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- Review
- Cassava in South America, Brazil’s contribution and the lesson to be learned from India
- Nagib M.A. Nassar
- Departamento de Genética e Morfologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brasil
- Corresponding author: N.M.A. Nassar
- E-mail: [email protected]
- Genet. Mol. Res. 5 (4): 688-695 (2006)
- Received July 24, 2006
- Accepted August 14, 2006
- Published November 17, 2006
ABSTRACT. South America is responsible for about half of the cassava world production. In the 1970’s productivity of the crop on the continent was about 15 ton/ha, and dropped continuously until reaching 12 ton/ha in 2004. India’s productivity of cassava increased from 10 ton/ha in the 1970’s to 28 ton/ha in 2004. Brazil contributed significantly to improving cassava crops through the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Universidade de Brasília released high-protein content hybrids, apomictic clones and explored the potential of indigenous landraces.
Key words: Cassava, India, Plant breeding, Productivity
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