2. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.) is the most important starchy
root crop grown in the tropics and is mainly cultivated in southern
peninsular India.
It is also known commonly as Tapioca, continues to be a crop of food
security for the millions of people especially in the developing
countries of the globe.
INTRODUCTION
3. Origin and
distribution
• North-Eastern Brazil is the center of origin.
• Portuguese distributed the crop from Brazil to
countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and
India.
• Nigeria is the major growing country in world
accounting for 50% of area and production.
• In India crop, it is cultivated particularly in
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
contributing 93% of area and 98% of production
• Kerala accounts for about 50% of total area under
cassava in India.
• Industrial use of cassava started initially with the
production of diversified products like starch,
chips and sago.
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• Tapioca (Manihot esculenta)
• CN : diploid (2n=36). Polyploids with 2n=54 and 72
are also available.
• Family: Euphorbiaceae
• Origin: Brazil
• Progenitor: Manihot esculenta ssp. flabellifolia
• Edible part: Tuberous root
• Common names: Cassava/ yucca/mandioca
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Pasta is prepared from cassava.
www.ctcri.org
OTHER INDUSTRIAL USES
7. Botany Slender shrub, 2-7 m high, Sparingly
branched
Stem is thick with prominent leaf
scars, variously colored
Leaves simple, alternate, long stalked,
palmately lobed, segments obovate
lanceolate, glabrous.
Linamarin and lotaustralin are
synthesized in the leaves of cassava
plants and transported to the
tuberous roots (Koch et al., 1992).
8. • Female flowers open about 10 days before male flower anthesis. Stigma is receptive from
6.30 a.m. and continues up to 2.30 p.m.
• Type of inflorescence: Racemose.
• Female flowers larger in size than male ones.
• Each flower have 5 united sepals yellow tinged.
• Monoecious in nature, highly cross pollinated crop.
• Protogynous in nature.
• Male flower has 10
stamens arranged in two
whorls of 5 stamens each
alternately long and short,
one converting and other
diverging
• Filaments are free and
anthers small and basifixed
• Basal nectiferous disc,
fleshy and orange in colour
• Female flowers, perianth
lobes are completely free
• Superior ovary, mounted
on a 10 lobed glandular disc,
tricarpellary, 3 locued, 6
ridged
• Single ovule in each locule
Fruit is ovoid, globose with 9 longitudinal plicate
wings
11. Species Diversity
Species Remarks
Manihot esculenta Edible tuber
Manihot glaziovii Cera rubber
Manihot tristis Rich in protein
Manihot grahami Tolerant to seasonal low temperature
Manihot anisophylla Tolerant to seasonal low temperature
Manihot flabellifolia Wild progenitor
Palaniswami and Peter, 2008
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• High yield (> 35 t/ha fresh root)
• High starch (> 25%)
• High harvest index
• Responsive to additional inputs
• Unbranching or late branching plant type
• Low HCN content
• Good cooking and eating quality
• Early harvestability
Breeding Objectives
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• Better root storage quality
• Shade tolerance for use as an intercrop
under coconut etc
• Wide adaptation
• Compact branches
• Compact root system
• Resistance to major diseases (cassava
bacterial blight, anthracnose, brown leaf
spot, cassava mosaic virus)
• Tolerance to adverse soil and climatic
conditions
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Quality parameters:
1)Starch content (38-41%)
2)Low HCN content
3)Protein (1-2%)
4)Storability
5)Compact root system
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Colour
Color is an important organoleptic quality attribute, which is
considered in the acceptance of crop products. Generally, yellow-
flesh cassava looks more attractive than white-flesh cassava.
cassava breeders have reported that the relatively higher dry matter
and starch in white-flesh cassava than yellow-flesh cassava.
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Size
• The tubers are big sized, long cylindrical with brown skin and
white flesh are preferred.
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• For processing purpose pH. of 5.0 to 8.0% are preferred
Ash content of less than 0.9%.
Cyanogenic potential limit is 10 ppm.
A high dry matter content is not preferred it is associated with the post
harvest deterioration.
Starch quality is influenced by the amylose content, which for good
cooking varieties is 21% and for industrial varieties is 15% and for
multiple purpose varieties is 17%(IITA,1977)
Internal quality
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• Plants, including root tubers, are a potential source of natural
antioxidants and acts as secondary metabolites. Antioxidants are
present not only in the flesh but also in the peel of the cassava root
(Dusuki et al., 2020).
• Newly bred yellow-fleshed cassava varieties known as provitamin
A carotenoid (PVAC) cassava which contains a substantial quantity
of β-carotene.
Nutritional quality
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• In the industrial front it has wide applications. Many value added
products are prepared from cassava viz., starch, sago, flour, chips etc.
• Roots should have high sugar content between 4.50 - 8.41%.
• Roots of cassava should be free from physiological disorders Vascular
discoloration or streaking, fusarium phytophthora rot, Rhizopus
rot etc.
Processing Quality
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Enhanced nutritional quality
• Although the cassava storage root is rich in starch, its protein
content is very low. Increasing the protein content is of foremost
importance.
• Zhang et al. reported the production of transgenic cassava
expressing an artificial storage protein enriched with essential
amino acids, under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter.
• Zhang et al. (2003) successfully introduced a synthetic artificial
storage protein 1 (ASP1) gene encoding a storage protein rich in
essential amino acids (80%) in to embryogenic suspensions of
cassava.
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• As a starch crop, the starch quality of cassava is one of its most
important agronomic traits. Its amylopectin content ranges from
70% to 80%, and its amylose content ranges from 20% to 30%,
depending on the genotypes and growth environment.
• The ratio of amylose to amylopectin determines the property of starch
granules, and there after affects the quality of diverse starch products
used in different industrial applications (e.g., pharmaceutical,
chemical, and paper-making applications).
Improved starch content and quality
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Enhancing
• Enhancement of β-carotene can be achieved by
directing and enhancing flux into the carotenoid
biosynthetic pathway or by downregulating the
turnover of β-carotene
• BC+ has focused primarily on enhancement of
provitamin A content of cassava.
• Stable Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cassava (cv 60444) was achieved.
Transgenic expression of phytoene synthase alone in cassava storage roots yielded
increases in total carotenoid concentrations of 10- to 20-fold relative to amounts
in roots from nontransformed controls.
Sayre et al., 2011
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Advantages of bio-fortified cassava varieties
• Biofortified yellow-flesh cassava variants are sweet tasting, containing mild-to
moderate toxic cyanogenic glucosides compared to the majority of white-flesh
variants .
• Lower concentrations of the toxic compound can guarantee sustainable
production plans by reducing time and labor for detoxification during
processing, ultimately leading to production of safer foods.
• In addition, lower toxicity levels could reduce toxic residues in soil and
environment of rural communities and urban centers of Africa where large
quantities are regularly processed.
• Third, post-harvest storage of biofortified yellow-flesh cassava is more
sustainable, due to its robust and longer shelf-stability compared to white-
flesh cassava.
#2:are known as an “underground granary” and “the king of starch
Cassava is one of the three largest potato crops, the sixth largest food crop in the world, and the third largest food crop in hot areas (Guira et al., 2017).
cassava is also a staple food crop for more than 600 million people in the world
Cassava is the most important starchy root crop grown in the tropics and is
mainly cultivated in southern peninsular India.
• Crop played a significant role to overcome food shortage among the low
income group of people in Kerala.
• Underground tuber is rich in starch and mainly consumed after cooking.
• Processed products like chips, sago and vermicelli made of tapioca are also
popular in the country.
• Being easily digestible, it forms an important ingredient in poultry and cattlefeeds.
• It is also widely used for production of industrial alcohol, starch and glucose
