Kim (Carum carvi L.)

Abstract

This monograph deals with caraway as a medicinal and aromatic plant, a favored spice throughout Europe, especially in meat products and pastries, as well as traditional remedy for digestion disorders. During the last few years, it was established that caraway has great potential especially in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as a dietary supplement in everyday nutrition in order to prevent many diseases. In this monograph, we get familiar with the morphological characteristics of caraway plant and fruit. The fruit, which is the main part of the plant, is rich in essential oil. Special attention was paid to its chemical composition, as well as the factors that influence it. The dominant volatile compounds are carvone and limonene, and their ratio influences fruit quality. This monograph deals with the analysis of agro-ecological growing conditions for the plant, the phenological stages and the need for heat, humidity and light throughout the development cycle of annual caraway plants. The author describes in detail the growing practices for annual caraway, in which the emphasis is on crop rotation, tillage and fertilization in both conventional and organic cropping system. Since caraway reproduces exclusively by direct sowing, the time of sowing, sowing rate as well as the quality of seed (germination energy and total germination) is analyzed. Cultivation technique, harvest, yield and postharvest processing are also one of the topics. The monograph presents cumin as well, which is also called Indian caraway or jeera. Cumin fruit resembles caraway fruit, so these two species are often mistaken for one another. Fruits of cumin are also rich in essential oil, with cuminaldehyde as the main compound. They have a pungent odor which gives the typical fragrance in Indian cuisine. The monograph presents the authors results in addition to the results of a number of researchers who have studied these plants, so it provides a synthesis of the current knowledge of caraway and cumin, and is an important literary source for other scientists, but also those who want to learn more about these plants.

U ovoj monografiji prikazan je kim kao lekovita i aromatična biljka, koja je širom Evrope omiljeni začin, posebno u mesnim prerađevinama i pecivima, kao i tradicionalni lek kod poremećenog varenja. Poslednjih godina naučno je potvrđeno da kim ima veliki potencijal posebno u farmaceutskoj industriji, i kao dijetetski suplement u svakodnevnoj ishrani u cilju prevencije mnogih bolesti. U monografiji su date detaljne informacije o morfološkim karakteristikama biljke i ploda. Kako se kod kima prvenstveno koristi plod, bogat etarskim uljem, posebna pažnja je posvećena njegovom hemijskom sastavu, kao i faktorima koji ga uslovljavaju. Dominantne komponente etarskog ulja kima su karvon i limonen, a njihov odnos određuje kvalitet plodova. Monografija se bavi i analizom agroekoloških uslova uspevanja ove biljke i fenološkim fazama, ali i potrebama za toplotom, vlagom i osunčanošću tokom razvojnog ciklusa jednogodišnjeg kima. Autorka detaljno opisuje gajenje jednogodišnjeg kima, pri čemu je naročita pažnja posvećena plodoredu, obradi zemljišta i đubrenju kako u konvencionalnom tako i u organskom sistemu ratarenja. Pošto se kim razmnožava isključivo direktnom setvom, analizirani su: vreme setve, setvena norma i kvalitet semenskog materijala (energija klijanja i ukupna klijavost). Nega useva i žetva, prinos i prerada ove biljke takođe su tema monografije. U monografiji je prikazan i kumin, koji se naziva još i indijski kim ili đira. Plod ove biljke po izgledu je vrlo sličan evropskom kimu, te se ove dve vrste često mešaju. Plodovi kumina su takođe bogati etarskim uljem, ali u njemu dominira kuminaldehid, koji daje oštar miris karakterističan za indijsku kuhinju. U ovoj monografiji su prikazani autorski rezultati, kao i rezultati većeg broja istraživača koji su proučavali ove biljke, tako da monografija predstavlja sintezu dosadašnjih saznanja o kimu i kuminu, i samim tim je značajan literaturni izvor za druge naučnike, kao i za one koji žele da saznaju više o ovoj temi.