Accelerated Approaches for Cabbage Improvement

Abstract

Cabbage is widely recognized as a good source of dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins C and provitamin A carotenoids and some glucosinolates that may have a chemoprotective impact in humans. It is a highly cross-pollinated crop where heterosis in F1 hybrid progeny has been exploited for development of hybrids. The self-incompatibility and male sterility systems are present in the crop, which facilitates easy and cheaper hybrid production. Different conventional and biotechnological approaches are being utilized for the improvement of cabbage. Modern breeding approaches such as marker-assisted breeding and transgenic approaches such as Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer and through genome editing techniques, which offer a new opportunity for genetic improvement of the cabbage. The molecular markers represent a useful resource for enhancing selection efficiency via marker-assisted selection (MAS) in cabbage breeding.