Morphological and Nutritional Characteristics and Crossability with Brassica Species of Baemoochae, xBrassicoraphanus

Abstract

Morphological characters of Baemoochae, xBrassicoraphanus are mostly intermedium of the both parents, Chinese cabbage, Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis and radish, Raphanus sativus. The upper and lower parts of the leaf resemble the shape of Chinese cabbage and radish, respectively. The midrib of the leaf is round like to that of radish, but very big more than 3 cm in diameter and white in color like that of Chinese cabbage. The root was changed from the swollen type like that of radish to the enlarged taproot like that of the land race of Chinese cabbage after attaining genetical stability. The flower is white. The seed pod is divided into 2 different parts; the upper part is radish and about 4 cm in length and holds 3-4 seeds and the lower part is Chinese cabbage and about 3 cm in length and holds 7-8 seeds. The color of seed is brown, weight per 1.000 seeds is 5.5 g and the number of seeds per mL is 120. The matured plant in the fall season is around 5 kg in weight and outer leaves are very vigorous and stiffly and inner leaves are erect and form a loose head. The leaf and the root contain a high level of sulforaphene which is well known as a functional substance for anti-cancer and anti-super-bacteria. Baemoochae is an amphidiploid and does not have the self incompatibility function. It has a high level of cross compatibility with Chinese cabbage as the female parent, but not the male parent. It is cross incompatible to cabbage, B. oleracea, black mustard, B. nigra and radish. However it is highly compatible to oil seed rape, B. napus, yellow mustard, B. carinata and partial compatible to muatard, B. juncea in the reciprocal cross.