Roots eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable, and tops as potherb like spinach. Roots also grown for feeding to livestock during fall and winter. The powdered seed is said to be a folk remedy for cancer. The root when boiled with lard is used for breast tumors. The stems and leaves are said to be a remedy for cancer, while a salve derived from the flowers is said to help skin cancer.
Seed oil contains large amount of erucic, linoleic, and linolenic acids.
Toxicity Occasionally suspected of poisoning bovines, sheep, and pigs. Germplasm Varieties may have white or yellow flesh, and outside crown may be white, green or purplish-red. Purple Top White Globe' is recommended for tropics. Brassica rapa subsp. Brassica rapa subsp.