Roots And Tubers For The 21st Century

Synthesizes a significant amount of data and information on roots and tubers in an effort to provide a clearer vision of their past, present, and future roles in the food systems of developing countries. How the production and use of these commodities have changed and will continue to change over time are all the more important to understand because of the contribution they make to the diets and income-generating activities of the rural and urban poor in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Provides a fuller understanding of the prospects of roots and tubers for food, feed, and other uses in developing countries.

It is important to include Tuber and Root Crops in the Handbook of Plant Breeding. They include starchy staple crops that are of increasing importance for global food security and relief of poverty, important millennium goals for the United Nations. Indeed, 2008 was the UN International Year of the Potato in recognition of this role of the potato as the world’s third most important food crop after wheat and rice. The other major staples are cassava, sweetpotato and yam. Together they occupy about 50 million hectares, with production at 640 million metric tons, of which 70% is in developing countries. In total there are more than 30 species of Root and Tuber Crops grown in the world today. Given the content of other volumes in the series, it makes sense to include sugar and fodder beets; swedes and turnips; and minor root and tuber crops so that the book series is as complete as possible. Like the other volumes in the series, this one will present information on the latest in applied plant breeding using the current advances in the field, from an efficient use of genetic resources to the impact of biotechnology in plant breeding. Seven crop specific chapters are proposed, together with an introduction to this diverse set of plant species. Outstanding scientists for each crop species are proposed as senior authors, who may invite co-authors to contribute part of a chapter. In order to increase the overall acceptance of the volume, balance will be sought with authors from different research groups/countries who will be asked to contribute and collaborate where appropriate. The book should be of interest to researchers in both academic and industrial settings, and in both developed and developing countries, as well as students and teachers of plant breeding. It is currently extremely important to educate and train a new generation of plant breeders given the challenges faced by humankind in producing more food for an expanding global population during a period of environmental (including climate) change.

Roots and tubers are considered as the most important food crops after cereals and contribute significantly to sustainable development, income generation and food security especially in the tropical regions. The perishable nature of roots and tubers demands appropriate storage conditions at different stages starting from farmers to its final consumers. Because of their highly perishable nature, search for efficient and better methods of preservation/processing have been continuing alongside the developments in different arena. This book covers the processing and technological aspects of root and tuber foods, detailing the production and processing of roots and tubers such as taro, cassava, sweet potato, yam and elephant foot yam. Featuring chapters on anatomy, taxonomy and physiology, molecular and biochemical characterization, GAP, GMP, HACCP, Storage techniques, as well as the latest technological interventions in Taro, Cassava, Sweet potato, yam and Elephant foot Yam.

In 1995, TAC commissioned an Inter-Centre Review of Root and Tuber Crops Research in the CGIAR, and that group's final report was submitted in April 1996. Among its findings, the review recommended that the Centers working on these crops prepare, in consultation with non-CGIAR members, "a comprehensive, documented text that sets out a vision for root and tuber research employing inter-Centre collaborations and institutional partnerships ... "(TAC, 1997). At International Centers' Week 1996, representatives of CIAT, CIP, IFPRI, IPGRI, and IITA met, formed an informal committee, and established a task force to prepare such a report, with CIP and CIAT representatives acting as co-convenors. This document synthesizes the principal findings of the subsequent work. Roots and tuber crops have myriad and complex roles to play in feeding the world in the coming decades. Far from being one sort of crop that serves one specific purpose, they will be many things to many-very many-people.

This book is a compilation of information on insect/mite/vertebrate pests and fungal/bacterial/viral/mycoplasma/nematode diseases of tropical root and tuber crops such as cassava, sweet potato, yams, taro, Amorphophallus, yam bean and tannia. The book highlights the distribution, symptoms and damage, biology, survival and spread of each pest and describes management methods. It also sheds light on different eco-friendly pest management strategies including physical, cultural, chemical, biological, host resistance and integrated methods. The book is written in a lucid style using easy-to-understand language and offers adoptable recommendations involving eco-friendly control measures. It serves as a useful reference source for policy makers, research and extension workers, practicing farmers and students. The material can also be used for teaching post graduate courses in state agricultural universities.

Tuber and root crops are the third important group of food crops after cereals and pulses, feeding about one fifth of the world population. With the burgeoning population coupled with limited land, water and other resources, the future beckons tuber and root crops in fulfilling the country's food requirements. These crops have higher biological efficiency and greater adoption with profound production potential per unit area per unit time. Tuber and root crops are well known from time immemorial as nature's energy bank and famine savior. This book is conceived to have an updated version on the tuber and root crops especially in the Indian context, including information on the history, biodiversity, geographical distribution, botany, neutraceutical and pharmaceutical values, new varieties, production technologies, IPM strategies, starches, post harvest technologies and value added products, bio-processing, biotechnology, ITK and future thrusts. Various aspects of cassava, sweet potato, elephant foot yam, taro, yams, coleus, yam bean and arrow root are elucidated in 17 s and appendices. This book will be of immense use to the policy makers, scientists, post graduate and under graduate students and officials concerned with tuber and root crops research, development and extension.

Root and tuber crops (RTCs) including dasheen (taro) (Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott var. esculenta), eddoe (Colocasia antiquorum), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam.), ginger (Zingiber officinale), arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea), yam (Dioscorea spp.), tannia (Xanthosoma spp.) and cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), are traditional staples in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). As fresh exports, dasheen, eddoe, sweet potato, ginger, arrowroot and yam are the most economically significant.