Morphology and anatomy of vegetative perko organs with reference to their fodder value

A new forage crop - perko is a hybrid of tetraploid winter tumiplike rapa (<i>Brassica campestris</i> L.) × tetraploid chinese cabbage (<i>Brassica chinensis</i> L.). Young perko plants grow slowly, at a later period their herbage yield rapidly increases, therefore they can be cut as fodder after 60 days of vegetation. The anatomical structure of perko plants shows features characteristic for <i>Cruciferae</i>, particularly those of the genus <i>Brassica</i>. The good feeding value of this plant is indicated by its anatomical structure: a large proportion of parenchymal tissues and low proportion of vascular tissues with only few lignified elements, the occurrence of colenchyma as supporting tissue and the absence of sclerenchyma. Therefore in the crude fibres the proportion of completely indigestibile parts is small since the tissues contain but scarce lignified andcutinised walls. It may be concluded there from that the content of structure-forming tissues in perko is favourable from the point of view of digestibility.