ABSTRACT
Broccoli also known as Calabrese, Italian Green, or Spear Cauliflower, is a nutritive green vegetable, and morphologically, it is quite similar to cauliflower but the plant forms heads rather than curd, consisting of green, purple, or white buds and a thick fleshy floral stalk. Broccoli is a storehouse of many phyto-nutrients such as thiocyanates, indoles, sulforaphane, isothiocyanates and flavonoids like beta-carotene, cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin. The climatic requirement of sprouting broccoli differs from cabbage and other Cole crops. A green sprouting broccoli with delayed maturity and dark green upright leaves with purple reddish tinge produces tender and crisp heads, which are full of flavour and suitable for salad as well as cooking. The seedlings are transplanted on flat or raised beds, preferably during afternoon hours. Buttoning is the premature head formation of 2.5 to 10 cm diameter. Buttoning can occur anytime between seeding and almost mature plant stage but usually occurs shortly after transplanting into the field.
