Cultivation of cauliflower(Brassica oleracea V botrytris)

Cultivation of cauliflower

Ø  Botanical name = Brassica oleracea  V botrytris

Ø  Family = Crusiferae

Ø  Chromosome number = 2n =18

Ø  Origin place = Mediterranean region

According to Boswell(1949) it originates in the island of Cyprus.

Ø  Type of fruit = siliqua

Ø  Type of inflorescence = Racemose

Ø  Type of plant = annual for consumptive purpose and biennial for seed production.

Ø  Type of pollination = Cross

Ø  Highest production in world = India  

Ø  Highest production in India = WB 

Ø  Highest productivity in India = WB

Ø  national average productivity = 19.6 MT /hec

Ø  Other name = Phoolgobhi.

Ø  Ancestor of cauliflower =Brassica critica

Ø  Genome=CC

Ø  It originates from wild cabbage Cole warts through mutation, human selection and adaptation.

 

Ø  Cauliflower introduced in India in 1822 by a botanist Dr. Jemson from Kew garden (London) at Saharanpur.

 

Ø  Cauliflower is being made from Latin word Caulis and Floris means cabbage and flower respectively.

 

Ø  Cauliflower inflorescence extract has been use in the treatment of scurvy & blood purifier.

 

Ø  The characteristic flavour of Cole crops is due to presence of: = Di methyl tri sulphite

 

Ø  Swarup and chattergee (1972) classified the cauliflower in various group-

Cauliflower types	Country of origin	Probable period of first cultivation	Characters
Italian or original	Mediterranean	16th Century	Plants short;  curds good but not protected.
Cornish	England	Early 19th Century	curds flat, loose, not protected, yellow,
Northern	England	19th Century	curds good, well protected.
Roscoff	France	19th Century	Plants short, well protected.
Angers	France	19th Century	curds solid and well protected.
Erfurt and snowball	Germany and Netherlands	18th Century	Plants dwarf; curds solid and well protected.
Indian cauliflower	India	Late 19th Century	Plants short,  loose, yellow to creamy, not protected

Crisp (1982) has also classified the groups of cauliflower according to the phylogeny as given in Table

Group name	Characteristics
Italian	include both annual and biennials and curds with peculiar conformations colours
North European annuals	Developed in Northern Europe for at least 400 years.  Origin unknown, perhaps Italian Eastern Mediterranean.
North West European biennials	Developed from Italian material within 300 years
Asian	Recombinants of European annuals and biennials, developed within last 250 years, adapted to tropics
Australian	Recombinants of European annuals and biennials and perhaps Italian stock, developed during the last 200 years.

 

 

Cultivation

Sowing time and Climate requirement

Type	Sowing time	Transplanting time	Maturity	Temperature Requirement
Early(1)	Mid may	Starting July	Mid sep to mid Oct	20-27C
Early (2)	May end to June	Mid July	Sep to oct	20-25C
Mid early	July end	September	Nov to Dec	16-20C
Mid Late	Aug end	September end	Dec to Jan	12-16C
Late	Sep end	Oct to nov	Jan to feb	10-12C

 

Ø  Soil=

·         Early = light soil

·         Mid and late= Heavy soil

Ø  According to Nieuwhof (1969) late type cauliflower can tolerate salt content up to C6 index.

Ø  Cauliflower is a temperate crop.

Ø  Cauliflower is a thermosenstive* crop.

Thermosenstive = readily affected by heat or a change in temperature.

Ø  Seed rate=

·         Early = 500-600g/hec

·         Mid and late =350-400g/hec

Ø  Optimum nursery area= 100m²

Ø  Seedling age for transplanting =

·         Early = 5-6 weeks’ old

·         Mid and late = 3-4 weeks’ old

Ø  Spacing =

·         Early = 60*30cm

·         Mid =60*45

·         Late=75*60

 

Varieties

Ø  Early = Early Kunwari, Pusa early synthetic, Pant gobi-3, Pusa deepali, Pant gobi-2

Ø  Mid early = Japanese improved (introduced from Israel), Pusa hybrid -2, Pusa sarad, pant gobi-4

Ø  Mid late =Pusa synthetic, Pusa subhra (resistant to black rot and curd blight), pant subhra, Pusa himjyoti, Punjab giant gobi-35.

Ø  Late =Pusa snoball-1, pusa snowball K-1, ooty-1

Ø  Resistant to black rot = Pusa snowballK-1

Ø  Resistant to downy mildew = Pusa kartik sankar

Ø  Resistant to black rot and Ryceness =Pusa katki

Ø  Self-blanching variety of cauliflower= all snowball type, Pusa deepali, Pusa himjyoti.

Ø  Offseason variety =Pusa himjyoti, hisar-1

b

Ø  Cauliflower growth are divide into three Stage=

1.       Vegetative stage

2.       Curd initiation stage

3.       Curd development stage

Ø  Blanching is important operation to protect the curd from direct exposure of sunlight.

Ø  Scooping is the removal of centre portion of curd for earlier initiation of flower.

Ø  Yield =

·         10 tonnes per hec

·         20 tonnes per hec

·         30 tonnes per hec

Ø  Storage = 0 c with 90-95% RH (Relative humidity) for 2-4 weeks.

Ø  Grading =

1.       Large = more than 2 kg curd

2.       Mid = 1-2 kg curd

3.       Small = less than 1 kg curd.

Ø  Value addition =

·         Frozen cauliflower (mainly use in USA)

·         Dehydrated

·         canning

Ø  Major pest of Cole crops is: DBM (diamond black moth) (Plutella xylostella)

Ø  Damping off: It is a common problem of seedlings in the nursery beds and
caused by the fungus of genus Pythium.

Ø  Black rot: The disease is caused by the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris pv.
campestris.

 

Disorders

1.       Ryceyness = Premature initiation of floral bud, it is mainly due to low high temperature than optimum and higher application of N(nitrogen).

2.       Fuzziness = Cultivation of cauliflower out of season.

3.       Leafiness = Extremely small green leaves appear in between the curd. prevalence of high temperature during curding phase increases leafiness.

4.       Blindness = Plant without terminal bud, it is mainly caused by physical injury.

5.       Pinking = exposure of curd at high temperature.

6.       Hollow stem = Bo deficiency and higher dose of N(nitrogen).

7.       Chlorosis = Mg deficiency (when it grown in highly acidic soil.)

8.       Whiptail = Development of Blade type leaf, it is mainly due to Mo deficiency.

9.       Buttoning = N (nitrogen deficiency or use six weeks old seedling for transplantation.

10.   Browning = Bo deficiency.

11.   Frost injury =

Ø  Orange cauliflower contain = beta carotene

Ø  Cultivar of orange cauliflower =Cheddar, orange bouquet and Pusa betakeshri.

Ø  Isolation distance =1600 m

 

Some important information

Ø  “Cole crop” book is written by = Nieuwhof

Ø  Cauliflower head is composed of a white inflorescence meristem.

Ø  First illustration and description of cauliflower was presented by the Herverlist Dodoens (1544).

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