Breeding Cauliflower: A Review

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis L.) is continually being improved to increase sustainability of production, enhance nutritional quality, and reduce waste. Development of resistances against abiotic (high temperature and rainfall) and biotic stresses (diseases and insects) is necessary for this purpose. Breeding plays a vital role in addressing these issues through development of superior varieties/hybrids. Globally, more than 20,000 accessions of C-genome taxa of B. oleracea are maintained in over 100 gene banks; European countries host the world’s largest and most diverse collections. The favorable genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) for various traits of economic importance are scattered across cultivated types, breeding lines, and wild populations (i.e., primary, secondary, tertiary, and other gene pools) of B. oleracea, with efforts being made to integrate two- or multitiered breeding approaches for broadening the genetic base and introgressing genes and QTL of resistance, ...