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Origin and Genetic Improvement of
Indian Cauliflower
VISHNU SWARUP AND S. S. CHATTERJEE 1
Among the cole crops, cauliflower or Alpha types. Seeds of Indian cauli-
(Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis L. flowers can be produced in the northern
subvar. cauliflora DC.) follows cabbage plains, but Snowball and allied types do
in importance with regard to area and not set seed there.
production in the world. However, in In large cities of northern India like
India cauliflower is more widely grown Delhi, cauliflower is available in the
than cabbage. This crop grows at lati- market almost all year except during 6
tudes 110 N to 60? N with average to 7 weeks in May and June. Curds from
temperature ranging from 5?-8?C to the crop grown around Delhi are avail-
25 ?-28 0C. In its vegetative growth able from early September until late
period it may stand temperatures as low February. During August as well as
as -100C and as high as 40?C for a in early March, cauliflower in the Delhi
few days. The total area under cauli- market is from Ajmer and neighbour-
flower in the world is 164, 594 hectares. ing areas of Rajasthan. Cauliflower
Italy and India have the largest areas, sold in Delhi during July and August
each covering about 25 percent of the comes from the north Indian hills, par-
total acreage (2, 3). In India, cauli- ticularly from Solan, Simla, and other
flower is grown both in the hills and in neighbouring hills. Though area and
the plains and from 110 N to 350 N. production figures from different ma-
Some of the most important cauliflower turity groups are not available, the
growing states in India are Uttar Pra- supply of curds in the market is, in gen-
desh, Mysore, West Bengal, Punjab, and eral, limited during the early period,
Bihar. It is also grown commonly in i.e., August to October. This is also sup-
the northern Himalayas and in the Nil- ported by the high price (Rs.3 to Rs.5
giri Hills in the south. Cauliflower is per kg.) of cauliflower during this
harvested from late August or early period compared to the later period,
September to late February or early when it varies from Rs.O.25 to Rs.0.75
March in the north Indian plains and per kg. (Rs.1.00=$0.13 approx.).
from March to November in the hills.
Cauliflowers cultivated in the Indian Origin of Cauliflower
plains can be broadly classed into four
maturity groups depending upon time Cauliflower is thought to have been
domesticated in the Mediterranean re-
of curd availability: I, September to
gion since the greatest range of varia-
early November; II, mid-November to
bility in wild types of Brassica oleracea
early December; III, mid-December to
is found there (20, 30). According to
mid-January; and IV, mid-January to
Boswell (5) it originated in the island
early March. Of these groups, the first
of Cyprus from where it moved to other
three are typically Indian cauliflowers
areas like Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Italy,
while the fourth is of Snowball, Erfurt,
Spain and northwestern Europe. In cul-
tivation for a little more than 2,500
'Division of Vegetable Crops & Floriculture,
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New
years, it appeared about 15 centuries
Delhi-12, India. Submitted for publication 14 later than cabbage (5). In the middle of
June 1971. the 16th Century the first illustration
381
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382 ECONOMIC BOTANY
and description of cauliflower were pre- though Giles (26) reported that its cul-
sented by the herbalist Dodoens (9). It tivation there was not brought to any
was after this period that the crop be- degree of perfection until about 1860;
came more commonly cultivated, par- in France, cultivation was started in
ticularly in the beginning of the 18th 1600 (5).
Century. In England the cauliflower industry
The cole crops, including cauliflower started in early 19th Century with the
and cabbage, have descended from a Cornish types commonly grown in west-
common kale-like ancestor, the wild ern Cornwall (20, 23). Cornish cauli-
cabbage (B. oleracea L. var. sylvestris flowers were grown till 1920 or so when
L.) still found in western and southern English housewives began preferring
Europe and north Africa (1, 15, 20, 26, the white-curded "Roscoff" from
36). According to Allard (1), cabbage, France, which was shipped across the
cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts channel in small boats. The "Roscoff"
and other varieties of Brassica oleracea was closely and jealously guarded and
have been separated morphologically on seeds were not available. However, in
the basis of a few gene differences. The 1924 its seeds reached England and were
varieties of B. olera1cea have the same mutiplied for distribution and for breed-
chromosome number (n= 9), and there ing (23). Later, the Cornish types were
are almost no differences in chromosome replaced by the "Roscoff" and other im-
morphology. Pachytene chromosome proved strains such as "Seale Hayne."
studies have shown that the species B. The chief characteristics of these im-
oleracea is a triple tetrasomic with the portant cauliflower types are presented
genomic formula A BB CC D EE F with in Table I. It should be emphasized that
6 basic genomes and showing some sec- these different types of cauliflowers,
ondary pairing (12, 33). adapted to cold winter as well as sum-
mer conditions, were developed by man
European Cauliflowers through simple selections from the orig-
inal material brought from Italy, a re-
Before discussing the origin of In- gion of mild Mediterranean climate.
dian cauliflowers, it would be appropri-
ate to describe the history of develop- Indian Cauliflowers
ment of the European types. Syste-
matic and extensive cultivation of cauli- Indian cauliflowers are characteristic-
flower was first started in Italy where ally different from the types grown in
the "Originals" were developed. These Europe. They are tolerant to high tem-
original Italian types were taken to peratures and to humid conditions. In-
France, England, Germany and Nether- dian cauliflowers are perhaps the earli-
lands where some important local types est-maturing types known. According
were developed from them, e.g., the to Giles (15), Indian cauliflowers are
"Northerns" in Yorkshire and Derby- dwarf selections of Erfurt or Snowball
shire, the "Cornish" in Cornwall, the types. This view is also supported by
"Angers" and "Roscoff" in Brittany Nieuwhof (30), who stated that selec-
(20), and the "Erfurt" or its allied tions from Erfurt-Alpha types have
"Snowball" in Germany (15) and in the yielded early varieties that performed
Netherlands (31). These types were better in warmer regions, producing
mainly for winter cultivation except good curds at temperatures above 20?C.
"Erfurt," which was suitable for grow- (Some of these varieties were Early
ing in summer. In England, commercial Patna, Early Benaras, and Early
cultivation of cauliflower began in 1619 Market.) Our studies have led us to
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SWARUP & CHATTERJEE: INDIAN CAULIFLOWER 383
TABLE I
Erfurt & Germany & 18th Century Plants dwarf; leaves short, erect
Snowball Netherlands glaucous green; curds solid, well
protected.
question the origin of Indian cauliflow- man" (order) issued to the Moghul
ers from Erfurt or Snowball types only. Governor at Najibabad (U.P.). From
The investigation was made from the Sutton & Sons, Reading, London, Dr.
historical, morphological, and genetic Jemson introduced seeds of several
points of view. Our data may be useful English vegetables such as cabbage,
in breeding work to improve the crop. cauliflower, beets, tomatoes, etc. After
the Indian Mutiny in 1857, on the proc-
History lamation of the British Rule in India,
the Company Bagh was renamed as the
Cauliflower was introduced to India Government Botanical Gardens, Saha-
in 1822 when Dr. Jemson, a botanist ranpur (24).
from Kew, took charge of the Company During the days of the East India
Bagh (United Provinces, Saharanpur Company, the seeds of vegetable crops
in the northern plains) to carry out were brought to India from England in
some horticultural experiments during small sailing boats, which carried dried
the period of the East India Company. botanical specimens and other raw ma-
The Royal Agri-Horticultural Society, terials like jute, cotton, etc. from India
Calcutta (West Bengal), also introduced to England (24). The seeds were dis-
seeds of English vegetables including tributed to different parts of the coun-
cauliflower, in 1824 from South Africa try and performance reports obtained
(4). The Company Bagh was trans- from them. For about a century (1822
ferred to Dr. Jemson by the then Mogul to 1929), cauliflower underwent se-
Ruler at Delhi, through a special "Far- lection by local growers. The selections
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384 ECONOMIC BOTANY
_ = 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
were made for early maturity and for The first four Indian varieties listed by
adaptability to hot humid weather. Sutton & Sons, India, in 1929 were
This is evidenced from the 1880 Prog- Early and Main Crop Patna, and Early
ress Report of the Government Botani- and Main Crop Benaras. Incidentally,
cal Gardens, Saharanpur and Mussoorie, this company did not establish its office
by J. F. Duthie (10), who was in charge in India until 1916; its catalogue men-
of the gardens. He reported that tioned the variety Snowball for the first
adapted varieties selected by the local time in 1920. Perhaps around 1860-
growers were good for early sowings, 1880 (19) the Company also supplied
maturing in October to December, and seeds to India from the Head Office in
could be followed by imported varieties. England by mail order.
TABLE II
up to 16 to 21 cm. &
Maturity gi'oups 15 cm. 20 cm. above
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SWARUP & CHATTERJEE: INDIAN CAULIFLOWER 385
...........
V..-,,f, # ; . .r S
_^~~~~~1
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386 ECONOMIC BOTANY
represented the completely erect habit development of the curd. This type is
with covered curd; Plant Types 2 and 3 not considered worthwhile for selection.
were intermediates, the former being (Incidentally, the plant commonly ob-
closer to 1, the latter to 4 (Fig. 1 to 4). served in the late Snowball strains be-
Of these, Plant Type 3 is considered the longs to Type 3-it produces medium-
best as it has long erect leaves with or sized, solid and white attractive curds
without the self-blanching habit and has due to its self-blanching habit). In ma-
medium-sized curd. The curd of Type turity groups I and II among the inbred
4 is very small and not of marketable lines, Plant Type 2 was most frequent;
size, perhaps because the erect leaves in maturity group III, Plant Type 3 was
do not provide enough space for the predominant but there were several in-
f N,~~~~~~~~~~~~9
-3~~~~~~~~~~N
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SWARUP & CHATTERJEE: INDIAN CAULIFLOWER 387
TABLE III
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388 ECONOMIC BOTANY
FIG. 5. Left, Inbred line 330-5-23-# and Right, Variety Early Cornish (M/s Hurst, U.K.).
breds of Plant Type 4 also. Plant Type (Fig. 5), while 9 belonged to other
4 was observed in very few inbred lines Types (6 Roscoff, 2 Northerns, and one
in Groups I and II (Table III). Italian). Groups I and II produced
Leaf characteristics of Indian cauli- comparatively loose, uneven, yellow to
flowers are quite different from Snow- creamy curds having a strong flavour-
ball or Erfurt Types but are closer to characteristics typical of the Cornish.
Cornish, and some were also similar to However, the main season inbred ma-
Roscoff, Italians, and Northerns. The turing in December and January pro-
inbred lines developed from the same duced comparatively more compact and
variety differed much in respect to leaf somewhat whiter curds not so strongly
and curd characteristics. Of the 162 in- flavoured. The chief morphological
breds of Group I, 153 were like Cornish characteristics of both Indian and Cor-
TABLE IV
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SWARUP & CHATTERJEE: INDIAN CAULIFLOWER 389
TABLE VI
IV
I II III IXII (Snowball) t
Maturity group Matur- Curd Matur- Curd Matur- Curd Matur- Curd Matur- Curd
Heterosis ity wt. ity wt. ity wt. ity wt. ity wt.
Heterosis % (Over
means) 3.25 37.05 2.11 37.08 2.72 18.11 5.37 58.75 2.66 14.69
Heterotic Crosses *
(Percentage) 14.3 10.1 32.14 57.14 7.15 14.29 42.42 30.30 42.86 7.14
Range of Heterosis 0.06 0.36 0.06 1.17 0.21 4.62 0 0.36 0- 0-
to to to to 5.52 28.91
7.23 78.09 5.91 55.21 5.33 60.25 10.50 174.68
Parents 8 8 8 8 8 8 12 12 9 9
F1 Hybrids 28 28 28 28 28 28 66 66 14 14
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390 ECONOMIC BOTANY
genetic diversity observed in the ma- the fact that the introduction of cauli-
terial. flower to India in 1822 from England
Resistance to black rot. A very inter- coincided with the establishment of the
esting observation was made that the Cornish cauliflower industry in Eng-
genes for resistance to black rot disease land. Morphological and other char-
were not present in any of the varieties acteristics, e.g., long stalk, open habit,
of Erfurt or Snowball types but were exposed, yellow, uneven curds which
present in some of the varieties of In- loosen up easily and strong flavour, are
dian types. However, some of the In- some attributes common to both Cornish
dian types were as highly susceptible as and Indian cauliflowers, particularly
the Snowball types. Of the 150 varieties early types maturing in September to
and 50 inbreds developed from the In- November. However, Indian cauliflow-
dian types and screened for reaction to ers did not develop only from Cornish
this disease, only 10 (one of which was but also from some other types like
inbred) were found to have resistance Roscoffs, Italians, and Northerns as evi-
to this disease; all of these (except the denced from characteristics of leaves
inbred line) belonged to maturity Group and curds. In the late maturing Indian
I. The resistance was found to be domi- types (Group III), however, plants hav-
nant and polygenic. ing the erect habit of Plant Types 3
and 4 are more frequent than in the
Conclusion earlier groups, in which Plant Types
1 and 2 are more common. This sug-
From the results of our studies, we gests that perhaps the late maturing
conclude that Indian cauliflowers are a varieties, particularly those becoming
separate group from European types. It ready between late December to early
appears that they have originated by January, are more similar to Erfurts
simple selection and later perhaps by and Italians.
recombination as a result of natural The observations on self-incompatibil-
crossing between different types. This ity also support the view that Indian
view is based on the fact that there are types are genetically different from the
several inbreds with very close morpho- Erfurt because, in the former, self-
logical affinity to different European incompatibility is predominant, while,
types like Cornish, Roscoff, Italian, in the latter, self-compatibility is more
Northerns, Angers, and Snowball or Er- common. However, in maturity Group
furt though not exactly the same. III of the Indian varieties closer to Er-
Typical Indian cauliflowers belong to furts and Italians, some self-compati-
maturity Groups I and II since their bility was recorded as expected. This
vegetative growth and curding are com- indicates that the Indian types, par-
pleted in high temperature and humid ticularly Groups I and II, have been
conditions. In contrast, Group III com- developed from winter types and not
pares favourably well with the late from summer types of Erfurt or Snow-
Snowball or Erfurt types in regard to ball. Cornish, Roscoff and Northerns
climatic requirements. From these ob- are classified as winter types and have
servations it appears that the parental been reported to be highly self-incom-
varieties contributing most to the In- patible while the Italians or autumn
dian types tolerant to high temperature cauliflowers are intermediate (37).
and rainfall conditions are the Cornish, The greater genetic diversity in In-
which is the predominant type in Groupsdian types has perhaps resulted from
I and II but almost absent in Group the natural crossing taking place be-
III. This is further substantiated by tween the different varieties of separate
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SWARUP & CHATTERJEE: INDIAN CAULIFLOWER 391
maturity groups because the selection stand the hot weather and rainfall of
was done by the growers without any the early season; if any curd is formed
scientific basis and the selections were in the surviving plant later, it becomes
even made prior to Mendelian times. deformed and fails to set seeds in the
This is conclusively proven by the pres- plains. This is possibly the reason why
ence of appreciable amount of heterosis maturity groups I and II did not give
in almost all economic characters in rise to any line having closer affinity to
these Indian types. On the other hand Erfurt or Snowball while it was possible
the Erfurt or Snowball did not show to recover lines closer to them in ma-
pronounced heterosis, mainly due to the turity Group III.
fact that these types did not have much Our studies have shown conclusively
genetic diversity. The different types that the genes for resistance to black rot
like Cornish, Northerns, Roscoff, An- are present only in Group I (except one
gers and Erfurts originated from the inbred line in Group II), while all the
Italians independently in different re- varieties tested in the Erfurt or Snow-
gions, and seeds of these were not avail- ball groups were susceptible. This also
able for growing in any other region supports the view that the Indian hot
for quite a long time because they were weather types have not originated from
jealously guarded. For example Ros- Erfurt or Snowball types as suggested
coff moved out of France to England by Giles (15) or Nieuwhof (30).
only in 1924 and Angers in the late 19th Finally, it is interesting to note that
Century; the case of Erfurts or Snow- cauliflower, after its origin in Cyprus,
ball was similar. These types, therefore, became established around the Mediter-
remained genetically isolated for a cen- ranean, particularly in Italy. Its fur-
tury or more and were thus able to ther development and improvement
maintain their characteristic features. were achieved in northern and north-
As stated earlier the Cornish type al- western Europe and its cultivation was
most disappeared after the introduction extended to 60?N. The selection and de-
of Roscoff to England in 1924. Simi- velopment of Indian cauliflower types
larly some of the other types like Ros- made it possible to extend the growing
coff and Northerns have also been re- areas to the tropics and subtropics. Be-
placed by other improved strains, e.g., sides, certain favourable genes such as
'Seale Hayne' strains in England. It is tolerance to high temperature and rain-
likely that the Cornish type-perhaps fall, which was unknown in the Euro-
the first to be introduced to India and pean types, have been successfully util-
contributor of many genes to the Indian ized in other tropical and subtropical
varieties-has gone out of cultivation, regions for developing improved varie-
resulting in the loss of many possibly ties such as Pua Kea in Hawaii (13, 14),
useful genes. When the Cornish types Campinus in Brazil (6), Improved Ja-
were brought from typical temperate panese and D-96 in Israel (11), and
conditions to the tropical environment Extra Early in Taiwan. The Indian
of India, they adapted well to higher varieties released by Sutton & Sons
temperature and humid conditions. Sim- were also found to be promising in
ple selection from these types gave rise other tropical areas, including Ceylon,
to an entirely different type, both ge- West Indies, the Philippines, and
netically and morphologically, from Florida (28, 32, 34, 40). Thus the crop
temperate types of cauliflower. This is presently cultivated from 11N to
view can further be corroborated from 60?N. Such flexibility in the adaptation
the fact that Snowballs or Erfurts, of this crop is attributable to the inher-
when planted with Indian types, do not ent character of the ancestral parent B.
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392 ECONOMIC BOTANY
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SWARUP & CHATTERJEE: INDIAN CAULIFLOWER 393
History and breeding in the South-West. Books, Leonard Hill (Books) Ltd.,
Sci. Hort. 11: 128-139. London.
21. Ito, H. & T. Saito. 1961. Time and tem- 31. . 1970. Personal communication.
perature factors for the flower forma- 32. Paul, W. R. C. 1933. A note on the culti-
tion in cabbage. Tohuku J. Agr. Res. vation of the cauliflower in the low
12: 297-316. country districts of Ceylon. Trop Agri-
22. Jensma, J. R. 1957. Cultivation and breed- culturist 81: 91-94.
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Tuinbouwgew. 96: 61. analysis of Brassica genome. Chromo-
23. Johnstone, K. 1963. Cornish cauliflower. soma 11: 205.
Agriculture 70: 216-219. 34. Rodrigo, P. A., P. S. Urbanes, & P. S.
Hernais. 1935. A progress report on
24. Kashiram. 1970. Personal communication
the acclimatization of cauliflower. Philip-
to Mr. Hodges, Managing Director, Sut-
pine J. Agr. 6: 115-127.
ton & Sons, India Ltd. Calcutta; and
35. Swarup, V. & A. B. Pal. 1966. Gene
personal contact by the authors.
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25. Kuroki, T. 1970. It is paying to grow
Indian J. Genet. 26: 269-281.
cabbage and cucumber in summer.
36. Vilmorin, R. L. de. 1956. Masters Me-
Indian Fm. Digest 3(8): 41-42.
morial lecture, 1956: The improvement
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of strains of vegetables. J. Roy. Hort.
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United States. Report, 14th Int. Hort. 323-340.
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28. Mortensen, E. & E. T. Bullard. 1968. and F2 generations of cauliflower from
Hand book of tropical and sub-tropical crosses between summer, autumn and
horticulture. Department of State, winter types. J. Hort. Sci. 39: 84-91.
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WVashington, D.C. breeding systems of cauliflower II.
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