Coriander as a honey plant 

Coriander is a honey plant native to the Eastern Mediterranean. In Russia, coriander is cultivated as an essential oil, medicinal, spicy, and honey crop. In addition to Russia, coriander is widely grown as an essential oil crop in Ukraine, Moldova and other CIS countries. As a honey plant, coriander has a number of serious advantages over other essential oil and field honey plants. Bees collect a lot of honey from coriander, which is known for its beneficial properties and is popular with consumers. However, the flowering of coriander and the setting of an apiary for honey collection from coriander has its own characteristics, which we will consider in this article. So, under what conditions coriander as a honey plant fully realizes its capabilities.

Content

•  Honey plant coriander seed description
•  Application of coriander
•  What are the features of flowering coriander
•  Pollination of coriander
•  Coriander as honey plant for beekeeping
•  Where coriander is grown as a honey plant
•  Coriander honey plant
•  Coriander flowering period
•  Honey productivity of coriander
•  Honey from coriander useful properties
•  Features of honey collection from coriander
•  Coriander honey plant how much at what temperature does it release nectar
•  What else should a beekeeper pay attention to for a good honey collection from coriander
•  Conclusions on the importance of coriander as a honey plant for beekeeping
•  What place should coriander take in the crop rotation
• Agrotechnics for growing coriander

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Honey plant coriander seed description

Coriander is an annual plant that belongs to the celery family. The stem of coriander is straight, thin, has a tendency to branch, the stem reaches a height of 50 - 90 cm, which depends on the variety and growing conditions.

Coriander inflorescence is a complex umbrella, which contains from three to eight umbrellas, each umbrella has up to 16 flowers. The corolla is separate-petal, in which there are 5 white or pink petals. The ovary of the flower is lower. Pistil 2-3 columnar. There are five stamens in a flower. More details about the flowering of coriander and its features will be discussed below in the corresponding section.

Pollination in coriander is cross-pollinated and must be carried out by bees or other insects.

Coriander root is taproot, fusiform with numerous branches, is able to penetrate the soil to a depth of one and a half meters, which allows coriander to grow in conditions of moisture deficiency and therefore the coriander honey plant is classified as a drought-resistant plant and put it on a par with such honey plants as bruise, muzzle, sweet clover , phacelia.

The fruit of coriander is a two-seeded spherical shape.

Application of coriander

 

The honey plant coriander is primarily an essential oil plant from which the essential and fatty oil of coriander is extracted.

From coriander essential oil, mainly linalool and many fragrant substances are obtained - citral, citronellol, geraniol, hydrocitronellol, etc., which are often used in the manufacture of perfumes and cosmetics.

Also, many industries use natural coriander essential oil, it is used for flavoring bakery and confectionery products, for the production of canned fish, for pickling and preserving vegetables, in the production of sausages and cheeses, as well as in alcoholic beverages and brewing.

Honey plant coriander is used in folk and official medicine as a medicinal plant. Coriander is part of various herbal preparations in the treatment of gastrointestinal and colds. In folk medicine, all parts of the plant collected in the flowering phase are used. Coriander is used in folk medicine, as a rule, in the form of decoctions and infusions of seeds and other parts of the plant, while decoctions and tinctures of coriander have a good choleretic, anti-inflammatory, expectorant and promote wound healing, coriander essential oil and whole fruits are also used in medicine.

The fatty oil of coriander, which is found in its fruits, is used to obtain oleic acid, which is widely used in the paint and varnish and textile industries, as well as metallurgy.

Coriander meal is a valuable feed for livestock and poultry, used in aquaculture for feeding fish, coriander meal contains approximately 30% protein and more than 6% fatty oil, which ensures its high nutritional qualities.

Coriander straw after its combine harvesting is a good bedding material for livestock, because it has bactericidal properties, which protects livestock from many diseases.

Whole coriander fruits are used in cooking, baking bread, for the production of fish, canning, sausage products to add flavor.

Honey plant coriander is a valuable honey crop, honey productivity of coriander is very high. From crops, bees collect coriander honey, which has good bactericidal properties, is attractive in appearance and has high taste qualities. The honey productivity of coriander and coriander honey will be discussed in more detail later in relevant sections.

Thus, the coriander honey plant is widely used in many industries and in agriculture, the introduction of the coriander honey plant in grain crop rotations has a number of advantages, which will be discussed below and will provide bees with an additional source of honey collection.

 

What are the features of flowering coriander

 

Coriander as a honey plant is a very valuable plant, so you should consider in more detail how the coriander flower is arranged and how coriander blooms.

Coriander flowers are small, white or light yellow, cream, pale pink or pale purple, which form compound umbels that sit on long flowering axes. In one complex umbrella, there are up to 10 pieces of simple umbrellas. At the base of complex umbrellas, the bases are without wrappers; simple umbrellas have a wrapper of 3-5 linear leaflets.

One central flower of coriander is in the center of the umbrella, around the central flower there are three rings of flowers of three flowers each. Therefore, the total number of coriander flowers in an umbrella can reach 16 pieces. Flower corolla is divided into 5 petals. The most common color of the petals is pale pink or white, other types of color are extremely rare. The marginal coriander flowers in the umbel are irregular. The outer coriander flowers are regular, with five planes of symmetry. The petals of regular flowers have an obovate shape of scales bent inward.

Umbrella inflorescences of coriander are a modified raceme with a strongly shortened flower axis, where the lower flowers of coriander occupy the peripheral part of the umbrella, and the uppermost flowers occupy the central part of the umbrella, therefore, in each coriander umbrella, flowering begins with external flowers and ends with internal flowers that are located in the center inflorescences.

Within the framework of one inflorescence, the flowers of the outer umbrellas of the central umbrella are the very first to open, then its inner umbrellas sequentially bloom. Depending on the weather conditions, 2-3 days after the opening of the first flowers in the umbrella, the white anthers change their color and become pink or purple, and the filaments elongate, and then the mature anthers open.

In the coriander honey plant, the flowering of one plant, on average, can last 24 days, the coriander flowering period ranges from 20 to 28 days, if the coriander plant is strongly branched, and also if the weather is cool and cloudy, the coriander flowering period can stretch up to 40 and more days.

Pollination of coriander

Only a part of coriander flowers are bisexual, the rest of the flowers are partially or completely male and less often completely sterile. The largest part of the male inflorescences is formed in the central part of the umbrella. In flowers of most forms of coriander, the anthers mature and shed pollen 3-4 days earlier, before their own ovary is ready for fertilization, which makes coriander a typical cross-pollinated plant.

Coriander flowers at the base of the ovary columns have well-developed nectaries, in which a large amount of nectar accumulates, all this, combined with large and brightly colored umbrellas, is very attractive to bees and other insects. Coriander fields are mostly pollinated by bees.

Coriander as a honey plant is considered one of the best plants for subtropical and temperate latitudes. In the case of effective bee pollination, the number of barren umbrellas is significantly reduced, if there are no honey bees, then coriander flowers are visited by bumblebees, flies and other solitary bees. If the weather is dry and windy, wind pollination is possible, and coriander also has the opportunity for self-pollination.

As a rule, there is no need to carry out special measures for bee pollination of coriander. Coriander as a honey plant is so good that if beekeepers know about the existence of a large field with coriander, then beekeepers from all over the area will “book” places for themselves even before flowering, often creating a density of more than 10 hives per hectare, which is quite enough for pollination and for honey collection from coriander.

Coriander as honey plant for beekeeping

Where is coriander grown as a honey plant

In Russia, the main centers for growing coriander as a honey plant and essential oil crop are the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Belgorod and Voronezh Regions, and Crimea should be highlighted, where large areas of coriander are concentrated. In Ukraine, coriander as a honey plant and essential oil crop can be widely grown in the Steppe and Forest-Steppe zones. Coriander is also grown as a honey plant in other CIS countries.

Recently, there has been a tendency to move coriander to the north and northwest, so coriander as a honey plant and essential oil crop is being grown in the regions of the Non-Chernozem Zone. Coriander varieties have been created that allow it to be grown in the Leningrad region.

Coriander as a honey plant for beekeeping changes its qualities with the advancement to the north, which we will talk about later.

coriander honey plant

 

Coriander as a honey plant is a very good crop. Maximum honey supply

The activity of coriander is determined at the level of 500 kg per hectare. In different agro-ecological regions, the honey productivity of coriander can also change, so the honey productivity of coriander in the conditions of the Leningrad region is much lower than the honey productivity of coriander in the Crimea or the Krasnodar Territory.

Coriander is so good that in some regions coriander is the main honey plant. A particularly valuable quality of coriander as a honey plant is that it can produce nectar even when there is a lack of moisture in the soil, when other honey plants interrupt the production of nectar. According to the observations of beekeepers, coriander produced nectar even in the heat of 30 - 33 degrees in the shade. Only a very severe drought and a strong dry wind can interrupt the release of coriander nectar.

 

Coriander flowering period

When does coriander honey plant bloom? Coriander blooms depending on the region. In Crimea, the flowering period of coriander can begin on May 20 and bloom for 20 days, in the southern regions, the flowering period of coriander falls on June-July, in the northern regions, the flowering period of coriander falls on July-August. The duration of coriander flowering can vary from 20 to 40 days, depending on the region, weather and branching of the stems and other factors. In the southern regions, coriander blooms fall just between the flowering of the acacia and before the flowering of the sunflower.

According to the flowering time of coriander in the Leningrad region, coriander can be attributed to the middle summer honey plants, when many other strong honey plants bloom.

 

Honey productivity of coriander

How much nectar does coriander produce as a honey plant per hectare? Bees visit coriander flowers starting in the early morning and gradually increase until noon, after which the attendance of flowers by bees gradually decreases, but the bees visit coriander flowers until the evening.

The honey productivity of coriander is highly dependent on the growing region. In the southern regions of Russia and Ukraine, the honey productivity of coriander ranges from 200 to 500 kg per hectare.

Experiments conducted in the Ryazan region showed that with a seeding rate of 3 million seeds per hectare, you can get 255 kg of nectar per hectare. In general, in the conditions of the Ryazan region, depending on the sowing time, agricultural technology, seed sowing rate, the honey productivity of coriander ranged from 107 to 255 kg of nectar per hectare of crops.

Experiments conducted in the Leningrad region showed that the nectar productivity of 1 coriander flower during the period of mass flowering was 0.879 mg of nectar, the nectar productivity of one plant was 300 mg. The nectar productivity of coriander is at the level of 60 kg per hectare. Therefore, we can assume that coriander is a honey plant in any region.

Coriander honey useful properties

In coriander honey, the content of basic sugars is in the proportion of sucrose 18.3%, glucose 47.2%, fructose 34.0%. Coriander honey is so tasty and good that many beekeepers prefer to migrate 300 km just to be in the coriander field, while creating large densities of bee colonies per 1 hectare. Coriander honey has antibacterial properties. Coriander honey has many other useful properties, which are discussed in great detail in the article coriander honey. It should be noted that combined honey from coriander and herbs or other honey plant is also of very high quality.

Features of honey collection from coriander

Despite the fact that coriander is very valuable for beekeeping, many beekeepers are wondering whether coriander is honey or not? It is safe to say coriander honey plant and for beekeeping its value is not limited to the ability to secrete nectar alone, but first things first.

The bee family is able to collect 20 kg of honey from coriander in 8 days, at a density of 600 hives per 70 hectares of coriander crops and build up a lot of foundation.

In the Stavropol Territory, the control hive can grow up to 11 kg in 1 day, and the total weight gain of the control hive on coriander during the autumn sowing period reaches 50-52 kg.

The question of coriander honey plant or not may arise for the following reason - the release of nectar by coriander is highly dependent on the weather.

The control hive can show different gains on different days from zero or a little over 1 kg to 11 kg per day and depends on many factors. But, as a rule, honey collection from coriander is quite stable and keeps at the level of 3-4 kg per day. The bees are able to detect a field of coriander 4-5 km from the apiary and switch to it, but the distance in this case levels out the good work of the bees.

Coriander honey plant how much nectar at what temperature

Many beekeepers are interested in the question at what temperature coriander releases nectar, how wind and rain affect the release of coriander flowers.

As a rule, good bribes from coriander during periods when there are warm nights and during the day the temperature is not lower than + 25 degrees Celsius. At night temperatures below 11 C and daytime temperatures below 25 C, the control hive has no gains or they are minimal. But when the daytime temperature exceeds 25 C, the control hive shows a stable weight gain. As experienced beekeepers point out, nectar secretion riandra does not stop even at 33 C in the shade. But intense heat and a strong dry wind can interrupt the honey collection from coriander.

Coriander releases nectar quite well in drought, but only as long as there is moisture in the soil, since the long roots of coriander penetrate deep into the ground and get moisture from the lower horizons. Therefore, coriander is valuable as a honey plant in arid regions.

What else should a beekeeper pay attention to for a good honey collection from coriander

For a good honey flow from coriander, the apiary must have a good supply of land, the bees actively collect nectar and fill all free cells with it, so if there is a lack of land, the bees can fill the nest with nectar, which can cause weakening of families, due to the fact that the uterus will have nowhere to go sow.

The honey plant coriander is a good pollen-bearing plant, the bees willingly wear purple from it.

Conclusions on the importance of coriander as a honey plant for beekeeping

Summing up, coriander as a honey plant is valuable for beekeeping in that bees willingly visit coriander flowers, which is associated with the aroma that flowers create, their colors and large umbrella.

Coriander has a long flowering period and good honey production of coriander, which makes it valuable for beekeeping.

The big pluses of coriander as a honey plant include the fact that it can produce nectar even during hot, dry weather, and the fact that coriander crops are not mowed during the flowering period, as is the case with other essential oil crops, such as lavender.

The honey plant coriander can be easily included in grain crop rotations, which will be beneficial both for the farmer due to a good harvest of subsequent cereals - wheat or barley, the sale of a valuable product of coriander fruits, the use of coriander straw, and also for the beekeeper - obtaining a large amount of honey from coriander, which valued for its bactericidal properties.

Also, the aspect that bees collecting honey from coriander can lose mites is still little studied, because under the influence of essential oils that secrete coriander flowers and nectar, the tick reduces the ability to hold on to the bee and will break off from it in flight or break off bees and fall to the bottom of the hive. Therefore, an apiary, on the honey collection from coriander, especially, the hives of which are equipped with anti-varroatic nets, can be well freed from the tick, without chemical treatments, and be ready for subsequent honey collection from honey plants that will bloom after coriander - sunflower, linden or buckwheat.

With the right agrotechnics for growing coriander honey plant, it does not require any treatments during flowering, as a rule, coriander fields are treated with herbicides at the germination stage. In the case of the correct alternation of crops, coriander rarely gets sick, in case of disease, processing occurs before flowering, which favorably distinguishes coriander as a honey plant from rapeseed.

Considering that in the south, coriander blooms after acacia and before sunflower blooms, coriander as a honey plant is able to fill the bees-free period and prepare the bees well for the honey collection from the sunflower.

By sowing coriander in autumn and spring, at different times, it is possible to achieve a fairly long continuous flowering of coriander, which will allow the apiary to collect a large amount of pure honey from coriander, which is much more valued than honey from herbs.

Coriander honey is highly valued in itself, but if coriander honey remains within the limits and the bees additionally bring honey from other honey plants, sunflower, herbs and the like, then a very high-quality, fragrant honey is obtained, which is popular with consumers.

What place should coriander take in the crop rotation

The honey plant coriander is an excellent predecessor of wheat or barley for grain and sunflower. As a predecessor, coriander cleans the soil from root rot and many other diseases that affect crops, coriander honey plant vacates the field early, while leaving 15-20 mm more productive moisture in the soil after harvesting, compared with stubble predecessors. Coriander has a tap root system that penetrates deep into the soil up to one and a half meters. As a result, the root system of barley or wheat penetrates deeper into the soil, because their roots easily pass along the paths of dead coriander rhizomes, while using their nutrients after they decompose. Cereal plants develop better and do not require additional costs to form a higher grain yield. It has been established by experiments that wheat after coriander is considered food grain in terms of gluten content and quality and corresponds to the third and fourth classes, while the amount of grain is almost a third higher compared to such predecessors as wheat or sunflower and is only slightly inferior to the busy fallow.

At the same time, the positive quality of coriander, as a precursor of cereals, is that in the crops of cereals that grow after it, mouse-like rodents, ground beetles, and cereal flies do not accumulate, which eliminates additional costs for their destruction.

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For this reason, it makes sense to include the honey plant coriander in crop rotations to reduce grain production costs and increase farm profitability. At the same time, crops of coriander as a honey plant can significantly expand the honey-bearing base for apiaries, especially in areas with a moisture deficit.

Agrotechnics for growing coriander

Each region has its own characteristics of agricultural technology, for the Crimea they will be one, and for the Leningrad region others, but there are basic points that everyone should pay attention to.

When choosing the optimal agricultural technology for growing coriander, it is necessary to take into account its biological characteristics. Which consist in the fact that coriander has long periods of growth in such phases as sowing-shoots, which lasts 15-23 days and in the shoots-beginning stem phase, which lasts 40-46 days. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to weed control by chemical or agrotechnical methods in order to get a good harvest. Coriander is undemanding to heat, during spring sowing, the growing season for coriander is 105-125 days, the sum of active temperatures above 5 degrees Celsius is 1900 degrees Celsius. Coriander is resistant to frost, coriander seedlings are able to tolerate frosts on the soil surface up to 10 degrees Celsius, which makes it possible to sow coriander at the earliest possible date.

Do they sow coriander before winter? The highest yields of fruits, as well as the collection of coriander essential oil, are obtained in the case of autumn sowing in the conditions of the Crimea. For example, autumn sowing of coriander in the Crimea is carried out in the first ten days of September, if there is at least 30 mm of productive moisture in the arable soil layer.

Experiments conducted in the Crimea showed that in the case of autumn sowing of coriander, the yield of fruits is 5 times higher, with a higher content of essential oil in them, compared with spring sowing of coriander.

Re-sowing coriander in the same field, in the conditions of the Crimea, must be carried out no earlier than in 2-3 years, in order to avoid diseases.

It should be noted that high agricultural technology allows you to get 12-16 centners per hectare of coriander fruits, which ensures 100% profitability. If agricultural technology is not followed, the yield decreases by 2-3 times, and growing coriander only for the sake of fruits becomes unprofitable.

It should be noted that coriander is a long daylight crop that is demanding on light in shaded areas, fruit ripening is delayed and the content of essential oil is reduced. coriander seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 8-10 C. The vegetation period of coriander in the European part of Russia is 100-125 days, in the Kuban - 114-123 days, in Western Siberia - 108-130 days. The amount of lighting hours that coriander needs before flowering is 900-940 hours. The total amount of lighting hours for the growing season reaches 1400-1500 hours.

Coriander loves fertile and light soils. On acidic, swampy, clay soils, coriander grows poorly.

At the beginning of the growing season, when the surface of the leaves is small, coriander consumes little water, but when it forms stems and before flowering, the need for moisture increases greatly. The greatest sensitivity of coriander to the lack of water in the soil is during the flowering period. The need for moisture decreases during the ripening period, after the formation of umbrellas and fruits, when the plant is drying out. Excess moisture is harmful to the growth and development of coriander.

Germination of coriander seeds with normal soil moisture occurs at a temperature of +16 °. Seeds germinate slowly, and in dry soil, seeds do not germinate at all

Freshly harvested coriander seeds have low germination, so coriander seeds are stratified before sowing.

Coriander is propagated by seeds. The depth of sowing seeds into the soil is 2-3 cm, the distance between rows is 30-40 cm, the distance between plants is 25-30 cm.

In industrial crops, the best results are obtained by a sowing rate of seeds at the level of 3 million pieces per hectare.