Enhancing Adaptability, Nutritional Quality in Tropical Tuber Crops: Source for Adaptive Food and Nutrition

Abstract

The tropical roots and tuber crops (R and T) consist of cassava, sweet potato, yams, elephant foot yam, taro, tannia and a couple of minor tuber crops. Tropical tuber crops are the third most important food crops after cereals and pulses. These crops play a crucial role in providing food and nutritional security to the rural masses in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia. Cassava and sweet potato rank among the top 10 food crops produced in developing countries and contribute to about 6% of world’s dietary calories. In India, tropical tubers are grown mostly in states like Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and North East covering 4.5% of the total area under vegetables with 5.7% of the total vegetable production. Low income farmers and most undernourished households in India depend on R and T crops. They value these crops for their high calorie and stable yields under conditions in which other crops may fail. Genetic diversity of major tropical tuber crops provides options for its diverse usage in “multicuisine”, “nutrition”, “feed”, health care” and renewable resources of processing firms. Water productivity is also higher, for example, to produce 1 kg of tubers, sweet potatoes require water (383 l), taro (606 l), yam (343 l), as compared to rice (1673 l), maize (1222 l), wheat (1827 l), etc. Tuber crops are one of most efficient producers of dry matter and edible energy. These crops have potential to reverse soil degradation. Cassava is already recognized as drought tolerant followed by yam. Tubers of taro, elephant foot yam and yams can be stored under zero energy conditions for 6 - 7 months unlike temperate potatoes in cold storage. The natural climatic resilience as well as inherent nutrition attributes, has been explored further. Such studies made these crops more robust to changing climate and as the source of nutrient enriched food bowls. Sweet potato variety Bhu Krishna is the first purple flesh variety in India containing (90 mg/100 g anthocyanin) coupled with starch 22% - 25%. Similarly, the orange flesh Bhu Sona containing beta carotene (14 mg/100 g) coupled with high starch 22% - 24% is the first variety having both high beta carotene and high starch. These varieties are tolerant to salinity and Bhu Krishna is resistant to weevil. Likewise, developed improved taro varieties resistant to biotic blight stress, tolerant to salinity and are enriched with micro nutrients. These improved varieties are used to breed the superior types further. All these climate resilient, nutritionally enriched varieties will have a greater impact on supplementing rainbow food for all. These can address the issues like “food insecurity”, “malnutrition”, diet related issue of mass consumers across the world. The analysis of innovations on enhancing adaptability, nutritional quality with a management matrix would help in strengthening future programme.