Agrobiological particularities of Chinese cabbage: Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis (Lour) Hanelt and Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis (Lour) Hanelt.

Abstract

The Chinese cabbage is native in Eastern Asia. In China is cultivated approximately from the 10th century. In Europe it was taken in culture in the 18th century (Indrea et al., 2007). It is consumed in large quantities in Asian countries and Asian communities from Western countries. The popularity of this vegetable is growing every day worldwide (Shelp and Shattuck, 2004). There are two different types of Chinese cabbage: Brassica rapa ssp pekinensis (synonym Brassica campestris var. pekinensis) – plants which form a rosette of leaves and an elongated head and Brassica rapa ssp chinensis (synonym Brassica campestris var. chinensis) – plants which form a rosette of leaves, the leaves have the main nerve well developed, thickened; both belongs to Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) family. (Ciofu et al., 2003). Commonly used names for heading group include pe-tsai, celery cabbage, Chinese white cabbage, Peking cabbage, won bok, napa, hakusai, pao and bow sum, while the other group includes pak choi, bok choy, Chinese mustard, celery mustard, chongee, and pe-tsai (overlapping with the previous group) (Kalb and Lien-Chung Chang, 2005).