How do you actually grow plants?
How do you actually grow plants?
About wild kale and its many relatives: How do you actually grow plants?
Prof Dr Dirk Albach
Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences
Moderation: NDR 1 Niedersachsen
Gong: Natalia (10)
Camera: Tom (9)
Kale, red cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and many other types of cabbage that we eat today are descended from the wild vegetable cabbage - it is their ancestor, so to speak. It was on people's menus thousands of years ago and still grows on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts today - even almost on our doorstep: on Heligoland. However, it is nowhere near as tasty as its cultivated relatives.
But how did people come up with the idea of breeding other varieties, and what does "breeding" actually mean? Breeding plants is actually like a game with winners and losers. We know a few "rules of the game": People observe the plants of a species they use and discover new interesting characteristics. They select these plants for breeding and cross them with others. But what traits did people look for in cabbage, for example? Like detectives, we go in search of lost players and the origins of the plant breeding game.
Photos of the lecture