2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Rapeseed (lat. Brassica napus) Is a herbaceous plant with a bright yellow flowering, which is a representative of the Cabbage genus from the family of plants of the same name "Cabbage". According to archaeological finds, human use of Rape is at least six thousand years old. Moreover, in the wild, this plant has not been found anywhere. Therefore, scientists believe that Rape is a child from the crossing of garden cabbage and field cabbage, otherwise called "rape" or "rape". Whether this was done by nature itself or man tried, remains a mystery. Rapeseed oil, isolated from the seeds of the plant, is actively used by humans for food. And not so long ago, they learned to make motor liquid biofuel from vegetable rapeseed oil, which has become a competitor to fuel from oil.
Description
From the main spindle-shaped thick taproot of the plant, penetrating to a depth of 3 m, the adventitious roots extend, the main part of which is at a depth of up to half a meter.
Above the surface of the earth, an erect, rounded stem, covered with a wax coating, rises. The stem height varies from 0.6 to 2 m. The stem branches strongly, forming a powerful bush.
Rape cannot be confused with relatives of the genus, since only on one plant there are leaves of three different forms at the same time: at the top of the stem, the leaves are sessile, lanceolate-elongated; the middle of the stem is decorated with spear-shaped elongated leaves; at the base of the stem is a compact basal rosette of pinnately cut leaves, sitting on petioles and in the form of a musical lyre.
Sun-yellow 4-petal flowers form loose inflorescences in the form of a shield or brush. The blooming Rapeseed field looks like a sea, the yellow waters of which rustle in waves under the gusts of wind. Flowers are pollinated by wind and insects.
The fruit of the plant is a pod, inside which there can be up to three dozen small dark seeds. Despite their small size, the seeds are ready to turn into fresh seedlings even after 6 years of storage.
Growing
Rape, unlike cabbage, is an annual plant. Its fertility depends on the length of daylight hours. The shorter the daylight hours, the less seeds the plant will give, spending all its energy on the growth of green mass. Such conditions are good when Rapeseed is grown as livestock feed. When growing Rapeseed for the production of vegetable oil, the plant needs a long day of light.
Rape is a cold-resistant plant that has two forms: spring and winter, such as garlic. Therefore, it is sown in early spring, or before winter. Seedlings are not afraid of frosts down to minus five degrees.
To obtain a good harvest, fertile soil is required, rich in organic matter, loose and moist. However, soil moisture should not provoke stagnation of water, since dampness and waterlogging act depressingly on the plant, causing root rot and death of the plant. Therefore, the place for growing Rapeseed should be with deep groundwater and good drainage.
Rape is harmed not only by excess moisture, but also by a number of insect pests that love to feast on plants of the Cabbage family. These are, first of all, gluttonous cabbage aphids and cruciferous fleas. But there are also pests specializing in Rapeseed - this is the rape flower beetle and the rapeseed sawfly.
Usage
* The high protein content makes Rapeseed nutritious
animal feed … Both the greens of the plant and the by-product remaining after pressing the rapeseed oil, the so-called rapeseed meal, are used for fodder.
* Seeds are used to obtain
edible vegetable oil … True, the high content of erucic acid in some rapeseed varieties makes rapeseed oil, according to some scientists, harmful to human health, since this acid is not processed by the body, but accumulates in it, causing diseases. Therefore, in the world, the permissible percentages of acid content are set from 2 to 5%.
* The third direction is the use of Rapeseed to obtain
biodiesel is gaining more and more popularity in the world.
