Identification and promotion of Korean cabbage and kale cultivars adapted to Uganda

Vegetables are important in nutrition and income security of rural and urban households. However, production and consumption in Uganda is below the WHO guidelines. This is attributed to pests/diseases, low soil fertility, little or no use of fertilizers, and low yielding cultivars, among others. The main objective of this study was to increase vegetable diversity and production in Uganda. Specific objectives were: i) identify high-yielding Korean vegetable cultivars adapted to Ugandan conditions; ii) develop low input (nutrient, pest/disease management) production options for sustainable production of the adapted cultivars. Five Korean cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.) and kale (Brassica oleracea L.) cultivars were evaluated under Ugandan conditions, against their local counterparts, over four seasons. The experimental design was completely randomised (CR), replicated three times. Korean cabbage cultivars ‘Jang-mi’, ‘Chu-no’ and Bul-am, and kale cultivars ‘Collard-menchu’ ‘Jeil-guijok’ and ‘Mat-jang’ produced higher marketable yield compared to local cultivars, hence more adapted. Cabbage production was most profitable with 100 kg NPK ha(-1), particularly on ‘Chu-no’, using cypermethyrine plus Dithane M45 for pests and disease control. For kale, production was highest with ‘Collard-menchu’. Eggyork mixture was most profitable on all three kale cultivars. From these results, the following production guidelines were developed for the Korean cultivars adapted to Uganda: Cabbage: ‘Chu-no’ using NPK (25:5:5) at 100 kg ha(-1), and cypermethyrine plus Dithane M45 for pests & disease control. For kale: ‘Collard-menchu’ using chicken manure at 4 t ha(-1) and cypermethyrine plus Dithane M45 for pests and disease control. There is need for further on-farm evaluation and eventual release of the adapted cultivars.