Articles
PORTUGUESE BRASSICA LANDRACES: A PERSPECTIVE
Article number
407_9
Pages
87 – 94
Language
English
Abstract
Cole crops and turnips are very important vegetables in the Portuguese traditional farming and diet.
The extensive use and long history of cultivation of brassica vegetables in Portugal gave rise to a tremendous number of Couve Tronchuda (Brassica oleracea var. costata DC.) and turnip (B. rapa var. rapa L.) landraces presenting high morphological diversity and multiple culinary uses.
The decline of Tronchuda cabbage utilization is associated with the decreased competitiveness for yield and uniformity of this typical vegetable compared with imported cabbage varieties.
Tronchuda was left for the traditional farming systems and rural consumers, and to a few aficionados in the urban areas.
Some questions can be raised about the potential use of the enormous diversity still existing in the Portuguese brassica landraces and their use to produce improved brassica vegetables.
The following case studies are discussed: (1) Exploiting landraces for disease resistance and abiotic stress; (2) Diversifying the consumption of cabbages with improved Tronchuda; (3) Adapting “nabiças” (turnip-greens) to modern consumer habits Valuable genes for disease resistance and abiotic stress existing in the traditional brassicas can be transferred to alien breeding material or conserved in gene banks.
However, it will be more interesting to save landraces by using them to produce improved cultivars or F1 hybrids which can conserve the major characters of the original material.
The success of these novel products does not depend on the breeders or horticulturists wishes but rather on consumer tendencies driven by marketing and by trade organizations.
The extensive use and long history of cultivation of brassica vegetables in Portugal gave rise to a tremendous number of Couve Tronchuda (Brassica oleracea var. costata DC.) and turnip (B. rapa var. rapa L.) landraces presenting high morphological diversity and multiple culinary uses.
The decline of Tronchuda cabbage utilization is associated with the decreased competitiveness for yield and uniformity of this typical vegetable compared with imported cabbage varieties.
Tronchuda was left for the traditional farming systems and rural consumers, and to a few aficionados in the urban areas.
Some questions can be raised about the potential use of the enormous diversity still existing in the Portuguese brassica landraces and their use to produce improved brassica vegetables.
The following case studies are discussed: (1) Exploiting landraces for disease resistance and abiotic stress; (2) Diversifying the consumption of cabbages with improved Tronchuda; (3) Adapting “nabiças” (turnip-greens) to modern consumer habits Valuable genes for disease resistance and abiotic stress existing in the traditional brassicas can be transferred to alien breeding material or conserved in gene banks.
However, it will be more interesting to save landraces by using them to produce improved cultivars or F1 hybrids which can conserve the major characters of the original material.
The success of these novel products does not depend on the breeders or horticulturists wishes but rather on consumer tendencies driven by marketing and by trade organizations.
Authors
A. Monteiro, J. Dias
Keywords
Brassica oleracea, Brassica rapa, breeding, Tronchuda cabbage, turnip-greens, turnip-tops, vegetable diversification
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