MUSTARD: CHARACTERISTICS, HABITAT, CULTIVATION, CARE, DISEASES - BIOLOGY - 2025

The mustard (Sinapis alba) is a cultivated and wild species belonging to the Brassicaceae family. It is commonly known as white mustard, yellow mustard, ajenabo, jenabe, and hair mostacilla.

This species is an annual herbaceous plant that measures 30 to 90 cm high, with angular, striated stems covered with rigid trichomes that give it a rough texture. The leaves have petioles and are very lobed, especially the lower ones, while their margins are serrated.

Sinapis alba or white mustard. Source: Abrahami

Mustard flowers have a characteristic yellow color and are arranged in clusters. These flowers have four petals up to 1 cm long and four sepals that measure up to 5 mm. The fruit is a silique, rough at the bottom, and the seeds are its most commercial product since the raw material for preparing kitchen mustard is obtained from there.

White mustard is a cosmopolitan species, present in temperate and subtropical regions throughout the world. When present in other crops it can be considered a weed. It has various medicinal and culinary uses especially.

Likewise, this species can be used as forage, but taking into account that animals can only consume it before the flowering period, since both its flowers and its seeds are toxic to them.

This type of mustard can be a very profitable species for producers since it represents an alternative to increase crop rotation. This species is resistant to drought, high temperatures and some frosts.

-Species: Sinapis alba

White mustard is also known as Bonnania officinalis. The term mustard comes from the Latin mustum ardens, and it is due to the fact that when its seeds were crushed with must, the flavorful and spicy-burning characteristic of mustard was detected.

Habitat and distribution

White mustard originates from Eurasia, perhaps the Mediterranean. It is a species of cosmopolitan distribution and is found in subtropical and temperate regions of the world.

Canada is the country that produces the most mustard, in fact it supplies between 85 and 90% of the world production of this crop.

This crop grows between 0 and 2300 meters above sea level. Preferably, it grows best in calcareous, sandy-loam soils that retain some moisture.

Applications

Mustard seeds have many culinary and medicinal uses. Its main use is as a commercial seasoning. Especially the whole seeds are used as pickles and ingredients for the complete marinades.

Fruits of Sinapis alba. Source: Leo Michels

Mustard is made from crushed seeds mixed with vinegar, salt, other aromatic herbs, and some artificial colors. In addition, it is used as a green manure. Despite being a useful species, in its natural state it can be harmful or weed.

As long as it is used with discretion, in the kitchen it can be mixed with any type of herb and offer a smooth and very delicate flavor. Not only are the seeds useful in cooking, but the young leaves can also be eaten as a vegetable in soups and in salads.

For their mass use in large quantities, it is recommended to boil them in salted water for half an hour, then drain them and mix them with chopped onions and seasonings to taste and with lemon juice.

Mustard is also used as a forage plant. Sometimes its fallow cultivation is very useful since this species captures nitrates, thus avoiding the loss of soluble nitrates.

Likewise, it can be used as a laxative, but sometimes it causes intoxication, so its intake is not highly recommended.

The seeds of both white mustard and black mustard are used to make useful poultices due to their warming action, therefore reddening the skin and thus, if they are applied to the chest or back, they can relieve colds.

These poultices also serve to relieve rheumatic pain and sciatic nerve pain applied locally.

Culture

The cultivation is carried out throughout Europe. For most of the Iberian Peninsula it is grown on banks, cleared land, and gutters.

Mainly its cultivation is to produce white mustard destined for the whole world.

Sowing

White mustard can be grown from seed or seedlings. Regarding the conditions, it can be under direct sun, as in semi-shade.

The soil must be fertile, with good drainage and organic matter. The optimal soil pH is between 5.5 to 6.8 for this crop. At pH 7.5 it can also be tolerated by these plants.

This species grows well in soils that contain a good proportion of clay and sand but that is somewhat dry.

The sowing distance should be 25 cm between rows. With regard to the contribution of nitrogen, this is not demanding. Therefore, it is not advisable to increase this content with the use of manure, but rather with other compost compounds but poor in nitrogen.

If it is from seed, mustard germinates in cold conditions (plus or minus 7 ° C in the soil), humidity and in these conditions it can emerge between 5 and 10 days. Below 4 ° C germination occurs more slowly.

White mustard seeds. Source: Pancrat

Crop cycle

During the 30 days that it is kept in the seedbed, the mustard develops a mature foliage, and between 35 and 40 days it will begin to produce its shoots.

Flowering usually lasts one to two weeks, and sometimes longer. Pods form from the flowers in the next 45 days. The seeds mature when the pods turn green to yellow-brown or brown.

Its growing cycle is short compared to other grain cereals, so the harvest time is faster and the batches are released early.

After harvesting, white mustard leaves a residue in the field of which it is known that its contribution to the agricultural system is similar to that of wheat cultivation and with a very similar carbon / nitrogen ratio.

The use of these traces or residues helps to control weeds, reduces erosion, improves water infiltration, increases organic matter and allows enriching beneficial bacterial biodiversity.

Harvest

Seed collection is done by cutting the stems while the siliques turn yellow. The weather must be cloudy, the stems are cut with a sickle and bunches are made.

The seeds are then put to dry by turning them frequently. Fresh leaves can also be collected before flowering.

The ideal humidity to store mustard seeds is 10%.

White mustard represents a grain crop that is sown and harvested with machinery similar to that used to grow wheat, which allows diversification of production to those producers who are outside the range of traditional crops.

Care

This crop is not usually pruned. Regarding irrigation, it does not tolerate waterlogging, but it does resist certain drought. For this reason, it is recommended to at least wait for about 3 cm of depth to be observed in the dry soil between each watering.

Additionally, to start watering in the field, the plant should be expected to have at least 4 leaves. Before this, irrigation can depend only on the water coming from the rain.

On the subscriber, it is recommended to apply organic fertilizers that contain phosphorus and potassium, and to a lesser extent nitrogen.

In case of being used as forage, animals should not consume this plant when it is in flowering or fruiting as it is considered toxic. Ideally, consume the plant well before the flowering period.

Illustration of Sinapis alba. Source: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen

White mustard as a biocide

The ecological balance of the fertile layer of crops can be broken through practices such as fertilizers and aggressive chemical treatments, which produce an alteration in terms of microbial biodiversity in the soil, favoring rather phytopathogens.

There are some techniques to disinfect the soil based on chemicals such as metam-sodium, chloropicrin, methyl bromide, etc., but this represents a health risk for the people who apply them, and they create resistance and toxicity in the soils.

Other techniques are much more environmentally friendly, such as solarization and disinfection with steam.

In this sense, white mustard and other crops such as turnip also represent an environmentally friendly biocidal technique, which consists of planting it directly on the ground to be disinfected and keeping it there for 40 to 90 days, until it is even possible to incorporate the waste such as green manure.

To treat these diseases and pests, it is recommended to spray the plants with products containing Bacillus thuringiensis against caterpillars, and against beetles a spray based on pyrethrin.

When they present leaves with the so-called white rust, these should be removed immediately. It is also recommended to water the plants at the base of the stem to avoid foliar diseases due to the humidity that the leaves retain.

References

1. Vibrans, H. 2009. Weeds of Mexico, Sinapis alba L. Taken from: conabio.gob.mx
2. Catalog of Life: 2019 Annual Ckecklist. Species details: Sinapis alba L. Taken from: catalogueoflife.org
3. Infojardin. 2019. White mustard, Jenabe, Ajenabe. Taken from: chips.infojardin.com
4. Medicinal, food and artisan flora of the Ribera Navarra. 2011. Sinapis alba L. Taken from: floradelariberanavarra.blogspot.com
5. CAB International. 2019. Sinapis alba (White mustard). Invasive Species Compendium. Taken from: cabi.org
6. Sarmiento, L. 2019. Characteristics, care and cultivation of mustard. Taken from: jardineriaon.com
7. Ravindran, PN 2017. The Encyclopedia of herbs & spices. CAB International. USES. 1124 p.
8. Paunero, I. 2012. Technical report: Investigations in mustard, coriander and others. INTA editions. 102 p.
9. Nieto, P. 2013. Soil biofumigation with white mustard (Sinapis alba). Taken from: controlbio.es
10. Botanical-Online (1999-2019). Mustard cultivation. Taken from: botanical-online.com