At present, in some rural lands that lack water sources, in order to create better income, most people will choose to grow a rare thing with strong hardiness, yes, cactus. Cacti have more or less been seen by everyone, and even potted plants have been raised. Some people may sometimes find that the spikes have a bright red hair color in the process of managing cacti, and at first they think that there is something wrong with the cactus. In fact, this bright red color is carmine, and the "master" who produces this color is the cochineal worm, which is an insect that has been precious economic resources and often parasitizes on thorny cacti. Today Xiaobian will talk to you about the "story" of cochineal worms.
What is a cochineal?
Cochineal, also known as cochineal, belongs to the same winged insects as cicadas and whiteflies, and it is also a parasitic insect, mostly parasitic on cacti. Native to places like Mexico and Central America, cochineal worms usually form clusters and are concentrated in shady shaded areas. In terms of morphological characteristics, cochineal worms are ovate and distinctly segmented, covered with white wax powder and silky threads, in addition, the male and female are clearly differentiated, of which the male has wings and the ability to fly, while the female worm fat mounds hardly move.
The main value of cochineals
As mentioned in the preface, cochineal is an extremely precious economic resources of insects, so good market economic benefits are its main value embodiment, cochineal can be widely used in clothing, food, cosmetics, medicine and other fields, it is reported that the current international market price of cochineal dried body has reached 80 US dollars / kg.
Cochineal also contains a natural pigment called annatto, which can be used as a natural dye. In fact, as early as 4,000 years ago, the indigenous peoples of Central and South America used cochineal worms to produce pigments, as I saw in ancient courts carmine powder and cardinal robes, etc. Are the credit of cochineal worms. So far, cochineal is often used to make lipstick and other cosmetics, if the girl familiar with lipstick may have some understanding, some lipstick ingredient list contains the word Carmine, then it means that the cochineal processed lipstick. Speaking of this, some girls may call out that they can't accept it, it turns out that they are applying a bunch of insect scraps every day, but in fact, this natural pigment is healthy and non-toxic, and there is no need to worry.
In addition to cosmeceuticals, carmine is also allowed by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) for natural pigments in food, and can well protect the food safety needs of our country, such as the drinks we drink, yogurt, ice cream, pasta, cooked meat, etc. can be found in the figure of cochineal, such as the famous Starbucks drink - cranberry dessert and strawberry star ice, its raw materials are involved in cochineal.
Another important use of carmine is in medicine, we usually eat capsule drugs, its bright red capsule shell and tablet sugar coating, its pigment raw material is also cochineal. In general, the value of cochineal is very rich, and it can even be said that it is closely related to people's daily lives, and perhaps what you are eating has the ingredient of cochineal worm in it.
Artificial breeding of cochineal worms
It is reported that China began to introduce the cultivation of cochineals from Mexico and other origins in 2004, and for now, China's Yunnan, Guizhou, Shandong, Fujian and other places have begun to form the prototype of large-scale breeding. The history of indigenous breeding proves that cochineal worms can be artificially bred, cochineal worms are suitable for growing in the range of 15 ~ 38 ° C, and the light demand will also extend the light time with growth and development, and the host growth time is too short and too long is not conducive to the growth of cochineal worms.
After mastering the basic growth habits of these cochineal insects, in order to obtain higher breeding benefits, it is very important to learn the breeding technology of scientific breeding. The breeding methods are as follows:
1, outdoor stocking: you can first plant cacti in the outdoor field, and then directly inoculate the cochineal worms on the cactus, breed it on the cactus, and let it parasitize to absorb nutrients for growth and development. However, due to the outdoors, the external influence is greater, so this breeding method is generally not high in yield, but the advantage is that it can play the economic value of cactus and cochineal products.
2. Indoor breeding: the stems of cacti are taken back indoors, and the inoculation and cultivation of cochineal worms is carried out indoors. The advantage of indoor breeding is that it can control various growth conditions, such as temperature, light, etc., it is more convenient to harvest insects, and it can also ensure the survival yield of cochineal insects, which is an ideal way of breeding. Therefore, it is recommended that everyone conditionally adopt the indoor breeding method.
Profit analysis of cochineal
Since there are fewer areas where cochineals are artificially bred, the current market conditions are far less than the market demand, and the price is very optimistic, and the price of cochineal pigment can be as high as 700 US dollars / kg. It can be seen that cochineal has a lot of market value, worthy of its extremely precious economic resources of the insect title, but the cost of breeding and processing of cochineal is not high, so the high cost plus the high market price, its profit is self-evident.
In addition, cochineal parasitism on cacti can be harvested 3 to 5 times a year, collected with a brush when ripe, dried by heat treatment, processed to extract pigments, according to calculations, the profit can reach 100%. But does raising cochineal necessarily make money? In fact, it is precisely because of the current large output gap, and the market sales channels have not been developed and perfected, and a perfect market sales industry chain has not been formed in various fields. Therefore, it is expected that after 10 years, after the market integration and unification, there is no need to worry about market sales, and even if the output is high, it can be exported to Europe and the United States and other countries.
That's all there is to it. In general, cochineal is an insect of great economic value and is widely used as a raw material for the production of carmine lipstick. In addition, cochineal can also be artificially bred, although the production is not high, but the market profit is particularly lucrative. Although some people reject this insect pigment to a certain extent and feel very disgusting, in fact, it is closely related to our daily life, and finally Xiaobian reminds those friends who grow cacti not to ignore these cochineal worms hidden on cacti. Have you ever seen a cochineal? Do you wear cochineal lipstick or eat cochineal food? If you still want to know more about the cochineal content, welcome to leave a message to discuss,
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