Declining yields of local taro cultivars, worsened in recent years by outbreak of taro leaf blight (TLB), necessitate the development of varieties that combine TLB resistance with high yield and quality. The objective of the experiment was to obtain viable true taro seeds (TTS), the lack of which has hindered local breeding effort to improve taro. Fifteen exotic cultivars of taro, obtained from International Network on Edible Aroids (INEA) as part of an EU-funded project on "Adapting Clonally Propagated Crops to Climatic and Commercial Change," and four local cultivars constituted the crossing block at Umudike (5 • 24 to 5 • 30 N; 7 • 31 to 7 • 37 E) in south eastern Nigeria in 2013. One hundred and nine crosses were made, of which 18.3% were successful, but only infructescence from nine crosses developed to maturity and produced seeds. Germination of these TTS started on the 7th day after sowing. Seedlings that developed from these seeds were transplanted into small bags filled with sterilized peat mixed with vermiculite. Each plant is expected to be genetically different from all others and could be a potentially improved cultivar. This is the first report of successful hybridization, production of TTS, and development of seedlings from true seed of taro in Nigeria.
Taro is a valuable staple food crop among resource-poor rural people in countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, among others. Characterization of genetic diversity is a prerequisite for proper management of breeding programs and conservation of genetic resources. Two hundred seventy one taro accessions obtained from Nigeria and Vanuatu were genotyped using DArTseq-based SNP markers with the objectives of investigating the genetic diversity and population structure. In the analysis, 10,391 SNP markers were filtered from the sequence and used. The analysis revealed higher transition than transversion types of SNPs in the ratio of 1.43:1. The polymorphism ranged from 0.26 to 0.29 for the markers, indicating moderate genetic diversity. A model-based Bayesian clustering analysis of taro accessions yielded five subgroups and revealed the admixture situation in 19.19% of all accessions in the study. Vanuatu taro accessions exhibited more genetic diversity than Nigerian taro accessions. The population diversity estimate (PhiPt) was relatively higher (0.52) for accessions originating from Vanuatu than for Nigerian accessions. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that most variation existed among individuals within a population at 52%. Nei’s genetic distance showed that relatedness is based on geographical proximity. Collection of taro genetic resources should give more emphasis to within regions to utilize diversity in taro breeding program. This study also demonstrated the efficiency of DArTseq-based SNP genotyping for large-scale genome analysis in taro. The genotypic markers provided in this study are useful for association mapping studies.
Taro is primarily grown for the corm, which is a staple food for millions of people. It is an annual herbaceous plant that belongs to the oxalate-rich food group. Oxalate is a naturally occurring plant metabolite that is present in all plant-derived human diets. The accumulation of oxalate by crops and pasture plants has a negative impact on the nutritional quality of foods and feeds. Oxalate is a poisonous organic acid that has a significant impact on the eating quality. Acridity causes swelling of the mouth and throat. Oxalate-rich foods also reduce calcium bioavailability and increase the risk of kidney stones. About 75% of all kidney stones are made up primarily of calcium oxalate. Chronic kidney disease affects 10% of the global population, and over two million people currently receive dialysis or a kidney transplant. Oxalates in food can be reduced through physical processes, chemical treatments, and genetic improvements. Cooking root crops may improve digestibility, palatability, storage quality, and safety. Boiling significantly reduced the amount of anti-nutritional factors, resulting in higher food quality. Eating high-calcium foods and adding calcium to cooking are two other ways to reduce oxalates in the diet. Calcium salts are widely accepted and used as acidity regulators, firming agents, and stabilizers in processed foods. Taro corms' total soluble oxalate content also decreased during storage. Explicitly, genetic advancements can aid in the development of long-term solutions. The purpose of this paper was to investigate acridity, its health and economic consequences, and potential food-acridity-reduction mechanisms. This educates users about the dangers of oxalate and aids in the development of mitigation strategies.
The present study was aimed to determine the variations in nutritional qualities of 15 mutant lines and two landraces of ginger (Zingiber officinale). Fifteen (15) gamma (γ)-ray induced mutants lines and two landraces of ginger were planted in 2017 early cropping season in the Teaching and Research Farm, Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife Resources Management, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. To evaluate the nutritional qualities of these seventeen ginger genotypes at maturity, proximate analysis was carried out in the Biochemistry Laboratory of the National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria. Using standard and official protocols of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). Results showed that the ginger lines varied significantly (P < 0.01) in all their proximate attributes. The moisture content ranged from 10.13% (UG1) to 12.95% (UG2). Mean dry matter was 88.89%; UG1 and UG2 had the highest (89.89%) and lowest (87.05%) dry matter content, respectively. Mean crude protein was 7.74%; UG2-9-01 and UG2-11-03 had the highest (8.25%) and lowest (7.29%) crude protein respectively. UG1-5-38 and UG1-5-22 had the highest (8.12%) and lowest (6.41%) crude fibre content respectively. The oleoresin content ranged from (6.25%) in UG2-9-01 to (9.09%) in UG1-11-07. UG1-5-04 and UG1-5-22 had the highest (2.88%) and lowest (2.22%) ash content respectively. UG2-9-01 had the highest carbohydrate content of (65.10%). While UG1-5-52 had the lowest (61.27%) The result showed that the ginger lines used in this study had high mean carbohydrate (62.85%) and protein (7.74%) contents as such can be used as supplementary sources of these nutrients for human and livestock. UG1-7-24, UG1-11-07 and UG1-5-18 with high oleoresin contents of 9.11%, 9.09% and 9.05% respectively are recommended to ginger breeders as useful genotypes for improving other ginger lines through micropropagation techniques especially when breeding for oleoresin quality, which is an important quality of ginger. In conclusion, further evaluation and testing of these ginger lines is recommended.
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