Cajanus cajan is the only woody edible legume crop. Its grain contains about 22% protein, 2% fat and 57% carbohydrate. Can be made into bean powder, bean curd, soybean milk, bean sprouts, bean paste, bean stuffing, etc. Its green seeds are high-quality and delicious vegetables, and a large number of mature seeds are used as food. Shoots and fresh leaves can be used as feed, and returning to the field is also a good fertilizer. The stems can be used as firewood, building materials and paper-making materials, the branches can be woven into baskets, bees can be raised in flowering period, and lac insects can be raised to produce lac in adult plants. At present, the international market price is good. In a word, cajanus cajan is the best crop to maintain and improve ecological balance and ask for food and money from barren hills and dry slopes.
The effect of green manure is remarkable, and it can also be used as cover crops, honey plants and hedgerows, and it is an excellent host of lac insects.
I. Botanical characteristics
Cajanus cajan is an erect shrub. Plant height 1-3m, taproot can penetrate into soil layer 2m, but it is mainly distributed in soil layer 30cm deep. Branchlets are weak, densely covered with short gray hairs, leaves alternate, trifoliate, and leaves are oblong-lanceolate. Racemes, axillary, corolla yellow, or purplish red longitudinal lines on the back of flag petals. Pods are 4-7 cm long, 6- 10 mm wide, flat and yellow, with concave chutes between seeds, and each pod has 2-7 seeds. Seeds oblate, yellowish brown, yellow, grayish white, purple, black or spotted. One hundred grains weigh 6- 12g. The hilum is small, on the flat side.
Second, biological characteristics.
Pigeonpea needs a warm climate. The optimum growth temperature is 18-29℃. If the water content is suitable and the soil is fertile, it can grow well at 35℃ and is drought-tolerant. The annual precipitation is 600- 1000mm, which is relatively barren. In addition to waterlogging-prone clay, it can be planted from sandy soil to clayey loam soil and gravel soil, and subsoiling soil with more humus, calcium and phosphorus is suitable. The suitable soil pH value is 5-7, and the leaves turn yellow when phosphorus is deficient or manganese is excessive. It is a short-lived plant and blooms under the light of 10- 12 hours.
Three. Key points of cultivation techniques
Pigeonpea in China is generally planted on dry sloping land, which is suitable for sparse sowing. The row spacing is 1- 1.5m, and the sowing amount per hectare is about 15kg. As feed or green manure, it should be planted densely, with a row spacing of 50-80cm, or spread. Lime should be applied to adjust acidity when planting cajanus cajan in newly reclaimed mountainous areas. Sow in March and April. Soak the seeds overnight, dry them, and then sow 3-4 seeds in the hole with a sowing depth of 3-5 cm. During thinning, 1-2 seedlings are left in each hole. Suitable for intercropping with spring sowing crops such as peanuts, sesame seeds, soybeans and mung beans.
Fourth, how to use it.
1. Soil and water conservation and greening cajanus cajan is a fast-growing shrub with developed roots, and the coverage rate in that year can reach 70%- 150%. As a shelter forest planted on steep slopes, it can fix soil and reduce soil erosion, and is a good crop for soil and water conservation. Its nodules can fix nitrogen and increase soil fertility, and defoliation can improve soil structure and increase organic matter content. Pigeonpea can also be planted around houses near fields as fences. 2.( 1) Cajanus cajan is rich in nutrition, with an average content of 2 1.5% in protein and 54.7% in starch. It contains 8 kinds of amino acids and is rich in vitamins and minerals, among which the contents of vitamins A, B, C and carotene are obviously higher than those of other beans. Adding 30% cajanus cajan to wheat staple food and 8.5% cajanus cajanus to rice staple food is an ideal nutritional structure for human beings. (2) cajanus cajan is a good feed crop. The fresh stems and leaves of cajanus cajan are rich in protein and non-toxic. It is an excellent green feed with a digestibility of 60%-88%. Feeding methods include green feeding, grazing, hay making or hay powder, and its nutritional components are also very rich, with an average content of: leaves containing protein.
23.96%, crude fiber 17.58%, branches containing protein 9.34%, crude fiber 4 1.88%, pods containing protein 9.70% and crude fiber 29.86%. 3. Improve soil and fertility. Cajanus cajan grows rapidly, and the ground green branches used for fertilizer or feed can reach 1 1 18.8 tons/hectare every year. According to reports, the nitrogen content per ton of cajanus cajan stems and leaves is equivalent to 100kg peanut cake. Cajanus cajan has a well-developed underground root system, which has a good effect on improving and consolidating soil. Fungi born with cajanus cajan can secrete guava acid and dissolve iron phosphate in the soil for their own use and for the next crop.