
Brassica rapa
Brassica rapa is a plant consisting of various widely cultivated subspecies including the turnip; napa cabbage, bomdong, bok choy, and cime di rapa; and Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera, an oilseed which has many common names, including turnip rape, field mustard, bird rape, and keblock.
What is Brassica rapa?
Brassica rapa is a perennial plant categorized as a noxious weed by the United States Department of Agriculture. Though it is native to central Europe, brassica rapa can now be found in many parts of the world, including North and South America.
What is the difference between Brassica rapa and field mustard?
Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera DC., Turnip rape, grown as a fodder crop, has larger reddishbrown seeds and non-tuberous taproot. Brassica rapa subsp. sylvestris (L.) Janchen ( B. campestris L., p.p.). Field mustard is a weed or ruderal in much of Europe, native to Asia.
What is the average precipitation for Brassica rapa?
Ranging from Boreal Moist to Rain through Tropical Thorn to Moist Forest Life Zones, Brassica rapa is reported to tolerate annual precipitation of 3.5 to 41.0 dm (mean of 75 cases = 9.1), annual temperature of 3.6 to 27.4°C (mean of 75 cases = 10.7), and pH of 4.2 to 7.8 (mean of 66 cases = 6.2) (Duke, 1978, 1979).
Are brassicas good for You?
Brassicas are among the most commonly cultivated vegetables in the world, and some of the most nutritious vegetables you can eat. The Brassica oleracea family of vegetables contains hundreds of subspecies with a range of health benefits, like vitamin C, vitamin K, beta-carotene, and glucosinolates.
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Why is Brassica rapa important?
Brassica rapa is a crop species of economic importance. It is cultivated worldwide as oil and vegetable crops. It belongs to the genus Brassica, tribe Brassiceae of the family Brassicaceae. The genus Brassica includes many important crops.
Can you eat Brassica rapa?
Edible Uses: Leaves - raw or cooked[1, 5]. The cooked leaves make an acceptable vegetable, though they are coarser than the related cabbage. They are more often used as a spring greens, sowing the plants in the autumn and allowing them t overwinter.
Why is Brassica rapa used for experiments?
We have developed experiments and materials to model human genetics using rapid cycling Brassica rapa, also known as Fast Plants. Because of their self-incompatibility for pollination and the genetic diversity within strains, B. rapa can serve as a relevant model for human genetics in teaching laboratory experiments.
What are brassicas used for?
Brassicas are increasingly used as winter or rotational cover crops in vegetable and specialty crop production. Some Brassicas have a large taproot that can break through plow pans better than the fibrous roots of cereal cover crops or the mustards.
What is the common name of Brassica rapa?
Brassica rapa is a diverse wild plant species known with several common names: wild turnip, field mustard, turnip mustard, wild mustard, wild kale or bird rape. It has bright yellow flowers which attract bees. Brassica rapa has several subspecies with different uses as crop plants. Turnip (Brassica rapa subsp.
What do you do with mustard flowers?
Flowers from mustard can be tossed into salads for some peppery pizzazz, or used dry in place of pricey saffron. The seeds from mustard can be dried and then ground into powder and used as a peppery spice. Used whole, the seeds give a kick to pickles and relishes.
Is Brassica rapa a crop?
Turnip (Brassica rapa) is an important crop in a wide area around different places of the world.
Where can Brassica rapa be found?
Habitat: Field mustard grows in disturbed areas including roadsides, ditches, cultivated fields, orchards, and gardens. Field mustard is an extremely adaptable plant that grows in sandy to heavy clay soils and tolerates a pH range from 4.8 to 8.5 (Hannaway and Larson, 2004).
What group of plants does Brassica rapa belong to?
Brassica rapaClade:RosidsOrder:BrassicalesFamily:BrassicaceaeGenus:Brassica9 more rows
What kind of food is Brassica?
A member of the family of vegetables that includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, and turnips. These vegetables contain substances that may protect against cancer.
Are all brassicas edible?
The flowers, seeds, stalks, and tender leaves of many species of Brassica can be eaten raw or cooked.
How do brassicas help soil?
Erosion control and nutrient scavenging. Because of their fast fall growth, brassicas are well-suited to capture soil nitrogen (N) remaining after crop harvest. The amount of nitrogen captured is mainly related to biomass accumulation and the amount of N available in the soil profile.
What is the family of brassicas?
The botanical Brassicaceae family includes at least three commercial roots, such as the Brassica rapa and Brassica napus species ( Dixon, 2007 ). These vegetables ( Fig. 5) are characterized by a high content of macro and microminerals, as well as high glucosinolates contents ( Table 1 ).
How much protein is in brassica oil?
Brassica oilseeds contain about 40–46% oil (in some cases up to 50%) and the seed meal remaining after oil extraction contains about 40% protein. Worldwide, this meal is the second most important (after soybean) economical protein source used in animal feed.
What is the difference between rapeseed and mustard?
Rapeseed includes the Brassica oilseed crop species Brassica napus and Brassica rapa, while Brassica juncea is commonly called mustard . These oilseed crops collectively contribute about 15% of the world's total supply of vegetable oils and became the third-leading source of oil in the world after soybean and palm.
What is canola rapeseed?
Canola/rapeseed ( Brassica napus, Brassica rapa, and Brassica juncea of canola quality) is the world’s second-largest oilseed crop. The primary product of canola/rapeseed (C/RS) is vegetable oil (40% by seed weight) and the protein-rich meal (38% protein by meal weight) is a coproduct. Nutritionally, C/RS proteins are comparable with soybean and contain more S-amino acids than many other oilseed meals. Current knowledge on C/RS protein is extensive, however the main research emphasis in the past has been in the use of meal protein in animal feed rather than food-grade protein products. Customized processing interventions for C/RS are required to obtain a suitable protein for food use and current commercial oil extraction techniques amplify these challenges. To date, there has been limited effort to improve the C/RS protein quality or quantity through plant breeding compared to the efforts to improve oil quality and yield. The essential combination of economically competitive technologies, formulation of compatible food products and satisfactory scientific data for regulatory approval is needed for C/RS proteins to succeed as an ingredient in consumer foods.
What is turnip used for?
Turnip tubers have been consumed in Europe since 2500–2000 BCE and have been widely used for fresh vegetables or fodder. In Northern and Eastern Europe as well as in Asia, it is common to eat only the turnips ( Zhang et al., 2014 ), whereas in southern parts of Europe leaves and shoots are addition to tubers, also turnip tops and greens are consumed ( Klopsch et al., 2017 ). Glucoraphanin, glucobrassicin, and gluconasturtiin are among the most dominant glucosinolates detected in turnip, which are well known for their chemopreventive activity ( Lee et al., 2013 ). According to the literature, in turnip ( B. rapa L.), the amount of total glucosinolates was detected not to be influenced by storage temperature, due to opposite responses of aliphatic and indolic glucosinolates against temperature. Therefore, their results elucidate that higher storage temperature gave higher total indolic glucosinolates content and lower total aliphatic glucosinolates level ( Helland et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2013 ).
What butterfly is attacking canola?
The cabbage white butterfly population attacking canola ( Brassica rapa and B. napus) over the past 30 years in north central states of the USA diverged phenotypically relative to a population reared on radish ( Raphanus sativus) ( Sikkink et al., 2017 ).
Is Brassica napus an amphidiploid?
Brassica napus is an amphidiploid (2n = 38, AACC) of B. rapa (2n = 20, AA) and B. oleracea (2n = 18, CC), the cabbages, and kales. This chapter discusses these two crops together because they have many similarities to one another.
Brassica rapa is a diverse wild plant species known with several common names: wild turnip, field mustard, turnip mustard, wild mustard, wild kale or bird rape. It has bright yellow flowers which attract bees
Brassica rapa has several subspecies with different uses as crop plants. Turnip ( Brassica rapa subsp. rapa ) is used as a root vegetable. It’s a biannual plant with a swollen, wide and tuberous root. Field mustard ( Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera ) is used as oilseed crop. It’s an annual plant with a thin root.
Important vegetable
The time and place of the domestication of Brassica rapa is not definitely known but its use as oilseed crop was mentioned in Sanskrit writings as early as 1500 B.C. in India. The field mustard was used both as oil for lamps and steam engines but later, with improved oil quality, as an edible oil.
Uses
Turnips are one of the most commonly grown and.widely adapted root crops, as general farm crop, truck crop, or home-garden crop. Roots eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable, and tops as potherb like spinach. Roots also grown for feeding to livestock during fall and winter.
Folk Medicine
The powdered seed is said to be a folk remedy for cancer. The root when boiled with lard is used for breast tumors. The stems and leaves are said to be a remedy for cancer, while a salve derived from the flowers is said to help skin cancer. (Hartwell, 1967–1971).
Description
Biennial herb with swollen tuberous white-fleshed taproot, lacking a neck; leaves light to medium green, hairy or bristly, stalked, lyrate-pinnatifid, 30–50 cm long, stem-leaves sometimes glaucous with clasping base; flowers bright yellow, sepals spreading: petals 6–10 mm long, those in anthesis close together and commonly overtopping the unopened buds; outer 2 stamens curved outwards at base and much shorter than inner stamens; fruit 4–6.5 cm long, with long tapering beak, on divaricate-ascending pedicels 3.2–6.5 cm long; seeds blackish or reddish-brown, 1.5–2 mm in diameter.
Germplasm
Varieties may have white or yellow flesh, and outside crown may be white, green or purplish-red. Most common white-fleshed varieties are: 'Purple Top White Globe' and 'White Egg'. 'Shogoin' is a white-skinned, white-fleshed Japanese variety, widely grown in the South for greens and salad.
Distribution
Cultivated in Europe for over 4000 years, probably native to central and southern Europe, now spread throughout world, including most parts of the tropics.
Ecology
Turnip is basically a cool climate crop, resistant to frost and mild freezes. Grown as a spring or fall crop throughout the United States. Temperatures below 10°C cause bolting. Turnips do well in deep, friable, highly fertile soil with pH 5.5–6.8; sandy loams are used for early markets roots and greens.
Cultivation
Seed sown thinly in spring, summer or fall in drills at seed rate of 1.1–2.2 kg/ha. Seedlings then thinned to stand 5–15 cm apart in rows 0.3–0.9 m apart. Cultivate shallowly for weed control. Add lime to soil to correct pH to 5.5–6.8. Only light applications of fertilizer are justified, as 450–675 kg/ha of 4–12–4.
Quick Tips
Use Access Science, using the term Brassica rapa or the word turnip, for a brief article that gives some background on the plant. The citation form at the foot of the page will show how to cite the piece from the electronic encyclopedia.
Brassica rapa L. --what is it?
Brassica rapa L. in its various forms may be used as food for people or feed to livestock as leaves, roots, and seeds. This plant is a crucifer, or cruciferous (for the four-lobed, cross-shaped appearance of the four-petaled flowers).
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How long does a Brassica rapa live?
Brassica rapa of the rapid cycling group (RCBr) possess an average life cycle of approximately 35 to 40 days when grown under continuous cool white fluorescent light. They were developed from brassicas with a normal 6 to 12 month life cycle by continuous genetic selection.
What order are brassicas?
Higher up the taxonomic ladder (taxis: Greek, arrangement or order), the brassicas are part of the order Papaverales in the subclass Dicotyledeonae (flowering plants with two cotyledons and netted leaf venation). All flowering plants are in the class Angiospermae (Table 2).
What is RCBR in biology?
During one generation, RCBr can be used to teach basic biological concepts like diversity, interaction with the environment, adaptation, genetic continuity, homeostasis, and evolution.
How long does it take for a RCBR to flower?
RCBr plants should produce flowers 14 days after planting and be about 13 cm tall. Fertilization occurs within 24 hours of pollination and pods visibly swell 3 to 5 days after pollination. Plants can be dried 20 days after the last pollination, and by day 40 to 42, seeds can be harvested and a new cycle begun.
What family is brassica?
Species in the genus Brassica belong to the mustard family, or Brassicaceae (also known as Cruciferae, so named because they have four-petaled flowers each resembling a cross or crucifix [crux: Latin, cross]). Higher up the taxonomic ladder (taxis: Greek, arrangement or order), the brassicas are part of the order Papaverales in the subclass Dicotyledeonae (flowering plants with two cotyledons and netted leaf venation). All flowering plants are in the class Angiospermae (Table 2). Angiosperms are in the subdivision Spermatophyta (the seed-bearing plants), in the plant division Tracheophyta (the presence of vascular tissue; trachia: Latin, artery).
How do bees work brassica?
As the bees work the brassica fields, moving from plant to plant, cross-pollination occurs and genetic information is widely transferred. Bees depend on the flower for their survival. Sugars in the nectar provide carbohydrates to power flight and life activities.
What is the name of the plant that is a turnip?
rapifera (turnip), oleifera (turnip rape), etc. Scientists are still unsure as to whether to give subspecies names to each of the forms of B. rapa. Because the cultivars (cultivated varieties) of various forms can be crossed so easily, many intermediate forms are being produced by plant breeders.
What is a brassica vegetable?
What Are Brassica Vegetables? Brassica vegetables are part of the genus Brassicaceae, or mustard family. Brassicas are also categorized as cruciferous vegetables ( Cruciferae ), or members of the cabbage family. Brassicas are among the most commonly cultivated vegetables in the world, and some of the most nutritious vegetables you can eat.
What vegetables are in the Brassica family?
The Brassica family features a number of commonly used vegetables. Turnips: Purple or white turnips are hearty with a hint of heat, and can be eaten raw in salads, boiled and mashed, or simply roasted like other winter root vegetables.
What is broccoli?
Broccoli: Broccoli is an edible bright green or purple plant with a flowering head, sturdy stalk, and nutrient-dense leaves. Broccoli can be eaten in its entirety and prepared in a myriad of ways: raw, roasted, steamed, sautéed, and even battered and fried.
Is brassica a year round crop?
Brassicas may be associated with cool weather and root cellars, but this massive family of flavorful, easy-to-prepare cole crops has something to offer year -round.
