Temperate Vegetables (1+1)

CARROT

CULTIVARS

European Type or Temperate Type Varieties	Asiatic or tropical type
1. Produce seeds in plains. 2. Do not require any low temperature treatment for flowering. 3. Long and red coloured roots with white or creamy core. 4. Rich in lycopene	1. Produce seeds in hills 2. Requires chilling (4.8-10oC) for flowering, resulting in its cultivation to hills. 3. Medium and orange coloured roots with centre core. 4. Rich in carotene
Pusa Yamdagini, Jeno, Imperator, Chantaney, Danvers, Early Nantes, Nantes, Nantes Half Long, Ooty, Solan Rachna	Pusa Kesar, Pusa Meghali, Sel-333, No. 29, Hisar Gairic, Pusa Rudhira, Pusa Ashita

• Important exotic types grown in India are Chantenay, Danvers, Nantes, Early Horn, Early Gem and Solan Rachna for their long tapering roots and excellent quality.
• Chantenay and Danvers are known for their long tapering roots and excellent quality.
• Early Horn and Early Gem are famous for their earliness and for their mild flavoured roots.
• The carrot cultivars may be classified on the basis of shape of their roots or on their temperature response to flowering.

A. Classification based on shape of roots
1. Long rooted: Roots may be 25 cm or more in length, generally tapering, generally perform best in comparatively light soil.
2. Half long rooted: Root length does not usually exceed 20 cm.

• Roots cylindrical with straight or sloppy shoulder, e.g., Nantes
• Roots tapering with blunt or semi blunt tip, e.g. Chantenay, Imperator.

3. Short stump rooted: These cultivars are suitable for growing in heavy soils

• Heart shaped. e.g. Oxheart
• Oval, e.g. Early Scarlet Horn
• Round, e.g., French Forcing

A. Classification based on temperature response to flowering

1. Temperate or European or Biennial types: These cultivars are biennial in nature and require low temperature (4.8-10^oC) treatments for flowering to occur. These do not produce seeds in the plains of India, e.g. Nantes, Chantenay, Imperator, Danvers, Zeno, Ooty 1, Pusa Yamdagni etc.
2. Tropical, Asiatic or Oriental or annual types: These cultivars do not require any low temperature treatment for flowering. Seed freely in the plains of India. Examples are Pusa Kesar, Pusa Meghali, Sel. No. 29 and Sel. No. 233.

Pusa Kesar:

• This is a selection from a cross between Local Red and Nantes Half Long.
• The roots develop on narrow central core which is also sufficiently red coloured.
• It contains high amount of carotene (38mg/100g edible portion) than Local Red (26mg/100g).
• The percentage of forked roots is lower than in Local Red and it can tolerate higher temperature than Nantes.
  

Nantes:

• It is a European cultivar which can be grown both in hills and plains of India for root production but set seed only in the hills after meeting the chilling requirement.
• The roots are half long, slim, well shaped, cylindrical with stumped and forming a small thin tail, deep orange red cortex and suitable for cultivation in cooler months.

Chantenay:

• It is an excellent cultivar for canning and storage.
• Roots are 11-15cm long and 3-5cm in diameter with tapering to blunt end, deep orange cortex and core.
• Royal Chantenay and Red Cored Chantenay are another cultivars belonging to this group.

Pusa Yamdagni:

• It is derived from the cross between EC 9981 x Nantes Half Long. It takes 86-130 days to produce harvestable roots, which are long and orange and have a self-coloured core.

Solan Rachna:

• Roots attractive, round, medium tops, orange coloured, medium length (18-21 cm) and soft textured, gets ready in 100-108 days, average yield 225-250q/ha, rich in carotene (15.14mg/100g) of edible portion.