Asparagus officinalis L. (Asparagus )

Crop Type: Garden Crop

Breeding system: Predominantly allogamous

The genus Asparagus belongs Asparagaceae family, a large genus comprising about 200 species distributed throughout the old world (Dahlgren et al. 1985). Although represented by diverse life forms, such as herbaceous perennials, tender woody shrubs, and vines. Based on the morphology of its species, the genus is divided into three subgenera, namely Asparagus, Protasparagus, and Myrsiphyllum (Clifford and Conran 1987). While all species in the subgenus Asparagus are dioecious, those in the latter two subgenera are all hermaphroditic (Kubota et al. 2012). Although many Asparagus species are now widely cultivated for commercial use, the most economically important species is the garden asparagus, A. officinalis. Like to other vegetable crops, A. officinalis suffers many agricultural problems such as drought, crop failure and various pathologies. However it is important to mention that some wild Asparagus species showed to be resistant or tolerant to some these factors such as drought or to some fungal pathogens (Smith et al. 1990; Ernst and Krug 1998).

References

• Clifford HT, Conran JG (1987) Asparagaceae. In: George AS (ed) Flora of Australia. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, pp 140–142
• Dahlgren RMT, Clifford HT, Yeo PF (1985) The families of the monocotyledons. Springer, Heidelberg
• Ernst M, Krug H (1998) Seasonal growth and development of asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.). III. The effect of temperature and water stress on carbohydrate content in storage roots and rhizome buds. Gartenbauwissenschaft 63:202–208
• Kubota S, Konno I, Kanno A (2012) Molecular phylogeny of the genus Asparagus (Asparagaceae) explains interspecific crossability between the garden asparagus (A. officinalis) and other Asparagus species. Theor Appl Genet 124:345–354. doi: 10.1007/s00122-011-1709-2
• Smith J, Putnam A, Nair M (1990) In vitro control of Fusarium diseases of Asparagus officinalis L. with a Streptomyces or its polyene antibiotic, Faeriefungin. J Agric Food Chem 38:1729–1733

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