Study On Ornamental Traits, Glucosinolate Profiles And Insect Resistance Of Different Ornamental Kale Cultivars (Brassica Oleracea Var. Acephala F. Tricolor)

Ornamental kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala D.C. f. tricolor Hort.) is a variation in thefamily Brassicaceae that is known for its colorful leaves. It is a foliage plant of biennial herbage. It iswidely used for flower bed or potted as an important ornamental plant in China. However, most ofornamental kale seeds commonly used in China were imported as F1hybrid. In this study, we comparedthe ornamental traits，glucosinolate profiles and insect resistance among different ornamental kalecultivars commonly used in China. It will be very useful to screen kale varieties for breeding that havevalueable ornamental and high resistance.The main results are as follows.There were remarkable difference in plant height and breadth of leaves between potted andcut-flower cultivars at ornamental stage. The potted cultivars are dwarf with wide breadth of leaves.Cut-flower cultivars are high with narrow breadth of leaves.The leaf color and anthocyanin content are markedly correlated. Anthocyanins content in redleaves is higher than that of green leaves. The anthocyanin content changes in different style betweenexterior leaf and inner leaves at ornamental and bolting stages of the red cultivars. For inner leaves,‘Red Osaka’ has the highest content of11.41mg/g DW at the ornamental stage, while ‘Crane red’ hasthe highest content of16.02mg/g DW at the bolting period.‘Crane white’ has the highest anthocyanincontent among all white cultivars.Most of the cultivars have similar glucosinolate profiles. The aliphatic glucosinolate content islower than indolyl glucosinolate, but higher than aromatic glucosinolate. The total glucosinolate contentof exterior leaves is lower than that of seedlings, and both of them are higher than that of inner leaves atornamental stage.The insect resistance and indolyl glucosinolate content are markedly correlated. The cultivars withhigher indolyl glucosinolate content have stronger insect resistance.‘White Nagoya’,‘Red gull’,‘Whitegull’,‘Feather Leaved red peacock’ have stronger insect resistance than that of other cultivars.