What is chumiza?

Completely unfamiliar to many, the word "Chumiza" is a rather popular culture in the east, for more details on what it is, let's talk further.

Description and photo

Chumiza, or black rice, is an annual crop that belongs to the family of cereals. Since ancient times, it is common in China and in recent years it has become quite widespread in Europe as a fodder crop. Stems black rice erect, reaching a height of about 2 meters. The plant has wide and long leaves, developed root system, inflorescences are collected in panicles.

The grain in appearance resembles millet, but slightly smaller in size. Chumiza is a high-yielding crop: up to 70 centners of grain yield can be obtained from one hectare.

Composition and useful properties

Unlike ordinary rice, which is predominantly saturated with starch, the composition of the nutrients of black rice is much richer and more diverse. It includes the following elements:

• fiber (7%);
• ash (2%);
• pectins;
• antioxidants;
• vitamins A, groups B, E, C, K, PP;
• micro- and macronutrients: calcium, potassium, iron, copper, selenium, zinc, manganese, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium.

100 grams of cereal contains 69.6% carbohydrates, 14.4% protein and 5.4% fat. Energy value -369 kcal.The systematic use of Chumiza in food contributes to:

• cleansing the body of toxins and slags;
• stabilization of the immune system;
• muscle tone;
• improvement of the cardiovascular system;
• normalizes hormones;
• normalization of metabolism;
• It has a positive effect on the nervous system, especially in case of stress and insomnia;
• normalization of blood pressure;
• cessation of inflammatory processes.

Chumise application

Chumiza is used primarily as animal feed (poultry and livestock). It is considered an ideal feed for ducks, chickens, as well as parrots.

Chickens become better laying hens, survival increases among chickens.Cattle are fed black rice with hay.

Cows increase the fat content of milk if they feed on such hay. Grain is used in cooking for the preparation of cereals and soups. Chumizu also grind into flour, pastries from which it turns out excellent quality.

Features of growing

This culture is quite unpretentious, drought-resistant. For cultivation Chumizy not suitable only salt. The plant is thermophilic, so you need to sow the seeds in a sufficiently heated soil, not lower than 10-15ºС to a depth of about 3-4 cm.

Approximately 3 kg of seeds are sown per hectare. Before sowing, seeds are soaked in water, dried thoroughly, mixed with sand, and then sown. Up to 25 plants per hectare are planted on hay (the grid should be about 15 * 15 cm).

To get grain, plant less often, leaving a distance of about 30 cm between rows, 5 cm between seedlings. For the emergence of seedlings, the soil must always be moderately wet, shoots appear within 10 days.

Leaving consists in watering, loosening the soil, fertilizer, thinning.After emergence of shoots it is necessary to carefully monitor the appearance of weeds and carefully remove them. As they grow, they are fed with manure, only 2-3 times. After chumise sprouts reach a height of 10 cm, they are not afraid of drought, the root system is already sufficiently developed, and the plant extracts ground moisture. Crop harvested in September, there is no clear deadlines, as the spikelets are resistant to grain eruption.

For harvesting hay, black rice is harvested before spikes appear. To do this, make an incision and see if there is still an ear. With the appearance of about 70% of the ears of the plant is collected on the green mass.

In addition to all the above, black rice is very beautiful ears and will decorate any site.