can be cured with drainage, or fungicides such as Apron.
YIELD
Buckwheat yields globally in 2004 were estimated by FAO at 1.09 MT/ha. The
maximum yield is about 5 MT/ha.
The highest and lowest average yields reported by FAO in 2004 were 3.5 MT/ha
in France and 300 kg/ha in South Africa respectively.
UTILISATION
Buckwheat seed has excellent quality protein and is normally ground into flour
for cakes, biscuits, pancakes, soups, porridge, pasta and dumplings. The residue
is suitable for animal food. The grain is also fed whole to poultry and game10–11%, 70” carbohydrate, 2% fat. It makes great beer.
The hulled kernels, or “groats”, are prepared like rice, called kasha in Eastern
Europe and sayraisin in France. The flour does not make good bread but can be
used—either alone or mixed with wheat flour or soybean flour—to make
griddle cakes. Noodles called soba are made from it.
The buckwheat crop makes a useful green manure, smother crop or catch
crop. It is used to reclaim badly degraded soils and subsoils, and is said to
reduce grass weed and winter wheat populations.
It is a good source of honey; the flowers remain on the plant for 30 days or
more. A brown dye is extracted from the flowers, and a blue dye from the
stems.
The leaves and flowering stems are widely used in medicine, normally in
conjunction with vitamin C to aid absorption. They should be stored in the dark,
and used with care as they have been known to cause light-sensitive dermatitis.
Rutin, a flavanol glucoside used in vascular disorders associated with
hypertension, is obtained from the leaves, stems, flowers and fruit. It dilates the
blood vessels, reduces capillary permeability and lowers blood pressure. Rutin
is also found in black tea and apple peels.LIMITATIONS
Buckwheat plants are “heavy feeders” ie they take up and remove large amounts
of nutrients from the soil.
Buckwheat crops may increase erosion as they can leave the soil more loose,
and therefore more unstable, than other small grain crops.
The plants are frost sensitive.
The seeds do not develop uniformly, leading to harvesting problems, volunteer
plants in the following crop, etc.
An irritating skin disorder can appear on white or light-coloured skins if
buckwheat is consumed in large quantities, especially when the skin is exposed
to sunlight.
Plant breeders have great difficulties in developing widely adapted improved
varieties.damage. Pythium rot is especially virulent when the plants are in standing water, but
birds, but for other animals it is ground up. High quality protein content of