Chemical root traits differentiate ‘bitter’ and ‘sweet’ cassava accessions from the Amazon

Francisca Das Chagas Bezerra De Araújo,Rodrigo De Souza Silva,João Tomé De Farias Neto,Elisa Ferreira Moura,Roberto Lisboa Cunha

doi:10.1590/1984-70332019v19n1a11

Francisca Das Chagas Bezerra De Araújo, Rodrigo De Souza Silva + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-70332019v19n1a11

Copy DOI

Abstract

Abstract ‘Bitter’ and ‘sweet’ cassava are normally distinguished based on the hydrocyanic acid (HCN) content of their roots. Moreover, Brazilian farmers tend to select ‘sweet’ cassava based on the taste and cooking aspects. The aim of this study was to characterize chemical traits of ‘bitter’ and ‘sweet’ cassava roots of the Amazon region and to find genetic relations among accessions based on these traits. Considerable phenotypic variation was detected among the evaluated traits moisture, ashes, total soluble solids, total titratable acidity, pH, total carotenoids, free and total cyanide, crude protein, glucose, fructose, sucrose and starch. Aside from free and total cyanide, the trait means of sugars and moisture differed in ‘bitter’ and ‘sweet’ cassava and also differentiated these in different clusters in the dendrogram using the unweighted pair-group method based on arithmetic averages (UPGMA) and in the results of principal component analysis.

Highlights

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important source of calories for the world population and is widely grown in tropical and subtropical regions (Lebot 2009), due to its capacity to adapt to unfavorable conditions
Recent studies have shown that cassava was domesticated along the rim of the Amazonian basin (Léotard et al 2009) and it is believed that Amazonia is an important source of genetic resources of cassava
Coefficients of variation varied from 3% for pH to 93% for total cyanide (Table 1) and high values were detected for most characters, with the exception of titratable acidity (TTA), total soluble solids (TSS), ashes, pH, moisture and starch

Summary

Introduction

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important source of calories for the world population and is widely grown in tropical and subtropical regions (Lebot 2009), due to its capacity to adapt to unfavorable conditions. In countries where cassava is widely consumed, the development of nutrientrich accessions would be advantageous to prevent diseases and improve diets. The characterization of accessions is important for plant breeding programs, in order to identify promising accessions to develop biofortified cultivars (Carvalho et al 2011, Sánchez et al 2014). The quality of food products derived from cassava roots depends on the chemical composition. Few studies have focused on the chemical characterization of cassava roots that are traditionally grown or maintained in germplasm banks in the Amazon region

Objectives

Methods

Results