Taxonomy of Portuguese Tronchuda cabbage and Galega kale landraces using morphological characters,nuclear RFLPs,and isozyme analysis: A review

Summary Morphological characters, nuclear RFLPs, and isozyme analysis were used to study the similarity between 32 Portuguese Tronchuda cabbage and Galega kale landraces, and some cabbage cultivars traditionally grown in Portugal. Forty-six morphological characters observed in two consecutive years, RFLP data from 55 nuclear probes, detecting 291 polymorphic nuclear DNA restriction fragments, and allelic frequencies in 21 putative loci, generated by nine isozymes, were analyzed by the unweighted pair group method, using arithmetic averages (UPGMA), in order to present the results in the form of a phenogram. The three methods resulted in different clustering patterns of the 32 cole accessions. Morphological characters gave consistent clustering according to the traditional landrace definition and denomination, producing clear separation between Tronchuda cabbages and Galega kales. RFLPs were unable to separate Tronchuda cabbages from Galega kales and defined five landrace groups corresponding to their geographic origins rather than to their morphological similarities. Isozymes showed poor accession discrimination and an intermediate clustering pattern with some accessions being clustered according to their geographic origins and others according to their morphological similarities. Portuguese Tronchuda cabbages and Galega kales constitute a distinct and relatively homogenous group within Brassica oleracea, sharing the same genetic background. It is concluded that Portuguese coles have evolved independently from a common ancestor to the present cultivated forms. Portugal should be considered as an important region of domestication of specialized leafy coles.