Biotech Updates

Tolerance to Postharvest Physiological Deterioration in Cassava Roots

July 2, 2010

Cassava root is one of the best sources of carbohydrates. However, cassava growers face the problem of postharvest physiological deterioration (PPD) exhibited by cassava roots a few days after harvest. Thus, N. Morante of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, together with a team of scientists, evaluated the PDD tolerance of roots from different sources of germplasm on different time intervals after harvest. Of the 21 genotypes tested, three did not exhibit any sign of PDD 40 days after harvest. This can be attributed to the antioxidant characteristics in some genotypes with high carotenoid levels, or the silencing of genes for PDD expression due to irradiation. However, some tolerance cannot be explained and are subject for further study. The discovered causes of resistance could be used in solving the PDD problem and can benefit millions of resource-limited farmers across the globe.

The abstract of this study can be downloaded at http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/50/4/1333.