Mustard seeds: description of industrial varieties, use in agriculture, cultivation

Mustard - vegetable culture, related toCruciferous family. There are several dozen species of this plant, but only three varieties are used as spices - white, black and brown.

White mustard (White Mustard, lat.Sinapsis alba) is common in North America and Europe. The plant is annual, low (60 cm). Mustard seeds of this variety are very light, with a touch of honey, moderately sharp.

Brown mustard (or sareptskaya, Latin.Brassica juncea, eng. Brown Mustard) in terms of popularity ahead of both white and black. Moderately acute. Mustard seeds - 2 mm in diameter, round, brown or brown. The homeland of the plant is considered the Himalayas, although it is mainly cultivated in India. Russia "met" with brown mustard in the XVIII century. thanks to the Germans invited by Catherine II to explore the south of Russia. Among the first settlers was a missionary, a doctor and a translator Konrad Neitz. It was from his “light hand” that mustard got on the royal table.

Brown mustard is now sold as a powder and as an ordinary canteen in almost every grocery store.

Горчица черная (Black Mustard, лат.Brassica nigra), also referred to as French, has a rather long stem, up to a meter. Boxes with seeds open immediately after ripening, which makes harvesting extremely difficult. It is grown mainly in South Asia. Black mustard seeds are the sharpest, but also the most fragrant cultivated varieties.This plant has been valued since antiquity and howmedicinal, and as a culinary. The unique properties of mustard are due to the substances contained in it, including minerals (calcium, copper, manganese, selenium, iron, zinc), phytohormones, vitamins, antioxidants. Mustard seeds are a real fount of energy and dietary fiber, which is very important for those who suffer from excess cholesterol, which is controlled by niacin (vitamin B3). Fruits contain flavonoids (antioxidants), lutein, zeaxanthin, carotene and many vitamins that fight free radicals (K, E, C, A), as well as sterols (sitosterol, campesterol, avenasterol, stigmasterol, brassicasterol), myrozin, sinigrin, acids (eicogenic, erucic, palmitic, oleic).

The demand for mustard seeds is increasing every year. The plant is profitable to grow both for sale and for the needs of their own consumption.

Посев семян горчицы помогает оздоравливать почву, improve fertility, destroy pathogens of diseases such as late blight, fusarium, scab, and so on. Do not like mustard wireworm, slug, bear, pea moth. Sowing the green manure without exaggeration allows you to abandon many fertilizers in the future, which is beneficial both for ordinary gardeners and for solid farms and farmers, because the natural healing of the soil cannot be replaced with preparations created on a chemical basis. Sowing mustard seeds restores the balance of the soil in a natural way, which is really important. The plant germinates soon and is able to quickly grow mass, even in the cold period.

Mustard is especially effective when combined withlegumes (alternates through a row). It is a green manure, perfectly loosening, structuring, draining the soil and increasing the air intensity. The root system of the plant can penetrate up to three meters. This quality made it possible to recognize the mustard as a crop that protects the soil from erosion in the fall and spring (and if left unmown, in the winter too). It perfectly retains the snow, contributing to the accumulation of moisture and reducing the freezing of the soil. In the steppes, where the winds are stronger and more frequent, the plant is sown among winter crops (in rows).

As a feed crop, mustard is used as a green mass. Its value is close to the feed.

Посев семян горчицы лучше проводить на почвах, previously processed, fertilized (the plant “processes” the fertilizer, making it easily digestible for subsequent crops), sod-podzolic and sandy. Seeds germinate already at +1 degrees Celsius, shoots tolerate frosts down to -5 degrees.

Mustard seeds (the price depends on the variety, on average - about 30 rubles per kilogram) is better to buy in specialized stores.