A History of Agriculture in India v1.c19.s7.41

v1.c19.s7.41

*B. campestris* occurs wild as a weed from western Europe to eastern China. The Indian rapes fall geographically midway in the vast geographical distribution of the species. The wild, unspecialized primitive rape became a weed of cultivation, and gave rise to a range of cultivars as a result of three different types of selection in the three main regions of its habitat. In the West, selection for root development gave rise to the turnip. In the Far East, selection for leafy vegetables yielded the great diversity of Chinese cabbages that are classified as *B. pekinensis* and *B. chinensis* (Herklots, 1972). In the mid-region, in India, selection for oil content gave the three oleiferous races, brown and yellow sarson and *toria*. All these types are cross-compatible and they belong, in Harberd’s terms, to the same cytodeme. The Indian oleiferous group appears to have been developed by the differentiation of the brown sarson stock. According to Russian workers, and also according to Singh (1958), eastern Afghanistan and the adjoining areas of Pakistan and north-western India may be regarded as its centre of origin. From this centre, yellow sarson arose through the selection of the yellow-seeded types that were considered to be of superior quality. *Toria* arose in response to selection for adaptability to the [Figure: Fig. 80. Furrow marks of ploughed land on the southern side of KLB 2, Kalibangan, Rajasthan (top)