Latest Brassica Stories
By Kelly Kazek, The News Courier, Athens, Ala. Jul. 13--Limestone County farmers are thinking of ways to turn their crops to gold. Most every corner of the county has been awash in bright yellow hues since April when the Bridgeforth family's canola crops began to bloom, soon followed by Nobie Daly's acres of sunflowers. While the sunny colors often draw smiles from passersby, the farmers have more practical results in mind: The Bridgeforths are selling crops for oil and Daly will sell...
By Cat Sieh, The Bellingham Herald, Wash. Jul. 13--Meritt Wolfkill is quick to admit that he didn't plant his canola fields out of a burning need to save the environment. The Snohomish County farmer started test plots of the crop near Monroe in 2006, hoping to sell the highprotein meal for cattle feed. But as soaring gas prices and environmental concerns popularize biofuels, Wolfkill is now one of many Washington farmers growing oilseed crops like canola and mustard. The goal is to sell...
Scientists discovered seeds from certain genetically modified crops can endure soil for at least 10 years in some cases.A field planted with experimental oilseed rape a decade ago found transgenic specimens were still growing there despite intensive efforts over the years to remove the seeds, according to researchers in Sweden.This is the first time a genetically modified crop has endured so long and critics say it shows that genetically modified organisms cannot be contained once...
BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Berkeley BioSciences, Inc., co-founded by Dr. Leonard Bjeldanes, Professor and former Chairman of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at UC Berkeley and Dr. Gary Firestone, Director of the National Institutes of Health Cancer Research Program at UC Berkeley, announces the launch of ActivaMune -- an advanced immune support formula exclusively licensed from UC Berkeley. (http://www.activamune.com/). ActivaMune is based on a breakthrough discovery by...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Canola Council of Canada is holding its 39th annual meeting in New York City to spur interest in canola oil as a healthy food which can help trim the risk of heart disease, an industry official said Thursday. Herb Schafer, the chairman of the council and North American vice president for Bunge Ltd., told Reuters that canola oil is one of the healthiest vegetable oils due to its "very low" level of saturated fats, which is a factor that can cut the risk of...
By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - A small North Carolina-based specialty crops company is trying to turn a humble wildflower into a major new oilseed crop that could produce an alternative to coconut and palm oils. After 20 years in development, cuphea (koo-FEE-ah) will start its second planting this spring in the Midwestern United States. "It's grown (as a crop) nowhere else in the world," said Andrew Hebard, chief executive of Technology Crops International in...
Latest Brassica Reference Libraries
Brassica tournefortii is a species of mustard plant that is more commonly known as Asian, African and Sahara mustard. It is very similar to other mustard species blooming annually with long stems reaching just over 3 feet in length, but the flowers are a duller yellow. Indigenous to North Africa and the Middle East, this species was transported accidentally to the United States by humans. It grows abundantly in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts and in hot valleys of southern California....
Brassica rapa or Turnip Mustard is grown primarily as a leaf vegetable, root vegetable and an oilseed and is often referred to as a field mustard. Napa cabbage and turnip are members of this group. Varieties of this plant are used in experiments because they are easy to grow and require little attention and reach full maturity in 40 days. Some have even been used in botany experiments in space. Photo Copyright and Credit
Brassica oleracea is indigenous to the coastal areas of southern and western Europe and is often referred to as Wild Mustard. It is tolerant of salt and lime in the soil of its native lands. The plant grows tall and blooms biennially. Large sturdy leaves act as water storage. Once the plant is two years old a tall stem measuring 3 - 7 feet in height grows bearing a cluster of yellow flowers. This plant is flush with nutrients like vitamin C. Cultivars of this plant are categorized into...
The Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae) flies April-May and July-August. It is sometimes known as the Cabbage White because its caterpillars feed on cabbages. Its underwings are yellowish with black speckles, upper are creamy white with dark tips. The female has two dark spots. It is more common than the Large White. The scientific name Artogeia rapae has been applied to this species in the past and may still be found, but it is now generally accepted to be a member of the Pieris genus....
