Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 6(5), pp. 784-789, 9 February, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JMPR DOI: 10.5897/JMPR11.1426 ISSN 1996-0875 ©2012 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Nutritional assessment of a traditional local vegetable (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) Mariga I. K. 1 *, Lutendo Mativha 2 and Maposa D. 3 1 School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Limpopo, P. Bag X1106, Sovenga 0727, South Africa. 2 Limpopo Agro-Food Technology Station, P. Bag X 1106, Sovenga 0727, South Africa. 3 School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of Limpopo, P. Bag X1106, Sovenga 0727, South Africa. Accepted 30 November, 2011 The leaf cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. acephala), is a traditional local vegetable widely grown in rural and urban areas and consumed mostly by the poor in southern and eastern Africa. It is easy to propagate and is highly productive throughout the year. Three lines of leaf cabbage were evaluated for their nutritional value against a commonly grown exotic vegetable, Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla). Swiss chard was superior to the leaf cabbage lines in protein, total ash, vitamin A, sodium and iron content. On the other hand, the leaf cabbage lines had significantly higher quantities of fibre, carbohydrate, fat, calcium, vitamin C and energy than Swiss chard. The leaf cabbage types tested have many good nutritional attributes that justify their genetic improvement through breeding in aspects such as protein, vitamin A and iron content. Key words: Brassica oleracea, nutritional assessment, Swiss chard, traditional vegetable. INTRODUCTION Indigenous leafy vegetables play an important role in the tradition and food culture of African households and some are also used for medicinal purposes (Eifediyi et al., 2008). Traditional vegetables offer variety in family diets and help to ensure household food security (Luchen and Mingochi, 1995). Indigenous leafy vegetables are known as sources of many nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and important proteins (Akula et al., 2007). The most commonly consumed exotic leaf vegetables in southern Africa include various types of kale (for example, Rape and Choumollier) and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla), which is often wrongly referred to as spinach (Spinacia oleracea), and various types of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata). There is also one traditional vegetable: Brassica oleraceae var. acephala (leaf cabbage) that is now widely grown on both commercial and household scales in the *Corresponding author. E-mail: Irvine.Mariga@ul.ac.za. Tel: 0027152682203. southern African sub-region. This kale has several local names, for example, ‘Rugare’(comfort) or Covo in Zimbabwe, ‘muRhodesia’ in northern part of South Africa and ‘Sukuma wiki’(push out the week) in eastern Africa. The Vavhenda farmers of Limpopo province refer to B. oleracea var. acephala as ‘muRhodesia’ implying that the lines of the vegetable found in their area were introduced from Zimbabwe (previously Rhodesia). B. oleracea var. acephala is also called ‘walking stick cabbage’ due to the tall woody stalk it produces as it grows upwards for many months. The vegetatively propagated types of leaf cabbage commonly grown in Zimbabwe were described by Mvere and van der Werff (2004) as Rugare and Viscose. Rugare is vegetatively propagated, rarely by seed except only at high altitudes, its plants are 2 to 3 m tall, offers repeated leaf pickings, has long life, has pale blue-green curly leaves but clones with different leaf colour exist. Viscose is a selection from Rugare which has improved hardiness in the field and segregates into different types, has darker green leaves and is more pronouncedly curled than Rugare. There are several clones in between