Leafy vegetables

Jitendra Chandra Chandola
33415

Amaranths : Amaranthus spp.
 Spinach Beet / Palak : Beta vulgaris var.
bengalensis Hort.
 Spinach : Spinacia oleracea L.
Newzealand Spinach : Tetragonia
tetragonoid.es (Pall.) O. Kuntze
Poi / Basella / Malabar Nightshade :
Basella alba L.
Fenugreek / Methi : Trigonella foenum -
graceum L.

 There are leaf amaranths as well as
grain amaranths. The leaf amaranths
are used for vegetable but the young
plants with tender stems and leaves of
grain amaranths are also eaten as leafy
vegetable.
 It is widely cultivated throughout India
but more in southern regions (Tamil
Nadu, Kerala. Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh), it is also grown in the hills in
north India, especially the grain
amaranths.

 Family : Amaranthaceae
 Genus : Amaranthus
 The genus Amaranthus is classified into two
sections, namely Amaranthus and Blitopsis.
 All species for grains are under Amaranthus
and leaf amaranths under Blitopsis.
 Species : tricolor (Badi chaulai)
 Species : blitum (Choti chaulai)
 Among the leaf amaranths, Amaranthus
tricolor, is most popular in South Asia and
India.

 The flowers in Amaranths are borne
in cymes having both pistillate and
staminate flowers.
 In the species A. tricolor and A.
blilum the cymes are mostly
clustered in leaf Axils.
Origin
 The vegetable amaranth, A. tricolor
originated somewhere in South Asia
or South east Asia Most probably, it
is native to India.

 The genus Amaranthns has two basic chromosome numbers, x =16
and x = 17.
 All the Amaranthus species are diploids with chromosome number
2n=32 or 2n=34. Only one species A dubius is a tetraploid, 2n=64.
Breeding System
 The vegetable amaranths are predominantly self-pollinating due to
the presence of a high percentage (10-25%) of male flowers per
glomerule and more number of axillary glomerules.
 The percentage of male flowers per glomerule being only 0.5-1.0 per
cent with protogyny contribute to natural outcrossing in grain types.
 Amaranth is mainly a wind pollinated crop.

 The yield of greens is the main character for improvement in the leaf
amaranths.
 Plant height, stem diameter and weight, leaf length, width and weight,
leaf/stem ratio, leaf colour (green/red) and days to 50 per cent bolting have
direct and positive influence on the yield of greens.
 The optimum leaf / stem ratio should be above one.
 Plants of medium height with broader leaves and medium-thick stem are
ideal for selection.
 Plants with lower levels of antinutrient compounds like nitrates and oxalates
are desirable for selection.
 Selection of stable lines for yield and bolting in different environments. The
emphasis should be on selecting late bolting lines.
 Breeding for resistance to important dieases, like damping-off (Pythium
spp.), while rust (Albugo hliti), leaf spot (Cercospora spp.) and insect pests,
such as, Hymeria spp. and other caterpillars, stem borer (Lixus truncalulus)
and root-knot nematode (A, feloiciog).

 Since leaf amaranths are predominantly self-pollinating
mass selection has been effective in their improvement.
 Pure line selection can also be adopted in breeding leaf
types.
 Recurrent selection has been suggested for improvement of
heterogeneous landraces of the grain amaranth.
 Autotetraploidy was induced by colchicine in A. blitum and
other species. The induced tetraploids of A. blitum had
larger number and bigger leaves with prolonged vegetable
phase.
 Autotetraploid Mutation breeding in grain amaranths by
using chemical mutagens and gamma rays.
 Several promising mutants were selected which had
earliness, dwarf plant height, broad leaves, late bolting.

 Pusa Kiran : Suitable for kharif season. Leaves
are glossy green.
 Pusa Lal Chaulai : Suitable for kitchen garden.
 Pusa Kirti : Suitable for summer season.
 Pusa Choti Chaulai : Plants are small in structure.
It respond well to cutting.
 Pusa Badi Chaulai : Plants are tall ; stems are
thick and tender with large green leaves.
 Arka Varna : high antioxidants with low oxalates
and nitrates.
 Arka Samraksha : high antioxidants with low
oxalates and nitrates.
 Arka Arunima : Resistant to white rust.

 It is a very common leafy vegetable in
India, particularly in northern plains of
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal,
Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
 It is also grown in Maharashtra, Gujarat
and Madhya Pradesh but not so
common in southern States.
 The spinach beet probably had its
origin in Indo-Chinese region. It was
known in China in A.D. 647.
 In India, perhaps it was first cultivated
in Bengal. It was first recorded in the
medicinal treatise, Carak Samhita, c.
600 B.C.

 Palak, Bela vulgaris var. bengalensis Hort., belongs to the
genus Beta of the family Chenopodiaceae.
 It is closely related to beet root and sugar beet (B. vulgaris
ssp. cicla).
 The sea beet B. vulgaris ssp. maritima, is the ancestor of
beet root, palak and some other cultivars.
Cytology
 The spinach beet / palak is a diploid with a chromosome
number, 2x=2n=18, the basic chromosome number being
x=9.
 Colchicine-induced aneuploids, triploids and tetraploids
have also been reported.

 The red or purple colour of stems and leaves is
dominant over green and governed by two genes with a
segregation of 9 purple: 7 green in F2 generation along
with intermediate colours.
 The monogerm seed character is controlled by a single
recessive gene and multigerm was partially dominant,
perhaps with some modifier genes.
 The gene-cytoplasmic male sterility, reported in palak,
was observed to be governed by two recessive genes
with a 15:1 ratio in F2 segregation.
 In the cross between garden beet and palak. early
bolting was found to be governed by dominant genes.
The higher dry matter content was controlled by
dominant genes.

 To select for vigorous plant growth, quick growing,
strong succulent stem, large leaves, preferably green
coloured leaves and stems.
 Higher vitamin A content.
 Resistance to important diseases and insect pests.
 Higher yield.
 Better and quick rejuvenation ability after cuttings.
 Good flavour and taste.
 Wider adaptability to varying climate.

 Palak is a cross-pollinating crop, mainly due to wind-pollination.
 Mass selection and hybridization followed by pedigree method of
selection or bulk method are effective in improvement of the
palak.
 Since there is inbreeding depression much selfing should be
avoided and instead sib- mating will be more effective.
 Recurrent selection may be adopted for the improvement of a
heterogeneous population.
 Colchicine-induced polyploids have also been selected for
developing improved cultivars.
 Crosses between palak and beet root, sugar beet and Swiss chard
were attempted to develop improved cultivars having late bolting
habit and better rejuvenation ability and wider adaptability to
varying climate.
 The improved varieties were developed by selection from local
types, hybridization between palak and sugar beet, Swiss chard or
beet root and colchicine-induced polyploid.

 All Green : The plants produced uniform green tender
leaves (6-7 cuttings).
 Pusa Palak : Selection from (Swiss Chard x Local
Palak).
 Pusa Jyoti : 2 % colchicines for 24 hours on All Green
variety.
 Pusa Harit : Sugar beet x Local palak. It tolerates to
alkaline soils.
 Jobner Green : Spontaneous mutant from local
collection of Sel. No. 5.
 Banerjee’s Giant : Palak x Beet root.

 Spinach is a temperate crop for growing in
cool season, there are a few varieties
developed in china which are tolerant to
warmer conditions and can be grown in
subtropical regions of northern plains in India.
Origin
 The spinach originated in central Asia, most
probably in Persia. It was first grown by the
Arabs in Persia about 2000 years ago.
 The primitive forms of Spinacia oleracea have
been reported from northwestern India and
Nepal.

 Family : Chenopodiaceae
 Genus : Spinacia.
 It is a dioecious annual.
 Sex expression in spinach is tetramorphic which includes :
(1) extreme male plants having smaller plants and earlier flowering,
(2) vegetative male plants with larger plants,
(3) female plants having larger size and longer vegetative period and
(4) monoecious plants which may be true-breeding or segregating for
staminate and pistillate flowers.
 The extreme male plants do not have any commercial use.
 In an improved variety extreme male plants are almost eliminated.
 The species Spinacea oleracea has two diploid wild relatives, S. tetranda
and S. turkesianica.
 Perhaps S. tetranda is the ancestor of spinach, Spinacia oleracea.

 Spinacia oleracea is a diploid with the chromosome number,
2n=12.
 The sex gene is located on the short arm of the long
chromosome 1.
 The chromosome pair having the sex gene is the longest of
the genome.
 The long arm of the chromosome carries the X sex factor
and short arm has the Y sex factor.

 There are various views on the sex determination in spinach. Most
of the reports suggested that there are XY sex factors along with
autosomal sex genes, like A/a (maleness) and G/g (femaleness),
M/m (monoecious), and Xm (monoecious).
Breeding Objectives
 Uniform plants, erect leaves, large leaf size, short petiole.
 Selecting vegetative male and female plants and discarding
or eliminating extreme male plants,
 Late bolting, high yield, resistance to important diseases and
insect pests, low content of nitrate and tolerance to high
temperature.
 In Europe and the USA, breeding for processing quality is
also important.

 Spinach is cross-pollinating and wind pollinated.
 The breeding procedures are the same as adopted in cross-pollinating
crops, such as, mass selection, sib-mating, recurrent selection,
hybridization, pedigree method of selection, and bulk method.
 Polyploidy breeding has been reported in spinach.
 Heterosis upto 30-40 per cent has been observed in Fj hybrids and
utilized for the development of downy mildew and mosaic resistant
hybrids and cultivars.
 The commercial hybrid seed of spinach is produced by planting 6 or
8 female rows of two promising dioecious parental lines alternating
with one or two rows of a good combiner male parent.
 At the time of bolting staminate (male) plants are removed from
female / seed parent rows.
 Hybrid seeds are harvested from the plants of the seed (female)
parent.

 The spinach varieties are of three types on the bassis of leaves,
viz., smooth leaved, semi-savoy and savoy.
 There are two types of varieties, classified on the basis of
seeds, like smooth-seeded and prickly- seeded.
 Among the introductions the two important varieties are :
 Virginia Savoy : plants are vigorous, upright, with blistered,
crumpled, thick and dart green leaves, late bolting and smooth-seeded.
Its average yield is about 12.5 tonnes per hectare.
 Early Smooth Leaf : It has thin leaves, yellowish-green in
colour, smooth with pointed apex and smooth-seeded.

 It is not a common leafy vegetable in India.
 It is grown on a limited scale, mostly in kitchen
gardens in the plains of North India and in the hills
of north (Himalayas) and Ooty.
 New Zealand spinach is a warm season crop and
moderately tolerant to frost.
 It is a native to New Zealand.
Biosystematics
 Scientific name : Tetragonia tetragonoides (Pall.)
O. Kuntze.
 Family : Tetragoniaceae

 The Indian spinach, Malabar Spinach or Malabar
Nightshade, Basella alba L. is also known as Poi.
 It is a commonly grown leafy vegetable in tropical Asia
including South Asia and Southeast Asia, China, Africa
and tropical areas of the New World.
 In India, it is cultivated in South India (Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka), West Bengal.

 The Indian spinach. Basella alba L.
belongs to the family Basellaceae.
 The genus Basella has about nine
other species besides B. alba.
A cultivar or form with heart-shaped
leaves is known as B. cordifolia.
 The species B. lucida is from India
and B. nigra from China.

 The species Basella alba has the chromosome number
2x=2n=48.
 The chromosome number in B rubra is 2x=2n=44.
induced polyploids with 4x=88 chromosomes were
produced in Basella alba and B. rubra.
Botany
 Poi is a short day, succulent, annual or biennial and
perennial in the humid tropics.
 The plants are climbing having alternate broad ovate
leaves with pointed apex,
 Flowers small, sessile, white (B. alba) or pink borne in
clusters on elongated thick peduncles,
 Fruit enclosed in fleshy perianth.

 There are two types of cultivars,
1) Reddish petioles, stems and leaves (B. rubra)
2) dark green leaves, petioles and stems (B. alba).
Both red and green-leaved varieties are popular in
West Bengal, Assam and South India and the green-leaved
cultivars in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

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