Q. Name any five vegetables generated from a common ancestor through artificial selection rather than natural selection. Also mention the features for which each vegetable is selected.
Ans. Humans have, for more than two thousand years, cultivated wild cabbage as a food plant and generated different vegetables from it by selection. This method is artificial selection rather than natural selection. It has resulted in generation of the following vegetables, due to some specific characteristics as:
(i) Cabbage selected for short distance between leaves.
(ii) Broccoli selected for arrested flower development and thick stem.
(iii) Cauliflower selected for sterile flowers forming a large flower.
(iv) Kohlrabi selected for a swollen edible stem.
(v) Kale selected for large leaves.