Let us briefly review the experience of cultivation of medicinal plants in Torez, Kramatorsk, Donetsk and in the suburban state farm "Avdeevsky". Seeds were obtained from the Ukrainian Zonal Station of Medicinal Plants (Poltava region, Poltava, Ukraine). Lubny), All-Union Institute of Medicinal Plants (VILRa), botanical gardens of Leningrad and Donetsk. Good fertile land was chosen for the plot. The soil was dug in the fall with shovels to a depth of 25-30 cm, and part of it was cultivated with a tractor. Harrowed in the spring. Seeds were sown early (late March - early April) directly into the ground, or better under winter in September - October - 7-10 days before permanent frosts to a depth of 1-3 cm, depending on the size of the seeds. Sometimes crops were mulched (covered) with humus or straw to prevent crusting and retain moisture. Some plants were sown superficially in damp soil (foxglove, chamomile apothecary and melissa). Dalmatian chamomile and sage seeds
were soaked for 5-6 hours in warm water before sowing. Seeds of belladonna, astragalus, bloodwort, fennel, elecampane were stratified (1 part of seeds was mixed with 3 parts of washed sand in a box and kept in the cold for 2-3 months - covered with snow or ice).
Sowing was usually done by row method (distance between rows 30-60 cm depending on the size of the plant) and nested method (distance in rows 20-40 cm). The crops were then thinned out. Some plants on loose soil give a good self-seeding (chamomile pharmacy, lilac, melissa, oregano, cumin, bookwort), which then thinned and transplanted. Plant care consisted of two to three times loosening of row spacing, weed control and occasional watering in dry years.
Licorice and stalnica seeds are subjected to scarification - rubbing with sand or mechanical removal of the outer shell to damage the epidermis. Seeds of red foxglove and camphor basil were sown in the greenhouse, and then seedlings were planted in mid-May (after frosts stopped) and periodically watered. The sowing of all plants gave friendly sprouts and good yields, especially in rainy years. Agrotechniques are also indicated in the description of some plants. Thus, medicinal plants listed in the Red Book can be successfully grown in the conditions of Donbass.
Far Eastern plants (eleutherococcus, Chinese lemongrass, ginseng) are more difficult to grow, but nevertheless amateur gardeners A. В. Kadola (Chasov Yar), T. К. Bachynsky (Avdeevka), I. П. Borodin (Donetsk) successfully grow them. Seeds are recommended to be stratified.
А. А. Pirozhenko, N. П. Kupenko and amateur gardeners A V. Kadola, T. К. Bachinsky, E. П. Borodin recommend that the site for these crops should be selected at lower elevations, preferably on northern and northwestern slopes in the shade or semi-shade under the cover of tree plantations. The soil should be fertile, loose, fertilized with humus or peat. Sowing is done in October. Seeds are treated in 0.5% solution of potassium permanganate (0.5 g per I liter of water) for 10-12 minutes. Then rinse quickly with water and dry in the shade until loose. Sow to a depth of 3-4 cm and cover them with peat and humus, cover with straw 6-8 cm thick. The ground should be loose at all times. The plot is watered abundantly throughout the growing season. Sprouts appear after one year. They are then shaded with vertical or horizontal shields. For winter, 1-3-year-old seedlings should be insulated with straw.
CULTURE OF TANES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS
At the end of the last century and at the beginning of the present century, scientists in the United States, and since 1956. in the USSR R. Г. Butenko, as well as in the Leningrad Chemical and Pharmaceutical Institute and in the ILR, a method of tissue culture of medicinal plants (ginseng roots, rauwolfia) was developed. It is based on the ability of cells to proliferate in an artificial nutrient medium to form a callus (callus) mass.
It has been shown that tissue culture produces the same bioactive substances as the whole plant. Root culture of Rauwolfia cells yielded strains producing 2-fold more reserpine than the original cells. Tissue culture is grown at a faster rate compared to the growth of a whole plant, for example, a 50 g ginseng root under normal conditions grows in 6 years, but in a flask tissue of the same mass is obtained in 7-8 weeks (N. П. Maxiutina).
This area of biological science has a great future ahead of it. While these ginseng substances are used in cosmetics. In the near future, the practical use of this artificial valuable medicinal raw material by industry will begin..
