Forage chicory and its cultivars and productive performanceⅠ Varieties and productivity

This paper summarized cultivars and productive performance of Cichorium intybus. Chicory was a perennial herb that has been popularly cultivated in Europe, its aerial parts were used as a vegetable, pasture, forage, and its root as coffee substitute and raw material of sugar. Chicory as pasture could produce high quantity and quality feed for livestock in many parts of the world. There were many chicory cultivars in China, including Cichorium intybus cv. Puna, C. intybus cv.Europe, C.intybus cv.Commander, C.intybus cv.Oubao, C.intybus cv.Kuoye, C.intybus cv.Yifeng, hybridized F1 Barckoria and C.intybus cv.Chicory. Most of them were forage and economic crops with a bright prospect associated with high yield and quality characters as favorable adaptability, longer grass supply stage, high nutritive value and digestibility, and better resistance to diseases and insect pests.