Development New Genotypes of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea Var. Capitata) By Using the Bud Pollination Technique and Selection

Field trials were carried out in order to development the cabbage Balady cultivar through selection program using the bud pollination technique. The selected five lines were evaluated at El-Gemmeza Agriculture Research Station farm, Gharbia Governorate, Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center during seasons 2021 and 2022. Analysis of variance exhibited significant variance between the genotypes for measured characters. The phenotypic coefficient of variance was noticed to be larger than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variance for most of traits, indicating that these characters were highly influenced by environment. A high genotypic and phenotypic coefficient was recorded for length of stem (39.45 and 39.23) followed by head weight (35.37 and 35.17), diameter of head (27.45 and 25.63) and number of wrapper leaves (22.36 and 22.11). High heritability in broad sense magnitudes were reported for length of stem (98.90%), head weight (98.84%) and leaf blade length (98.70%). The highest level of genetic advance as percent of mean was reported for stem length (80.37 %) followed by head weight (72.02%) and diameter of head (49.30%). Additionally, the recorded magnitudes for the correlation coefficients, among the various pairs of traits, were positive or negative and highly significant, which may assist in selecting desirable characteristics in cabbage breeding programs. Days to harvest, number of wrapper leaves, head length, head diameter and net head weight exhibited a high heritability coupled with high genetic advance; they are controlled by additive genes and might be employed as efficient selection criterion in the breeding program of high-productivity cabbage cultivars.