Name: Plowed stalk – ovchug poloviy (growing and cultivating)
Plowed stalk ( polyovy owlet) Ononis arvensis L. (O. hircina J ac q.).
\rSynonyms: field harrow, common harrow, smelly harrow (Ukrainian vovchug, bichacha grass, boyar-zilla).
\rDescription. A perennial herbaceous plant from the leguminous family (Leguminosae), 30 cm high, with tough pubescence and an unpleasant odor. The root is taproot, long, woody, slightly branched at the bottom, turning into a short dark brown rhizome at the top. The stem is straight, rarely branched, lilac, densely pubescent. Leaves alternate, petiolate, lower and middle trifoliate, upper simple. The flowers are large, on short stalks, collected in dense spike-shaped inflorescences at the ends of stems and branches, sitting two in axils of leaves. Corolla five-leafed, papilionaceous, pink or pale pink. The fruit is a 2-seed bean with a length within 7 mm; seeds are brown, rough, slightly kidney-shaped. Weight of 1000 seeds within 45 g. Blooms in June-August; seeds ripen in July-September.
\rMedicinal raw materials: roots.
\rHabitat. It grows singly or in thickets among shrubs, in floodplain and upland meadows, sometimes along river banks, at the borders.
\rSpreading. It grows wild in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European part of the USSR, in the Caucasus, in Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Kazakh SSR.
\rComposition of active substances. Glycosides (ononin, ononid), terpene saponin, onoceral, alcohol bean, resin, tannins, essential oil were found in the roots of the plowed harrow.
\rApplication. It has been established that tincture and decoction of the roots of harrow as an anti-hemorrhoidal agent stop bleeding, normalize stools, eliminate inflammation, pain, and promote healing of cracks. At the suggestion of WILR, a decoction of the roots is drunk three times every day, a quarter cup before meals. They also use tincture, 50-60 drops three times every day. The treatment period is 1530 days. In folk medicine, plowed harrow is widely used as a diuretic, diaphoretic and blood purifier. It is also used in the treatment of gout, epilepsy, inflammation of the bladder and kidneys, kidney stones. Baths from a decoction of the herb willow grass are used in the treatment of eczema.
\rAgrotechnics of cultivation. Site selection. It is recommended to allocate loose, humus-rich soils for plantations of steelhead. It is not necessary to choose swampy, also very dry and weedy areas. It can be placed in vegetable, fodder crop rotations, crop rotations of medicinal herbs and in open areas. The best predecessors are winter cereals, going through a fertilized fallow, vegetable crops, as well as fodder or medicinal crops, vacating the field early.
\rSoil cultivation. After grain predecessors, hulling is carried out to a depth of 68 cm, and when the weeds sprout, deep plowing (up to 30 cm); with a small arable layer to its entire depth. Before sowing, the field is cultivated to a depth of 78 cm and harrowed.
\rApplication of fertilizers. Organic fertilizers are applied under the previous crop in the form of manure or compost (20-30 t/ha), mineral fertilizers (60 kg/ha of phosphate and phosphorus and 30 kg/ha of potash) are applied for autumn plowing.
\rReproduction. The plowed stalk is propagated directly by sowing seeds into the ground. Before sowing, the seeds are treated with granosan (12 g per 1 kg of seeds). Then, to increase their germination, they are scarified by grinding with emery sand.
\rSow in early spring, as soon as soil conditions permit. Early spring sowing gives the best results.
\rPlantation care. As soon as shoots are indicated, row spacing is loosened. At the stage of 68 leaves, bouquets are made if the seedling density is more than 20 per linear meter of the row (according to the 25 cm scheme in a bouquet with a 20 cm cutout). This greatly facilitates weed control. During the summer, row-spacings are loosened three or four times, weeds are pulled out.
\rHarvesting is done in two steps: first, the above-ground mass is mowed with headers and taken out of the field, then with single-hull
\rplows without dumps or beet lifters dig roots (they are plowed at a depth of at least 30 cm). The remains of the stems are cut from the roots and washed in cold running water on root washers.
\rSu sh ka. After washing, the roots are laid out for one or two days on racks in well-ventilated rooms or outdoors, on a tarpaulin. Withered roots in good weather are dried in the open air or in attics, and in bad weather or in late autumn in fire dryers at a temperature of no more than 50 ° C.
\rThe pack is produced in bales of 50 kg.
\rStorage . Store roots in a dry, well-ventilated area.
\rquality requirements . The finished raw material should consist of dried, whole woody pieces of roots up to 40 cm long, 0.52 cm thick at the root collar, yellowish-gray or grayish at the break and brown on the outside. The taste is slightly bitter, unpleasant.
\rIn accordance with VTUF No. 240858, in dried roots it is allowed: moisture 14%; total ash 10; particles longer than 8 mm 10; other plant particles 2; organic impurities 1; mineral 2%.