Characteristics and Seed Production of Sicilian Landraces of Violet Cauliflower

Several traditional landraces of cauliflower are largely utilized by local communitiesin different regions of Italy, by several types propagated by growers differingmainly for colour, grain size, shape of the curd. These landraces are endangered byintroduction of new F1 hybrids which risk to contaminate traditional gene pool with aserious genetic drift. In this frame DISPA, since twenty years has collected, characterized,evaluated and conserved Sicilian landraces of violet cauliflower identifying genotypes;it has established synthetic lines and F1 hybrids, by DH lines, interesting fortheir nutraceutical traits. These activities deal with the improvement of propagationmaterials both to satisfy local market and GDOs demand and to support new functionalfoods chains.In this context Sicilian landraces of violet cauliflower, characterized by highplant rusticity and adaptability to Mediterranean climatic condition, could allowfriendly environmental crops by containing the use of pesticides and fertilizers.