Horticultural value of kale crops grown in Northwestern of Spain

Abstract

The Brassica oleracea L. crops are used extensively in Europe and Central Asia being an important source of vegetables in many countries. In European countries, such as France or England, kale (B. oleracea acephala group) is exploited mainly as fodder crop, and research about its potential as a vegetable crop is scarce. Kales are an important crop in the traditional farming system of Galicia (Northwestern of Spain) where they are used both as vegetables and fodder. Farmers often use the tender leaves for human consumption and the oldest ones for feed (Cartea et al, 2003). A collection of 250 landraces of B. oleracea crops is maintained at the Misión Biológica de Galicia (MBG). Kale is by far the most well-represented B. oleracea crop with 214 accessions. The objectives of this work were (i) to make an agronomic and nutritional characterization of the MBG core collection to know the potential ability of kale as a vegetable crop, and (ii) to select the two most promising varieties to be included in future breeding programs.