Buckwheat is a very popular plant, cultivated in many countries around the world. At the same time, not every person knows where buckwheat grows in the world, in which countries it is grown and where the best varieties grow. This crop is actively grown in Poland, France and India. Plantings in Brazil and the USA are increasing every year. However, the maximum amount of this cereal is obtained in China and Russia.
What does blooming buckwheat look like?
Cultivated buckwheat is a tall and well-branching plant, which is distinguished by powerful and developed roots.The average height of the stems is influenced by the varieties and varieties of the crop. However, on average it is 70-110 centimeters. The root system of the plant is characterized by high physiological activity. Related to this is the ability of buckwheat to displace weeds from fields.
This crop is characterized by a hollow and slightly ribbed stem, the thickness of which is 2.5-8.5 millimeters. The leaves have a pointed shape. They can be oval or triangular. Thin peduncles appear from the axils of fourth-order leaves. Over time, inflorescences are formed on them, including 2-5 flowers. With quality care, up to 3 thousand flowers appear on one plant during the flowering period. They can be milky white, red, pink or white-pink.
Flowering of varietal buckwheat begins after completion of the formation of the root system. This period is considered the most energy-consuming in the life of a culture. During the flowering period, the mass of the above-ground part of buckwheat increases 2-4 times. Although the plant's breeding varieties are cross-pollinated, bees are required to produce a good harvest. Flowers have open nectaries that are easily accessible to insects. This simplifies the pollination process.
When and how it is collected
Buckwheat has an extended ripening period. In Russia, harvesting is carried out using a separate method. Due to the long ripening period, determining when to start harvesting can be difficult.
When work is carried out early, yield parameters are reduced due to the large number of unfulfilled grains. If you start harvesting too late, there is a risk of increased losses due to excessive grain shedding.In addition, it can be difficult to determine the harvesting time due to the tendency of buckwheat to produce secondary fruits. This situation occurs if at the beginning of fruit formation there was dry weather, which then gave way to heavy rainfall.
As a rule, farmers begin harvesting when 75% of the grains are ripe. It takes up to 5 days to mow and form windrows. By the time the work is completed, grains ripen in 95-98% of the fields.
To determine the proportion of ripe fruits, it is recommended to take a seed sample from 10 plants in 5-7 different places in the fields. Then you need to calculate the number of mature grains from the total number. If the weather is dry and hot during the harvest period, it is recommended to mow in the morning and evening. Thanks to this, the stalks do not break as much and the grains crumble less.
For mowing, combine harvesters equipped with mounted headers are used, for example, ZhVN-6A. To harvest weeded and laid down buckwheat, it is worth using ZhKS-4A class headers. It is recommended to thresh the windrows 3-6 days after mowing. In this case, the grain moisture content should be 14-17%. After threshing, the grain heap must be passed through special cleaning machines. This helps to weed out chaff seeds and weeds. The cereal is then dried to standard moisture content.
Buckwheat growing regions
Buckwheat is grown in different countries of the world. This culture is considered to be demanding in terms of light and heat. However, it is capable of forming shoots for a long time, laying an unlimited number of inflorescences and surviving among weeds.
In the Russian Federation
In Russia, buckwheat is mainly grown in the southeast. Maximum sown areas are concentrated in the following regions:
- Altai region;
- Bashkiria;
- Orenburg region;
- Oryol Region;
- Novosibirsk region.
In other countries
Buckwheat is actively grown in various countries around the world. Among the leaders in the production of this cereal, it is worth highlighting the following states:
- China;
- Ukraine;
- France;
- Poland;
- USA;
- Brazil;
- Lithuania;
- Japan.
What determines the growth rate?
The increase in buckwheat acreage is associated with increased demand for cereals and high prices. Additional factors that allow increasing fields with this plant are climatic and soil conditions. For example, in the Russian regions where this crop is grown, it was possible to improve the condition of the soil through the use of fertilizers. In addition, there are fairly mild winters, which creates favorable conditions for growing buckwheat.
Interesting Facts
The cultivation of this culture is associated with a number of interesting facts. Among them it is worth highlighting the following:
- Buckwheat does not require specific care during the ripening period. It produces a good harvest even without fertilizing and easily copes with weeds that simply cannot grow nearby.
- Buckwheat is one of the few plants that cannot be genetically modified. Therefore, there are no GMO varieties of this crop.
- People first began to grow buckwheat more than 6 thousand years ago. This happened in Southeast Asia.
- In European countries, buckwheat is mainly cultivated for honey. This product has excellent taste and brings great health benefits.
- In terms of the content of valuable amino acids, buckwheat is close to products of animal origin. Therefore, it should be considered as a valuable meat substitute.In addition, cereals are much better absorbed by the body.
- Buckwheat is part of the national Japanese cuisine. There they make buckwheat noodles from this product, which are called “soba”.
- After frying, buckwheat becomes much tastier. This type of processing gives the cereal a pleasant aftertaste.
- Buckwheat is not a grain. The closest biological relatives of this plant are considered to be rhubarb and sorrel.
- In terms of the content of vitamins and minerals, buckwheat is 1.5-3 times higher than other cereals.
- Buckwheat contains 3 of the 8 amino acids necessary for the body. These include lysine, threonine and tryptophan.
- Regular consumption of buckwheat porridge has a beneficial effect on the psycho-emotional state and brain functions.
Buckwheat is a very valuable plant, which is a source of tasty and healthy cereals. That is why this crop is grown in various countries around the world.
