The Global Diversity of Taro:

Ethnobotany, Conservation and Use

Colocasia esculenta (taro)

Dryland taro

systems

Wetland taro

systems

Wetland taro

systems

Taro is culturally and

spiritually important….

Taro is economically important….

…but for millions

worldwide taro is a

staple food

Custodians: Taro has been

conserved and managed

by farmers for thousands of

years

Taro is a globally distributed crop whose uses

are regionally and locally specific

Major growing regions:

• West and Central Africa

•Caribbean, Central America, Amazon

•South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia

•Oceania and Pacific

•Areas outside centers of diversity maintain

unique uses and food cultures that contribute

to overall diversity of taro genepool

• Farmers are able to generate desired morphological diversity

from narrow genetic base

Diversity in corm shape of some preferred and widely grown

local taro cultivars in Yunnan

Why research and support

farmers’ management of

taro?

Taro has been managed by farmers and rural communities

and largely neglected by the international research

community – it continues to be!

Taro provides a model for in situ conservation of

vegetatively propagated species where farmer selection and

“domestication”, evolution is a continuous process.

Conservation of taro genetic diversity in situ can focus on

food cultures and farming systems where taro is used in all

its states , wild, naturalised, and under low input or high

input cultivation.

Things do go wrong? How scientists can support farmers’

management of taro in times of crisis and facilitate access to

the global taro gene pool

Why research and support farmers’

management of taro?

Arrival & Impact of TLB

Taro leaf blight (TLB), caused by Phytophthora colocasiae, first described from Java in 1900. Moved into Pacific region

between 1920s-1940s. Most recent and devastating introduction to the Samoas in 1990s.

Taro improvement and utilisation

Bioversity working with partners developed a complementary conservation strategy to safeguard and maintain taro genetic

diversity but despite this two important challenges still remain:

• Devastating problem of taro leaf blight disease as a constraint in the field still remained. How could the resistance of the crop to this disease be improved?

• How could improved, resistant taro germplasm, and other taro accessions (core collection), be safely moved internationally between countries to deal with new TLB outbreaks – Africa, Caribbean?

Taro breeding

• Bioversity working with partners established two taro breeding

programmes in Samoa and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

• Breeding strategy based on horizontal and durable resistance,

recurrent selection, population breeding

• To date, 5 disease resistant taro varieties have been released in

PNG

• Numerous lines of disease resistant taro lines have been

evaluated by farmers in Samoa as part of a participatory

plant breeding (PPB) programme and disseminated

Breeding activities – seedlings to nursery

(6 to 7 mths from pollination to seedling distribution)

Taro Improvement Programme (TIP)

Formation of

University

Breeders

Clubs

Selected progeny from cycle-3 recommended variety for export (MAFF/farmers)

Variety:

Samoa 3

Village road side

taro market

Corm yield:

1 to 2 kg

Selected progeny from cycle-5 export variety recommended by MAFF/farmers

Variety:

Samoa 2

Corm yield:

1 to 3 kg

Cleaning taro for

NZ market - 2010

Parental lines:

Pacific x Malaysian

Progeny from cycle-6 (2010 selection) on-farm, farmer’s choice: good quality for export

Clone #:

C6-095B

Parental lines:

Pacific x Malaysian line

Corm shape &

color

export quality

Eating quality:

excellent

Yellow flesh Corm weight:

1 to 4kg

Selected progeny from cycle-7

Clone # C7-BC1 - 203

Yield from a 13 months old plant

Corm weight: 7 kg

Eating quality: very good Flesh color: yellow

Parental line: Pacific x Malaysian

Ongoing taro research, INEA …..

Ongoing taro research, Mapping Edible Aroids…..

Acknowledgements

TaroGen and TANSAO Networks

University of the South Pacific (USP)

Secretariat of the South Pacific (SPC)

International Network for Edible Aroids (INEA)

Pablo Eyzaguirre, Bioversity International

Peter Matthews, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan

Karin Vaneker, Mapping Edible Aroids initiative