Parsley

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF
PARSLEY

INTRODUCTION
Botanical name: Petroselinum crispum Mill.
Family : Umbelliferae
Other names : Ajmood (Hindi), Achu mooda
(Kannada), and Kothambelari (Malayalam)
Native : Sardinia (Southern Europe)
Extensively cultivated in the Mediterranean region
and the USA (the largest commercial producer)

DEMAND
 The herb is grown in pots
 In India, it is occasionally grown in
kitchen gardens
 Increasing demand in five star
hotels, foreigners, and oleoresin or
oil extracting industries
 Cultivators are also getting
remunerative prices
 It can be dried and can be
supplied in dried form during off-
season or can also be exported

BOTANY
It is a hardy, aromatic biennial herb
Grows vigorously in higher altitudes, lasting up to 4 years
Produce a rosette of finely divided radical leaves in the 1st
year and a flowering stalk, up to 100 cm high in 2ndyear
It has green compound leaves 2 or 3 pinnate
Flowers are yellow or yellowish green in compound umbels
Fruit 2- 3 mm long, crecent shaped, conspicuously ridged,
consisting of 2 mericarps

COMPOSITION per 100g of leaves
Moisture 68.4%
Carbohydrate 19.7%
Protein 5.9%
Mineral matter 3.2%
Fibre 1.8%
Fat 1.0 %
Calcium 390 mg
Phosphorus 200 mg
Iron 17.9 mg
Carotene 8230 IU
Ascorbic acid 281 mg
Nicotinic acid 0.5 mg
Thiamine 0.04 mg
 Riboflavin& Bitin also present
 The leaves, stems, and fruits
contain a glucoside apiin,
which on hydrolysis yields
apigenin, glucose and apiose
 Another glucoside consisting
of luteolin, glucose and apiol
(parsley camphor)
 It contains essential oils,
including terpinene, pinene,
and apiol, with apiin,
myristicin and palmitic acid

USES
 A cheerful, uplifting flavor and is very
nutritious
 Fresh leaves and oil are commonly used
for garnishing and seasoning of foods
 Roots and dried leaves are used as
condiments
 Leaves and seeds used as spices
 The leaves are useful to make a sort of tea
which is considered to lower fever
 The juice of fresh leaves used as
insecticide
 Its use should be avoided during pregnancy

HORTICULTURAL TYPES
• Cultivated for the leaves var. crispum in India
• Grown for turnip like roots var. radicosum

VARIETIES
Flat/ smooth leaf types: Italian varieties, slightly more
nutritious; popular with soup preparation as it has much more
flavor than curled type
Italy giant, Italian flat dark green, Gigante catalogo, Sweet italian
Curled leaf types: More decorative
Moss curled, Champion Moss curled, Extra triple curved, Extra
curled dwarf, Paramount, Curlina, Unicurl, Garland, Forest green
Root types or Bartowich long: White roots (nutty taste) used
as a vegetable in soups or eaten raw; frost resistant
Hamburg

SOIL AND CLIMATE
 Parsley is a cool weather crop
 It grows best in a rich soil
 It requires plenty of moisture and lot of
space for spreading
 Very slow to germinate (20- 30 days)
 Short duration crop such as radish is
planted in between the rows and is
harvested before seedlings are
developed
 It can be sown in green house or beds
or specially prepared nursery beds

PLANTING
 Seed rate - transplanted 250 g/ ha
- direct sown 3.25 kg/ ha
 Pre treatment: Soak the seeds a day before sowing to hasten the
germination; dressing with N promotes rapid growth of seedlings
 Sowing season - in plains during September to November
- in mid hills and hills during February to June
 Spacing & sowing depth: 6 mm depth in rows 40- 45 cm apart
with thinning the seedlings to 10 cm apart
 Transplanting: Seedlings of 5- 8 cm length in raised nursery beds
in evening hours
 Spacing: 40-45 cm * 10- 15 cm

FERTILIZER REQUIREMENT
 FYM 115 ton/ ha
NPK 100:80:40 kg/ ha
According to Knott the parsley requires attention and
care in the first operational stages
Once they are passed it easy to grow it, with taking
care of frequent shallow cultivation, weeding, hoeing
and timely irrigation
Side dressing is recommended with rich compost
when the ground haws and regrowth just beginning.

DISEASES
Early blight (Cercospora apii)
Late blight (Septoria apii)
Fusarium yellowBacterial leaf spot
Phoma root rot

Other diseases:
 Pink rot
 Bacterial soft rot
Remedy:
The sprays in regular intervals
with fungicides viz., Dithane
M-45, Copper oxychloride or
Blitox and Bavistin may be
done

PESTS
Green caterpillar
Aphids
Wire worms
Army wormsMole cricket
Remedy:
1 or 2 sprays with
Endosulfan may help to
control the insects

HARVEST
In Uttar Khand region (UP) leaves are harvested 65 days after
transplanting and seeds are harvested 185 days after
transplanting
About 1.25 ton/ha of leaves and 890 kg/ha of seeds can be
harvested
In France yield of 800- 1500 kg of seed and in Katrain seed
yield is about 558.5 kg (1988-89) from moss curled variety
For rooted type varieties roots are used fresh or cut longitudinally
for drying
Leaves are also dried green in shade and kept in air tight bottles

BREEDING TECHNIQUE
Flowers are formed in corymbs which are supposed to be
protoandrous
Styles produced 6 days after anther maturity
Dudits reported some results of somatic hybridization
They crossed P. hortense (2n=22) a mutant leaf parsley with
albino carrot and recovered plants containing 2n=19, indicating
incomplete elimination of parsley chromosomes
Some genetic information from parsley was also transferred to
carrot
Selection were made to develop improved strains

PROCESSED PRODUCTS
Dehydrated parsley: Usually done by bringing down the moisture
content to about 4% in 2 hours; Dehydration ratio is 8:1
Oil: Petroselinic acid 76%; Used for industrial purposes such as making
plastics, synthetic rubber, lubricating oil, additives and protective coatings, etc.
 Oil is steam distilled from aerial parts bearing
immature fruits (0.25%)
 From mature seeds up to 7%
 From flowering tops is of the finest quality (0.06%)
 Herb oil contains apiol and possess a superior aroma
 Seed oil contains apiol, 20% green fatty oil and X-pinene with small amounts of
myristicin, aldehydes, ketones , phenols

REFERENCES
Panda. H/ Handbook on Spices and Condiments
(Cultivation, Processing and Extraction)/ P No. 491-
499/ Asia Pacific Business Press Inc., 106-E, Kamla
Nagar, New Delhi- 110 007.
Mini Raj. N, Nybe. E.V., Peter. K.V./ Edit. Prof. K.V.
Peter/ 2007/ Horticultural Science Series Vol.5/ Page
No. 243- 244/ New India Publishing Agency,
Pitampura, New Delhi- 110 088.
http://aromatherapybible.com/parsley/

Parsley

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Parsley