, or in the Middle East (Diederichsen, 1996). However, this does not fully coincide with the centers of variation, since separate forms of coriander occur in India, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Ethiopia.

It was grown in Asia, Africa, Europe, and America.

The spread of coriander across the Old World in early times probably led to the appearance of various forms of the plant. Coriander was found in Egyptian tombs dating to approximately 900–1100 BCE. Other evidence indicates an earlier presence, as far back as 2500 BCE. According to Sanskrit inscriptions, coriander may have been used as early as 5000 BCE. One report of fruits found in a cave in Israel dates to 6000 BCE.

The Romans were responsible for moving coriander to northern European regions. It reached China possibly long before the 5th century.

It was brought to Russia from Spain in 1830.

Cultivation areas and yield

Despite significant cilantro production, exact production statistics are not easy to obtain.

Coriander seed production is carried out in Europe, mainly in Eastern European countries and Asia Minor, as well as in Morocco, India, Romania, and Argentina. Diederichsen (1996) indicates that more than 500,000 ha are involved in coriander seed production.

In 1986, more than 140 thousand ha were sown to coriander in the USSR.

A third of the sowings of this crop in Russia are in Voronezh, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts. It is cultivated in Samara, Saratov, Tambov, and Rostov oblasts, Krasnodar and Stavropol krais, and North Ossetia. It is also grown in Kazakhstan and Ukraine (Kirovograd oblast). It can probably also be grown in more northern regions.

Coriander seed yield averages 0.5–1.2 (2) t/ha. Under favorable conditions and with a high level of agrotechnology, it can produce 2.0–3.0 t/ha.

By seed yield volume, coriander is much more important than cilantro. The fresh green yield reaches 10 t/ha with 3–4 cuttings.

Chemical composition

Chemical composition of coriander leaves:

• water — 88%;
• protein — 2.7%;
• fats — 0.5%;
• carbohydrates — 6.0%;
• fiber — 1.0%;
• ash — 1.7%;
• vitamin A — 10000 IU;
• vitamin B₁ — 0.01 mg/100 g raw portion;
• vitamin B₂ — 0.01 mg/100 g raw portion;
• niacin — 1.0 mg/100 g raw portion;
• vitamin C — 150 mg/100 g raw portion;
• calcium — 150 mg/100 g raw portion;
• potassium — 540 mg/100 g raw portion;
• iron — 6 mg/100 g raw portion;
• magnesium — 37 mg/100 g raw portion;
• phosphorus — 55 mg/100 g raw portion;
• sodium — 28 mg/100 g raw portion.

Chemical composition of coriander seeds:

• water — 11.4%;
• protein — 11.5%;
• fats — 19.1%;
• carbohydrates — 22.7%;
• fiber — 28.4%;
• minerals:
• phosphorus — 500 mg/100 g raw portion.

In the essential oil obtained from the fruits of Coriandrum sativum L., an annual herb species cultivated in Europe and Asia, linalool predominates (59.0–87.5% of the total), along with α-pinene (5.94%), (+)-2-bornanone (4.73%), α-terpinene (6.79%), and geranyl acetate (2.46%) (Hassan and Elhassan, 2017). Usually, fruit maturity and loamy soil can strongly affect the amount of linalool in the final product (Capasso, 2011). The distillation yield is 0.8% for fruits (Hassan and Elhassan, 2017). Coriander is used in Ayurvedic medicine for systematic asthenia, atony of the digestive tract, and cystitis; it is even valued as a flavoring in alcoholic beverages. The leaves are used as a sedative and anti-inflammatory, but the significant content of aliphatic aldehydes such as (E)-2-decenal (26.8–46.5%), decanal (4.4–18.0%), octanal (0.5–11.2%), and (E)-2-dodecenal (2.7–10.3%) may be accompanied by irritation of the mucous membranes (Nicoletti, 2007; Tisserand and Young, 2014).

Botanical description

Coriander, or simply coriander, sometimes kolyandra, Chinese or Mexican parsley, Coriandrum sativum L. — an annual plant belonging to the celery family (Apiaceae). The leaf crop of coriander is called cilantro.

The root is a taproot and well developed.

The stem is erect, branched above, round, relatively thin, hollow, ribbed, and ends in an umbel. The stem color usually changes from green to reddish-purple.

Plants reach a height of 30–50 cm in the vegetative state and 100–120 cm in the reproductive state.

The root is thin, fusiform, pale brown, and long.

The plant forms a basal rosette of leaves. The leaves are alternate. The lower leaves are on long petioles, pinnate, and broad. The basal leaves are ovate, entire, but with an incised-toothed margin, three-lobed, and tripartite; the lower stem leaves are twice pinnatisect. The middle leaves are bipinnate. The upper leaves are strongly dissected into narrow linear lobes. The upper and middle leaves are often sessile or short-petiolate. The leaves from each successive node become more pinnate. In some varieties, the petioles are red. The rosette leaves of young plants are easily confused with parsley.

The leaf color varies from dark green to yellowish-green; the lower surface of the leaves has a shiny waxy coating. The leaves also sometimes acquire a red or purple color during flowering. As they age or transition to flowering, the leaves become bitter.

The inflorescence is a compound, short, flat umbel with three to ten primary rays of unequal length. The umbels may contain 10–20 flowers. The peripheral flowers of each umbel bloom first; they are protandrous, so ripening occurs gradually. The central flowers are staminate or sometimes sterile. Stigma receptivity can persist for up to 5 days.

The flowers are white, yellow, pale pink, or lilac with petals of unequal size, small, and five-parted. The ovary is bilocular and inferior. Pollination is cross-pollination by insects. Self-pollination occurs, and inbreeding depression is not observed.

The fruit is a spherical, hard, ribbed schizocarp, 3 mm wide, consisting of two one-seeded indehiscent mericarps. The essential oil accumulates in special canals located on the inner side of both mericarps. The mass of 1000 seeds is (5) 7–10 g, and in large-fruited varieties up to 15 g; according to other data, about 80 seeds weigh 1 g.

At first the fruits are yellow-green, and after ripening they become light yellow-brown. Fruit shattering is common, although the fruit does not easily separate into two mericarps.

The ribbed, wavy-surfaced, spherical fruits of the coriander variety Coriandrum sativium var. vulgare Alef., grown mainly for seed oil, have a diameter of about 3–6 cm. Cultivars of another variety, Coriandrum sativium var. microcarpum DC., are grown mainly for leaves and usually produce smaller fruits 1–3 mm in diameter.

For some people, cilantro leaves, especially at the flowering stage, have a somewhat unpleasant smell, which some think resembles the smell of well-worn old shoes or bedbugs. This smell is due to aldehyde compounds contained in green plants and tissues of unripe fruits. On the other hand, during fruit ripening, the aromatic properties change, as aldehyde compounds disappear, and ripe fruits have a pleasant aroma reminiscent of orange. The taste of the leaves and seeds differs greatly. The seeds have a lemon-sage taste, and the leaves have a pungent or spicy taste reminiscent of parsley.

The cultivated plant has many features of wild coriander, but as a result of breeding, larger leaves have been developed for use as a vegetable, as well as other types of coriander with higher seed yield containing increased amounts of essential oil.

Ecological requirements

Vegetation

At the beginning of development, coriander growth is slow, and the plants are easily suppressed by weeds. Intensive stem growth begins after the formation of 7–9 leaves.

Flowering and ripening are uneven.

The growing season is 90–120 days.

The following phases of growth and development are distinguished:

• emergence;
• rosette;
• stem elongation;
• flowering;
• seed ripening.

Crop rotation

In crop rotation, the best predecessors for coriander are winter and early cereal grains, grain legumes, maize, and potato. Good predecessors among vegetable crops can be early and cauliflower, cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini, pattypan squash, table root crops, tomato, and pepper.

Bad predecessors are late-harvested crops (sunflower, sugar beet, Sudan grass, etc.), since they remove large amounts of nutrients and moisture from the soil.

Coriander can serve as a predecessor for spring and winter cereals, and in southern regions for sunflower.

Coriander is returned to the previous crop rotation site no earlier than after 4–5 years.

Fertilizer system

Coriander plants consume nutrients unevenly during the growing season. Maximum consumption occurs during the flowering phase. A lack of nutrients in the soil, as well as moisture, during this period leads to a reduction in yield.

Coriander responds well to the application of fertilizers.

Organic fertilizers are recommended to be applied under the preceding crop at a rate of 20 t/ha of manure.

Mineral fertilizers are applied directly under the crop, using 1R<abbr title="Maximum hygroscopicity">MG</abbr>-4, NRU-0.5, and RUM-5: before pre-sowing soil treatment, NPK is applied at 45–60 kg/ha (Vavilov; according to other recommendations, 65–80 kg/ha, Niklyaev); in rows at sowing, phosphorus is applied at 10–15 kg/ha. In the 4–5 leaf phase, fertilizing with nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers at 20 kg/ha is also carried out.

According to Autko’s recommendations, the dose of mineral fertilizers for coriander is N₆₀P₉₀K₉₀; phosphorus-potassium fertilizers and 2/3 of the nitrogen are applied before pre-sowing soil treatment using AKSh-3.6, and the remaining nitrogen is applied as top dressing.

To obtain well-filled coriander seeds, it is advisable to increase the dose of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. During the growing season, functional diagnostics of the plant state are periodically recommended. If nutrients are deficient, foliar feeding with water-soluble complex fertilizers is carried out. Feeding is carried out in the phase of 2–3 true leaves of coriander with a fertilizer dose of 1.3 l/ha; the second feeding is carried out at a plant height of 10–12 cm with a dose of 1.5 l/ha.

The effectiveness of potassium 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, N₆₀P₆₀K₆₀ is recommended.

Soil tillage system

Soil treatment for coriander includes:

• fall plowing to a depth of 20–27 cm with PLN-4-35 plows; if coriander is placed after cereal crops or with strong weed infestation of the field, stubble disking is carried out before plowing using BDT-3.0 and BDT-7A disk harrows;
• harrowing in early spring;
• pre-sowing cultivation with harrowing using KPN-4 cultivators.

In southern regions with strong weed infestation of fields, a second disking of the soil to a depth of 10–12 cm is carried out after weed seedlings appear.

On clean and slightly compacted soils, only pre-sowing harrowing may be carried out. On compacted soils, pre-sowing cultivation to a depth of 5–6 cm is required.

Sowing

Since coriander tolerates transplanting poorly, it is propagated by seeds, despite the fact that they germinate slowly.

Large and leveled seeds are used for sowing. Air-thermal (solar) treatment for 3–4 days gives a good effect.

Before sowing, seeds are treated with an 80% TMTD solution at a rate of 4 kg of preparation per 1 t of seeds.

In order to accelerate germination and increase seed germination, seeds are treated with solutions of potassium nitrate and trisubstituted potassium phosphate (KNO₃ + K₃PO₄). The optimal salt concentration is 0.4–0.5% with equal ratios of potassium salts to each other. The ratio of seed volumes to salt solution should correspond to 1:2. Coriander seeds are treated for 20–24 hours. After treatment, the solution is drained, the seeds are washed with clean water for 1.5–2 hours, and aerated with oxygen or air. Excess moisture is removed using a centrifuge, and the seeds are dried on dryers in an air flow at a coolant temperature of 30–35°C until free-flowing. If necessary, the seeds can be dried to standard moisture content and stored for 2–3 or more months. Pre-sowing treatment with potassium salts helps increase germination energy by 12–15%, laboratory germination by 10–12%, and shortens the time to full emergence by 2–3 days, which makes it possible to reduce weed infestation. Instead of potassium salts, soaking seeds in water can be used. Before sowing, seeds are soaked in water for three days, changing the water twice a day, and then dried until free-flowing. When soaked, mass emergence appears on the fifth–seventh day; without soaking, after 13–15 days.

Sowing begins in early spring, in the first days of field work.

The sowing method is wide-row with 45 cm row spacing. It is usually carried out with beet seeders. Conventional row sowing can also be used, provided the fields are free of weeds, with 70 cm row spacing and 5–6 cm between plants in the row. For two-row sowing, the scheme 62+8 × 10 cm is used.

Another sowing scheme can be used: 20 cm between plants in the row and 50–75 cm between rows.

With the two-row sowing method, a coriander plant density of 285 thousand plants per 1 ha is ensured; with single-row sowing, 240 thousand plants per 1 ha. With a denser stand, coriander is strongly affected by diseases.

The seeding rate for the wide-row method is (10) 13–15 (16) kg/ha; for conventional row sowing, 20–22 kg/ha.

Seed embedding depth is 2–4 cm<1>. According to other data, the sowing depth is 4–5 cm<2>. According to Autko, the seed embedding depth is 2.0–2.5 cm on loamy soils and 3.5 cm on sandy loam soils.

For mechanized sowing of coriander on narrow-profile ridges, the combined sowing unit KPA-2.8 is used, which simultaneously with sowing forms narrow-profile trapezoidal ridges.

After sowing, the soil is rolled.

Crop care

4–5 days after sowing, pre-emergence harrowing is carried out. After the seeds sprout, a second harrowing is additionally carried out.

When 2–3 true leaves form, foliar feeding of the plants with liquid complex fertilizers at a rate of 1.3 l/ha is recommended.

Care of coriander sowings after emergence consists of harrowing, 2–3 inter-row soil treatments to a depth of 2–3 cm, and irrigation.

Additional bee pollination during flowering gives a good effect.

If there is a lack of moisture in May–June, two or three irrigations are carried out (better during the day, after 16:00) at a rate of 120–150 m³/ha. After irrigation, if soil does not stick to the tractor wheels, the surface of the narrow-profile ridges is loosened with a KOU-4/6 cultivator using rotary harrows.

When the third true leaf appears in coriander plants and the plants are 12 cm high, two foliar feedings are recommended.

Plant protection

For treating coriander seed material, the following preparations are used:

• VITAVAX 200, WP, against ramulariosis;
• TMTD, WP, against ramulariosis, applied 2–15 days before sowing or in advance.

Against ramulariosis on coriander plants, ALTO, SC is used, with which spraying is carried out during the growing season.

Against coriander pests, the following preparations are used:

• CARBOFOS, EC, CARBOFOT, EC, FUFANON, EC, KEMIFOS, EC, BUNCHUK, EC against mites, aphids, leaf beetles, and meadow moth; spraying is carried out during the growing season.

Before coriander emergence, against weeds, spraying with Luvar, WS (2,4-D acid 610 g/l) can be carried out at a rate of 1.6–2.0 l/ha.

Against annual dicotyledonous and grass weeds, spraying is carried out on seedlings with Gesagard, SC or Gesagard WP (prometryn, 500 g/l) at a preparation rate of 4 l/ha on sandy loam sod-podzolic soils, 6 l/ha on loamy and peat-bog soils — 8 l/ha.

Against annual and perennial grass weeds, spraying of plantations is carried out in the phase of 2–4 leaves of annual weeds and at a height of couch grass of 10–15 cm with the herbicide Fusilade Forte EC at a preparation rate of 0.75–2 l/ha.

Against weeds in sowings of castor bean, the following herbicides are used:

• 2.4D, WS, DESORMON, WS, DICOPUR, WS, AMILAN EXTRA, WS, AMINOPELIK, WS, LUVARAM, WS, against annual dicotyledonous weeds; spraying is carried out before crop emergence;
• ZELLEK-SUPER, EC, against annual and perennial grass weeds; spraying of sowings is carried out in the phase of 2–4 true leaves of the crop;
• PROMETRIN, WP, against annual dicotyledonous and grass weeds; spraying of sowings is carried out before emergence or in the phase of 2–3 true leaves of the crop;
• NABU-S, MEC, against annual dicotyledonous weeds; spraying of sowings is carried out on vegetative weeds in the phase of 2–4 leaves of the crop;
• TREF LAN, EC, TRIFLUREX, EC, against annual grass and dicotyledonous weeds; pre-sowing or pre-emergence spraying of the soil is carried out (with immediate incorporation);
• FUSILADE-SUPER, EC, against annual and perennial grass weeds; spraying of sowings is carried out in the phase of 2–6 leaves of the crop;
• PROPANID, 4 kg/ha a.i., spraying of sowings is carried out in the phase of 2–3 true leaves of the crop.

Harvesting

Seed production

When placing seed-production crops, spatial isolation must be observed: 2000 m in an open place and 600 m in a protected place.

Seed harvesting is carried out by the separate method: mowing into windrows when 60% of the seeds turn brown, then the windrows are picked up and threshed using a grain combine.

Seeds are stored in paper bags in a dry place. Varietal purity of coriander seeds by category: not less than I — 97%, II — 95%, and III — 85%; in category III, an admixture of seeds of varieties and rare hybrids is allowed among the total admixture, not more than 1%.

The germination viability lasts 3–4 years.

Coriander varieties

• Siena, Luch, Yantar, Kirovogradsky, Ranniy.

Essential oil coriander varieties:

• Alekseevsky 1366 (1998). The variety was developed by the Alekseevskaya Experimental Station of VNIIMK.
• Alekseevsky 190 (1998).
• Alekseevsky 413 (2004).

Salad varieties:

• Krylatsky Semko (2000).
• Stimul (2000). Developed by the VNII of Vegetable Breeding and Seed Production (Moscow oblast).
• Pervenets (2001).
• Venera (2003).
• Shiko (2003).
• Borodinsky (2005).
• Piknik (2005).
• Prelest (2005).
• Taiga (2005).

Sources

1. Vavilov P. P., Gritsenko V. V., Kuznetsov V. S. et al. (1986). Crop production. Ed. Vavilov P. P. 5th ed., revised and expanded. Moscow: Agropromizdat.
2. Kolomeichenko V. V. (2007). Crop production/Textbook. Moscow: Agrobusinesscenter.
3. Niklyaev V. S. (2000). Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Agriculture and crop production. Moscow: “Bylina”.
4. Rubatzky, V.E., Quires, C.F., Simon, P.W. (1999). Carrots and related vegetable Umbelliferae. USA.
5. Rubatzky, Vincent E., Yamaguchi, Mas. (1997). World vegetables: principles, production, and nutritive values. 2nd ed.
6. Autko A.A. et al. (2 12). Modern technologies in vegetable growing. Edited by Dr. of Agricultural Sciences A. A. Autko. National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Institute of Vegetable Growing. Minsk: Belarusian Science.