Injudicious use of chemical fertilizers particularly nitrogen to crops has increased dramatically in the last half-century and, therefore, identifying crop varieties with improved nitrogen efficiency is urgent for sustainable development. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to screen the intrinsic nitrogen efficiency of eleven cabbage genotypes on the basis of various morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters related to nitrogen metabolism. High genotypic variation was found in nitrogen metabolizing enzymes. A significant variation in nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase activity was found between contrasting (low and high) nitrogen efficient genotypes in all the nitrogen treatments. The experimental data were subjected to Principal component analysis and Agglomerate hierarchical clustering. Based on the data, Early Golden Acre and Pusa Drumhead were screened as low and high nitrogen efficiency genotypes respectively. Our study identifies low and high nitrogen efficient genotypes in cabbage which can be used in breeding programs and could help in addressing the problem of nitrate pollution in the environment and also could lessen the economic burden of fertilizers on farmers.

在过去的半个世纪中，对作物的化学肥料特别是氮的不当使用急剧增加，因此，查明具有提高的氮效率的作物品种对于可持续发展而言是紧迫的。在这项研究中，进行了盆栽试验，以根据与氮代谢相关的各种形态生理和生化参数筛选11个甘蓝型基因型的内在氮效率。在氮代谢酶中发现高基因型变异。在所有氮处理中，对比（低和高）有效氮基因型之间，硝酸还原酶，亚硝酸还原酶，谷氨酰胺合成酶和谷氨酸合成酶活性存在显着差异。实验数据经过主成分分析和聚集层次聚类。根据数据，分别将早期金英亩和Pusa Drumhead筛选为低氮效率和高氮效率基因型。我们的研究确定了甘蓝的低氮效率和高氮效率基因型，可用于育种计划，并有助于解决环境中硝酸盐污染的问题，还可以减轻化肥对农民的经济负担。