Turnip Profile

Turnip is a cruciferous, brassica genus biennial herb, up to 100 cm tall. The roots are fleshy, with white, yellow, or red skins, and the roots are fleshy and have no spicy taste. The stem is upright, the basal leaves are large and lobed or compound. There are a few scattered bristles on the top and white sharp bristles on the bottom; the petiole has small lobes. Turnip is hairless, with powdery cream, sessile. The racemes are terminal. The sepals of turnip are oblong, petals are bright yellow, oblanceolate, siliques are linear, seeds are spherical, light yellowish-brown, and black near the navel. Turnip usually blooms in March-April and bears fruit in May-June.

Wuqing was originally distributed in Europe and has been widely planted in China. Turnip is suitable for sandy loam with loose soil, drainage, irrigation, and relatively sufficient fertility.

Turnip morphological characteristics

Turnip is a biennial herb with a height of 100 cm. The root is fleshy, spherical, oblate or oblong, with white, yellow or red skin, and white or yellow flesh without spicy taste. The stems of turnips are erect, branched, slightly hairy on the lower part, and glabrous on the upper part. The basal leaf has large heads or compound leaves, 20-34 cm long, with large apical lobes or lobules, wavy or lobed edges, about 5 pairs of lateral lobes or lobules, gradually smaller downwards, with a few scattered bristles on top, There are white sharp bristles underneath. The petiole is 10-16 cm long with small lobes. The middle and upper stem leaves of turnip are long round-lanceolate, 3-12 cm long, glabrous, with powdery frost, broad heart-shaped at the base, at least half embracing, sessile.
The raceme of turnip is terminal; flower diameter is 4-5 mm; pedicel is 10-15 mm long; sepals are oblong, 4-6 mm long; petals are bright yellow, oblanceolate, 4-8 mm long, with Short claws.
The longhorns of turnip are fruit linear, 3.5-8 cm long, and the fruit petals have a prominent midrib; the bill is 10-20 mm long; the fruit stem is 3 cm long. The seeds are spherical, about 1.8 mm in diameter, light yellow-brown, black near the hilum, with fine mesh pits.

Turnip efficacy and role

Edible value of turnip

Roots cooked or used to pickle sauerkraut, or as feed. Alpine mountains are used to replace food. Turnip is an edible vegetable, and its fat fleshy root is for food. And other mineral salts, tender and dense, for stir-frying, cooking or pickling. The roots and leaves of turnip are edible.

The medicinal value of turnip

Turnip flower is pungent, bitter, mild in nature and non-toxic. It has the effects of smart eyes and a light body. It can be taken with water and boiled juice to remove the accumulation of lump in the abdomen. Taking a little can cure the chest and abdomen caused by cholera.
Turnip leaves are bitter in nature and taste, warm in nature, non-toxic, and have the effects of benefiting the five internal organs, ears, eyesight, and light body. It can make people's skin ruddy and shiny, energetic, anti-aging, replenishing qi. People are strong. Indications of weakness, fatigue, and poor eyesight.

Turnip cultivation

Land selection

The best choice for turnips is sandy loam soil with flat terrain, convenient drainage and irrigation, rich in organic matter, good water retention, and good fertility retention. Cruciferous vegetables are not suitable for the previous crop. After the previous crops are harvested, the land is cleaned, early tillage and deep plowing, tillage depth is 18-22 cm.

Soil preparation and fertilization

Before planting, finely prepare the ground, add organic fertilizer as base fertilizer, and properly deep plough. Combined with site preparation, 667 square meters are applied with high-quality decomposed organic fertilizer 2-3 cubic meters. Sufficient organic fertilizer can make the fleshy root surface of turnip smooth, correct shape, good quality and high yield.

Sowing method

The seeds are selected from local turnip seeds in Keeping County, and they are planted by machinery. The planting time is early and mid-August, the row spacing is 10-15 cm, the sowing depth is 1-2 cm, and the soil is 1-2 cm after sowing. The 667 square meters are sowed with 0.3 kg of turnip seeds mixed with 0.4 kg of dry sand. 667 square meters to protect 900-1100 seedlings.

Thinning

After emergence, the seedlings should be thinned in the morning and fixed at night. Turnip is not suitable for transplanting, nor can it replenish seedlings. The first thinning is carried out when the cotyledons are fully expanded. After emergence, the seedlings are thinned once at the first true leaf stage and 3-4 true leaf stages; the seedlings are fixed when 5-6 true leaves are reached. Remove diseased and weak seedlings when setting seedlings.

Weeding

Combined with thinning and intertillage weeding, it can also be weeded manually. Field cultivating adopts mechanical field cultivating or manual field cultivating, first shallow and then deep to avoid root damage. The first and second thinning should be shallow plowing, hoeing the topsoil, and the last deep plowing.