Collard Landraces are Novel Sources of Glucoraphanin and other Aliphatic Glucosinolates

The glucosinolate make-up of the edible parts of some Brassica oleracea L. crops has been investigated previously, but the leafy-green collard (B. oleracea var. viridis) remains relatively unstudied on this topic. Due to this lack of information, a collection of US landraces was examined for glucosinolate content of leaves. The specific objectives of this examination were to compare levels of certain glucosinolates among the conserved collard landraces, identify any individuals with a distinct glucosinolate profile and determine the potential of collard as a target for chemoprotective-based plant breeding. During winter 2010/2011, 81 collard landraces, four other viridis and four collard cultivars were evaluated in the field and harvested leaves were assayed for glucosinolates. In a subsequent study, 19 selected landraces plus the cultivars were included in a repeat trial in 2012/2013. Eighteen collard landraces contained relatively high levels of glucoraphanin in leaves in both years, and three (designated G 32575, G 32580, G 32586 in the US National Plant Germplasm System) were found to contain glucoraphanin in excess of 9.5 mu mol/g DM. The examined landraces are rich sources of important aliphatic glucosinolates, previously thought to be most abundant in other B. oleracea vegetables.