BUCKWHEAT

BUCKWHEAT, a plant genus of the Polygonaceae family. There are 16 species known. There are 2 species growing in the RB: Tatar B. – weed plant, spread in the forest steppe zone (Yuryuzano Ayskaya Plain and Bashkir part of Obshchy Syrt); common B., growing among agricultural crops and present throughout the whole territory. Annual herbaceous plants, heat  and moisture loving. The vegetation period is 70—100 days. Since the beginning of the 1940s the sowing area of common B. in the Republic was 214 thous. ha. The highest yield was 36.2 Cwt/ha (Pervomaysky Sovkhoz of Sterlitamaksky Raion, 1997). Foo'd plant (cereals and flour being produced) and fodder plant (husk, chaff and straw being used). Medicinal plant, contains rutin (vitamin P), nectariferous plant (60—100 kg of honey being produced per 1 ha). The Agidel, Inzerskaya, Ilishevskaya, Chishminskaya, Svetlana and other varieties bred by the selection breeders of the Republic are allowed for use in the RB.