Abstract
Cabbage belonging to Brassicaceae family is one of the most important vegetables cultivated worldwide. The economically important part of cabbage crop is head, formed by leaves which may be of splitting and non-splitting types. Cabbage varieties showing head splitting causes huge loss to the farmers and therefore finding the molecular and structural basis of splitting types would be helpful to breeders. To determine which anatomical characteristics were related to head-splitting in cabbage, we analyzed two contrasting cabbage lines and their offspring using a field emission scanning electron microscope. The inbred line “747” is an early head-splitting type, while the inbred line “748” is a head-splitting-resistant type. The petiole cells of “747” seems to be larger than those of “748” at maturity; however, there was no significant difference in petiole cell size at both pre-heading and maturity stages. The lower epidermis cells of “747” were larger than those of “748” at the pre-heading and maturity stages. “747” had thinner epidermis cell wall than “748” at maturity stage, however, there was no difference of the epidermis cell wall thickness in the two lines at the pre-heading stage. The head-splitting plants in the F1 and F2 population inherited the larger cell size and thinner cell walls of epidermis cells in the petiole. In the petiole cell walls of “747” and the F1 and F2 plants that formed splitting heads, the cellulose microfibrils were loose and had separated from each other. These findings verified that anomalous cellulose microfibrils, larger cell size and thinner-walled epidermis cells are important genetic factors that make cabbage heads prone to splitting.
Highlights
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) is one of the many varieties of Brassica oleracea, which is in the Brassicaceae family
The petiole cell size was Anatomic Characteristics Contributing to Head Splitting in B. oleracea observed from parental lines and their offspring at pre-heading and mature stages
The wax layer on the epidermis of the leaf and petiole was thicker and Cracking or splitting leads to serious economic losses in many fruit and vegetable crops including cherry, apple, litchi, tomato, Chinese cabbage, and cabbage [1,2,3,4,5,6,16]
Summary
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) is one of the many varieties of Brassica oleracea, which is in the Brassicaceae family. The economic value of cabbages is reduced when their heads split or crack, and when they are attacked by insects. The cracking/splitting trait has been a topic of interest for breeders and researchers for a long time. This trait has been observed in many fruits and vegetables such as cherry, apple, litchi, tomato, and Chinese cabbage [1,2,3,4,5]. The characteristics of large fruit size, low skin tensile strength, and thin skin were shown to be related to susceptibility to cracking [4]. The thickness of the cuticular membrane was shown to be strongly related to cracking in cherry tomato [7]
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