Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Mustard | A Brief Botanical Description


Mustard belongs to the family "Crucifence" and genus "Brassica". It has got several cultivated species:
  • Brassica Campestris,
  • Brassica Juncea and
  • Brassica Napus.

Among these different species, the first one is extensively grown in Bangladesh followed by the second one.

Monographic and other characteristics of these species of Rape and Mustard are:

The Mustard is a Dicotyledonous Herbaceous Annual. It grows to a height of 2-3 feet (60-90 cm). As soon as the Mustard plants become 30 to 40 days old, they bear numerous beautiful yellow flowers. The flowers bloom gradually from bellow upwards and bear pods in the same order. The pods in some types, for example, in Tori-7 & Sam pad are two chambered and Sonali (SS-75) are four chambered.

In Brassica Campestris, the leaves of the inflorescence grasp the stalk completely but in case Brassica Napus, they grasp the stalk partially. In Brassica Junecea the lamina of upper leaf does not reach the stalk. The flowering habit of Brassica Napus and Brassica Juncea is such that the open flowers appear below the flower buds but the situation is reverse in case of campestris, i.e., the fresh open flowers appear above the flower buds.

Various group of Mustard and Rape such as, ToriRai and Yellow groups are well grown in Bangladesh. Of the total land covered by Mustard, Topi group occupies an area of 60 - 65%, Rai group 20 - 25% and Yellow group is 10 - 15 %. All these three groups are grows several regions in Bangladesh.

Read about Characteristics of various groups of Mustard.


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