Knowledge for Development

Cassava

The ACP Group of States need to adjust the approach to agricultural production, marketing and distribution to be able to compete in national, regional and international markets. Traditional commodities such as cassava are no longer assured of guaranteed prices and ready access to international markets. How then should the ACP region respond? Commodities, traditionally considered as food security crops are now being looked at in a different light. Can scientists assist the countries in making informed decisions to improve efficiency, cost effectiveness, quality and competitiveness?

In this study multi­seasonal and locational field based trials were conducted in Kenya to identify drought-tolerant and drought-susceptible cassava genotypes. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is inherently drought tolerant. Nevertheless, substantial genotypic variation exists for this characteristic. Field drought stress generally reduced cassava vegetative growth and productivity. In addition to other phenotypic parameters, storage root fresh weight was used as a primary criterion to discriminate between drought-tolerant and drought-susceptible genotypes. Charles Ochieng' Orek, researcher at ETH­Zurich, Switzerland, subsequently subjected the cassava gentoypes to further physiological and molecular categorisation under controlled water deficit assays. Categorisation of these morphological, physiological and molecular differences will establish an essential foundation for future development of drought-associated molecular markers for cassava.   (Dr.Sc. thesis, ETH-Zurich, 2014) 29/10/2014
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Scientists from agricultural research centres in Africa met at a workshop in Saint-Pierre, Reunion, from 10 to 13 June 2014 to contribute to the war against pests and diseases of cassava. The workshop resulted in the establishment of a pan-African network for surveillance of cassava diseases (PacSun) that will provide expertise in understanding the viruses and bacterial diseases that attack cassava in Africa; pool data via a website; develop applications with simple diagnostic fields on mobile phones for the benefit of African producers; and propose measures appropriate to each country to control the spread of pandemics such as cassava brown streak disease. The workshop participants also called for the establishment of an international transit cassava centre that would exchange of cassava cuttings between African countries, which is currently prohibited because of the risk of spreading cassava mosaic disease and brown streak disease.   (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, 2.07.2014) 02/09/2014
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Cassavabase is a database of phenotypic and genotypic data generated by cassava breeding programmes within the Next Generation Cassava Breeding (NEXTGEN Cassava) project. The database makes available breeding data immediately available. Data can be accessed through the web interface and various tools are available to explore and extract the datasets. Cassavabase will be hosted at IITA-Nigeria. As well as offering the latest data on cassava, the on-line database provides access to tools for genomic selection, a new technique that dramatically accelerates the breeding cycle, as well as social networking pathways for the cassava community.  (Cassavabase and NEXTGEN Cassava via AIMS FAO, 07/05/2013) 02/07/2013
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Maruthi Gowda and his team from the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich have developed a procedure for eliminating virus infections from cassava. They built a 'virus-indexing' procedure for cleaning cassava lines, which involves a combination of protocols for accurate identification and elimination of viruses. The procedure involves growing disease-infected cassava stem cuttings and identifying at a later stage plants free of disease symptoms. Plants free of viruses are then grown in tissue culture media, certified to be virus-free after several disinfection protocols and shipped to African partners for further multiplication and subsequent distribution to farmers.   http://www.nri.org/news/2013/650-curing-cassava-of-deadly-virus-infections   (NRI, 11/10/2013) 17/12/2013
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