Name: Dalmatian chamomile – Dalmatian chamomile (growing and cultivation)
Dalmatian chamomile (Dalmatian chamomile) Pirethrum cinerariifolium T g e v., Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium V і s.
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Synonyms: ash-leaf chamomile, pyrethrum cineraria-leaf.
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Description. A perennial plant from the Asteraceae family (Compositae) of a grayish-silver color, within 0.50.8 m in height. The rhizome is large, fibrous, with the main multi-headed root, penetrating into the ground to a depth of 23 m, and a large number of adventitious roots. In the first year of culture, a rosette develops with a large number of basal leaves. In the second year, 40,100 or more stems appear. The leaves are petiolate, double- and triple-pinnate, gray-green above, ash-gray below. The inflorescence is a complex basket with a diameter of up to 56 cm, consisting of marginal reed sterile female flowers of white color and medium tubular bisexual yellow flowers. The fruit is a small, ribbed, narrow achene. Blooms in May June. The fruits ripen in June-July. The weight of 1000 seeds is 0.51.2 g.
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Medicinal raw materials: inflorescences and upper parts of stems.
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biological features . Dalmatian chamomile is a drought-resistant plant, which, on the one hand, can tolerate prolonged drought, and on the other hand, easily adapts to a humid climate. However, excess moisture in the soil does not tolerate well. Under the cover of snow cover, it withstands rather low temperatures (up to 2030 ° C below zero). If there is no snow, it freezes easily even at higher temperatures. From 30% of its fourth year of culture, bulging (pushing out) of bushes above the soil surface is observed.
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Habitat . It grows in mountainous areas at an altitude of 5002000 m above sea level, on rocky, sunny, dry, calcareous and mountain slopes.
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Spreading. In the wild, Dalmatian chamomile is found in the southern regions of the Balkan Peninsula.
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Cultivated in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Japan, Italy, Spain, USA and France.
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In the USSR, it is cultivated in the south of Ukraine, in Moldova, in the North Caucasus and in Central Asia.
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Composition of active substances. The active ingredients of Dalmatian chamomile are mainly esters: pyrethrin I and pyrethrin II, cinerin I and cinerin II. The toxicity of pyrethrins is approximately twice that of cinerins. Pyrethrin I is 2.5 times more active than pyrethrin II. The amount of pyrethrin varies in flower ovaries from 0.4 to 1.6%, in leaves up to 0.2 and in stems up to 0.1%.
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Application. Dalmatian chamomile is used as an insecticide. All kinds of products are prepared from its flowers, stems and leaves, which are widely used in the fight against field pests, human and animal parasites. The insecticidal raw materials obtained from its inflorescences are processed into a very fine powder (pyrethrum), and then into special products (flicid, pyretol, extracts and dusts). They are also used in the form of aqueous and alcoholic solutions.
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The value of products made from Dalmatian chamomile inflorescences lies in the fact that they destroy insects and are actually harmless to humans and warm-blooded animals.
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Agrotechnics of cultivation. Site selection. Dalmatian chamomile grows in the same place for eight or more years, but the most productive period is from three to six years of culture. Therefore, it is better to place plants in open areas, and if they are not available, cultivate them in field crop rotation areas that are flat in relief with deep groundwater. For Dalmatian chamomile, the most favorable are fertile chernozems of light mechanical composition with a good structure, non-flooding. On heavy, low-lying and sandy soils, it grows poorly.
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The best predecessors in field crop rotations are considered to be winter, going through a fertilized fallow, and early harvested legumes and tilled crops.
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Soil tillage . After winter, soil preparation for Dalmatian chamomile is carried out according to the system of autumn plowing with preliminary stubble plowing (depth of autumn plowing is 2527 cm). After tilled crops, they plow on fallow land immediately after their harvest.
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In early spring, the field is harrowed, and soon afterwards, before sowing, it is cultivated and harrowed again. If the field is poorly developed or not compacted enough during the winter, rolling and harrowing should be carried out. Such processing contributes to good soil cutting, the creation of a finely cloddy structure, the correct (shallow) placement of seeds and obtaining friendly seedlings.
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Application of fertilizers. As the main fertilizer for Dalmatian chamomile, manure is applied in the amount of 2025 t/ha. With a lack of manure, it should be applied half with mineral fertilizers.
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Reproduction. Dalmatian chamomile reproduces mainly by sowing seeds into the soil in spring, immediately after the start of field work. Seeds are pre-soaked for 78 hours in water at room temperature. The seeding rate is 6 7 kg/ha. The sowing depth is 23 cm. Podzimny sowing goes without sowing, but with a powder of humus 1 cm thick. The sowing rate increases by 10-15% compared to spring sowing. The Crimean experimental station VILRa recommends sowing Dalmatian chamomile in strips with winter crops (winter crops are sown in strips at intervals of 70,100 m). Winter crops protect chamomile crops from blowing and drifting of soil during spring wind storms. Chamomile is sown on the vacated strips after harvesting winter crops next spring.
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Care of the plantations of the first year of culture mainly consists in the systematic loosening of row-spacings and rows. During the summer, the row spacing is machined four or five times and the rows are weeded two or three times.
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On winter crops, the first sharovka is recommended in early spring, and on spring crops, immediately after emergence (to a depth of 56 cm).
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The second loosening takes place after the emergence of seedlings on plantations of the first year of life, at the beginning of the appearance of stems (to a depth of 1012 cm) on transitional plantations.
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During the first balling, top dressing is carried out at the rate of 60 kg/ha of phosphorus, 30 kg/ha of nitrogen and 30 kg/ha of potassium of the active substance.
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Cleaning. Chamomile inflorescences are harvested with special chamomile harvesters during the blooming period of most tubular flowers. In the southern regions, the harvesting of inflorescences with grass stalks is often done with a front heating (with a special device to reduce losses). Cutting height not lower than 2025 cm.
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Growing seeds. To obtain seeds, special plots are laid or the best fields with a normal herbage are allocated on ready-made plantations.
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Seed plants are harvested at the stage of wax maturity with a heating pad with a device for harvesting inflorescences with stems. Large areas should be harvested with specially adapted combines. Cut inflorescences are collected on a tarpaulin or in burlap and taken to the current for drying, then threshed on a threshing machine and cleaned on grain cleaning machines, bringing the seeds to sowing conditions. The average seed yield is 27 kg/ha.
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In order to improve the seed material, along with the usual selection methods, we also tested the biological selection method using the fruit fly (Drosofilla melanogaster). For this, Dalmatian chamomile flowers were selected in our nursery and on collective farm plantations in the Zhytomyr region (to determine the content of pyrethrin). After drying the flowers, fine grinding was carried out on a special machine. This powder was also used on fruit flies in test tubes. It turned out that those test tubes in which more fruit flies died contained a significantly higher percentage of pyrethrin. This was confirmed by chemical tests. Many specimens of Dalmatian chamomile were discarded after the biological test on fruit flies, leaving very few specimens with elevated pyrethrin content for the chemical test.
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Drying . Raw materials are dried in attics under an iron roof or in dryers. In good weather, chamomile can be dried in the sun, spreading it out on a tarp.
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If the chamomile is harvested along with the stems, then the mowed mass is first dried in heaps and only on the second day is taken to the current for drying. Dry chamomile is stacked and covered with straw to prevent it from getting wet.
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The average yield of dry chamomile inflorescences is approximately 56 c/ha, the best is 1015 c/ha.
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Pack. The flowers are packed in bags, and the stems in bales, which are pressed with an ordinary hay press.
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Storage. Store raw materials in a dry, well-ventilated area. In this case, it will be necessary to ensure that the inflorescences or whole plants do not absorb moisture.
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quality requirements . According to GOST 262853 in the commercial mass of Dalmatian chamomile flower baskets, it is allowed: moisture 12%; brown parts 5; flower baskets with peduncles longer than 2 cm 5; organic impurities (parts of other plants) 2.5, mineral 1.0%. Whole flower baskets should be at least 65%; the content of pyrethrin 1 in flower baskets is not less than 0.3%; biological activity for flower baskets 10 min, for flower baskets with peduncles 15 min. (Biological activity is determined by the amount of time during which flies die, treated with finely ground chamomile powder.)
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Finely ground insecticidal powder from dried flowers is obtained at factory mills by grinding in special stone mortars. The finer the grind, the higher the toxicity of chamomile.