Brassica rapa L. subsp. sylvestris var. esculenta (Turnip greens)

Crop Type: Garden Crop

Breeding system: Predominantly allogamous

Brassica crops are used for human nutrition; they include important vegetable crops such as B. oleracea (broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower) and B. rapa (Chinese cabbage, pak choi and turnip) as well as oilseed crops such as B. napus, B. juncea and B. rapa which collectively provide 12% of the world edible vegetable oil production (Labana and Gupta 1993). Regarding B. rapa, primary domestications may have occurred in Western Asia/Eastern Mediterranean area where the wild progenitor B. rapa ssp. sylvestris has its natural distribution, and East Asia with only weedy types (Hammer et al. 2013).

B. rapa spp. sylvestris is a cool season leafy vegetable, widely cultivated in central and southern Italy. Even if, is generally considered a traditional/niche product it is widely cultivated in the above-mentioned areas and has a significant commercial value; in fact, this vegetable is characterised by unique taste and potential bioactive properties (Di Stasio et al. 2017). The flower sprouts, buds tighter with young leaves, represent the edible part of the plant (Conversa et al. 2016); the peculiar pungent and slightly bitter taste is due to the content of glucosinolates in the edible parts (Renna et al. 2015).

B. rapa spp. sylvestris is an outcrossing crop pollinated by insects.

References

• Conversa G, Bonasia A, Lazzizera C, Elia A (2016) Bio-physical, physiological, and nutritional aspects of ready-to-use cima di rapa (Brassica rapa L. subsp. sylvestris L. Janch. var. esculenta Hort.) as affected by conventional and organic growing systems and storage time. Sci Hortic (Amsterdam) 213:76–86. doi: 10.1016/j.scienta.2016.10.021
• Di Stasio E, Rouphael Y, Colla G, et al (2017) The influence of Ecklonia maxima seaweed extract on growth, photosynthetic activity and mineral composition of Brassica rapa L. subsp. sylvestris under nutrient stress conditions. Eur J Hortic Sci 82:286–293. doi: 10.17660/eJHS.2017/82.6.3
• Hammer K, Gladis T, Laghetti G, Pignone D (2013) The wild and the grown - Remarks about the botanical classification of Brassica. Acta Hortic 1005:49–60.
• Labana KS, Gupta ML (1993) Importance and Origin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 1–7
• Renna M, Rinaldi VA, Gonnella M (2015) The Mediterranean Diet between traditional foods and human health: The culinary example of Puglia (Southern Italy). Int J Gastron Food Sci 2:63–71. doi: 10.1016/j.ijgfs.2014.12.001

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