Camomile breeding technology

Morphological characteristics

Uzgoj i proizvodnja kamilice - Plantaže d.o.o.Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L., fam. Asteraceae) is a wildflower plant spread all over the world, one year old species, can be grown as monoculture, but there are special breeding rules. The root is ravenous, does not penetrate deep into the ground, which depends on the moisture in the soil. The stalk can be upright or curved, 5-100cm high, depending on the various factors (soil, the set, available nutrients...). The leaves are seated, doubles to three times perennial divided, narrow, linear limes, light green and lilac. The flower is made up of tongued, white flowers arranged around a hollow flowerpot and tubular yellow flowers. The fruit is a gray-white dumbbell long 1 to 1.5mm. The mass of 1000 seeds is 0.02 to 0.03g. Chamomile is abundant with active ingredients, and the main ingredient is essential oil, 0.3 to 1.3%. Essential oil accumulates in the nodules that are ring-shaped in the lower third of tubular flowers. The oil is dark blue, green or brown. The important ingredients of camomile oil are alpha bisabolol, farnezene and bisabolol oxides.

Chamomile seeded and springed in the autumn is successfully overwintering. If it sits in the spring, it is weaker in the bite of flowers and contains less active substances. The chameleon seed germs for two to three years, if properly stored, and once sown in the ground remains germinated for more than ten years. With the sufficient presence of light and moisture, the seeds sprouted already the fifth day after sowing. In early spring the plant starts to grow intensively, and during the winter days if there is no snow cover and if the day temperature is higher than 6ºC. A large rosette is formed, the groove begins, and then the spool. At the end of April and mid-May it begins to bloom, depending on the properties of the sown variety, the climate and the soil. Full bloom, to achieve the greatest quantity and quality, lasts 7-15 days. If the harvest takes place at the beginning of the flowering and if it is precipitous, the chamomile flourishes again within 3-5 days and gets up to 50% of the first harvest. The seed ripens along with flowering, and the fruit begins to form from the bottom of the flower head. Picking of overriped chamois is a big waste, because the mature seeds are prone to a rash.

Breeding camomile

LAND - In terms of land chamomile does not set certain conditions. It can be grown on almost all types of land - both fertile and rich, as well as poor and even extremely alkaline.

CROP ROTATION - The quality and yield of chamomiles are largely dependent on the choice of pre-culture. Every pre-culture that is removed before August is good, because for sowing in the first deadlines soil should be prepared at the end of August. As soon as the camomile appears, the perennial broadleaf weeds need to change the sown surface. It is also cultivated as a monoculture, and the crop life depends on properly applied agrotechnics. The camomile improves the structure of the soil and the stained layer of pseudogleyous soils is enriched with humus, and as such is suitable as a pre-culture.

LAND WORK - For the successful production of chamomile it is very important to prepare the soil. In the first year of production, after harvesting, the ground must be dug slowly. The buds need not be deeper than 25cm, but they must immediately close the groove and prepare the stained layer, so that it does not dry out and the earth grinds. Before sowing, the surface should be rolled out with a roller that must be filled with water or sand.
The surface should remain flat, so there is no protuberance in order to make the vintage as good as possible. Rolling is essential to achieve capillary to the surface of the soil. Depending on the type of soil and the structure of the surface layer, the rolling is carried out in one to three passes, until a flat and compact surface with no traces of slicing is obtained. When treating camomile land, attention should be paid to the destruction of weeds. Particularly great damage can be caused by perennial weeds, as well as weeds with a large leaf surface (broad weeds).

FERTILIZATION - In medium-rich and rich soils, the camomile is not to be frozen because the over-cooked chamomile is overturned, so the harvest is considerably hampered, and the stems can be reached due to the overgrowth of the stalk due to over-fertilization with nitrogen fertilizers. When fertilizing the chamomile, the annual amount of N should not exceed 20 kg / ha. In this case, the adulteration takes place at the beginning of the year when the chamomile starts growing with max. 120 kg of complex mineral fertilizer 15-15-15 / ha.

SOWING - Sowing is justified by February at the latest and optimal autumn terms are from mid-September to late October. The first sowing time is the end of September, and the last beginning of November. If the proper layout of the falls in autumn, extended sowing times are achieved with satisfactory effects. In extremely dry autumn, crops grow faster and grow more evenly, if sowing is done in another time. If the seed gets enough moisture, it will start to germinate in 8 to 10 days. Young plants up until the winter strengthen, completely cover the land and such surname. Early in spring, as soon as snow is dissolved, chamomile begins its intense growth. The chili seed of the chickens only if there is enough light, so it slices flat on the surface. The chamomile blends the wheat seedlings with seeds from seed vendors.
Immediately prior to the sowing of the surface, a smooth roller is required to bring the seed to the ground and touch the ground moisture. This rolling operation can be done simultaneously with sowing. It is dry for a quiet time, because even the weakest wind can disturb the sowing. The amount of pulp seed needed for sowing 1 ha is 12 to 20 kg, depending on the precision of the sowing, the size of the pulvisal seed and the quality and preparation of the soil.

CARE OF CHAMOMILE - It means destroying the weeds if they occur during the vegetation period. The weeding of weeds is done exclusively by mechanical cross-cutting or by hand picking.

HARVEST - The chamomile is grown for flower heads. The flourishing of a chamomile begins in April. According to the state of the flower determines the maturity of the chamomile for the harvest. The camel is best off when 60% of the flower heads are physiologically mature (not yet shaped the seed, the petals are in a horizontal position). If the rain falls 5-6 days after the harvest, another harvest can be done in two weeks, giving up to 50% of the first harvest. There are special pullers or remanufactured grain harvesters for harvesting, which takes about three to eight hours for about 3-4 hours of chamomile crops and 12-16 t of fresh flowers. The average yield when optimal climatic conditions is 4 t of fresh flower per ha, with 60% of the first class flower.

YIELD - The yield of chamomile is about 500 kg / ha of dry flower (head). 200 - 400 kg / ha of flower with longer stems (herbaceous part) is obtained next to the root.

TREATMENT AFTER PICKING - The chamomile should be transported to dryness as soon as possible so that it would not "turn on". Before the drying can be missed through a cylindrical separator used to separate the chamomile into two fractions: 1. the fraction is flower and stem length up to 30 mm and the 2nd fraction consists of stems longer than 30 mm, small amount of flower and weeds. This is very useful because of the separate and different drying process for each fraction. It is dried in thermal driers at temperatures up to 45 ° C. It should not be dried in the sun, because the dried chamomile so dried out quickly. Drying in thermal drying takes about 24 hours, depending on the type of dryer, moisture and the thickness of the camomile layer. The ratio of fresh and dry mass is 5: 1. The dried chamomile is packed in cardboard boxes. It is stored in a dry, cool and airy place.

Production of high quality chamomile

For product inquiries and further information please contact us!

Contact us!