New incoming accessions of Brassica rapa L. into the VIR plant collection

The crops of Brassica rapa L. species are varieties such as pak-choi, tatsoi, wutacai, tsoisum, mizuna, mibuna, brokkoletto and Japanese leafy turnips Komatsuna, Kurona, Hiroshimana, Shirona, Mana, which are all characterized by early-ripening, high productivity, presence of valuable biochemical compounds and relatively simple growing requirements. The nappa cabbage is widespread and cultivated everywhere in the world as open field and greenhouse crop. Other varieties are grown locally, namely brokkoletto is grown in Italy, whereas other mentioned varieties are mostly cultivated in the Southeast Asian countries, where population uses them for different processing technologies. There is the nappa cabbage that is mostly cultivated, particularly for industrial production in Russia. The Chinese cabbage (pak choi), Japanese cabbage, Japanese mustard spinach or Komatsuna are not very widespread and practically unknown crop. However, vegetable growers are interested in using new cole crops, and gardeners know about values of related varieties of nappa cabbage in the group of Asian cole crops. The analysis of incoming genetic accessions of Brassica rapa L. crops that have been included into the VIR plant collection is given. All botanical subspecies and varieties of leafy varieties have been taken for the study. The detailed description of new for Russia varieties, such as purple, brokkoletto, rosette pakchoi as well as well as types of cultivars that haven't still included into State Register of Breeding Achievements of Russian Federation are given. According to research results obtained at Pushkin VIR laboratories (Saint-Petersburg) the initial breeding accessions have been selected to be sources of such characteristics as productivity, early-ripening, disease resistance and valuable biochemical compounds.